Where to Celebrate the Bagel in Middle Tennessee for National Bagel Day

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Photo provided by National Days

January 15 is National Bagel Day, so here are some favorite bagel shops around Middle Tennessee to go celebrate the chewy, doughy treat. Whether eaten traditionally with cream cheese and lox, or with more trendy fare, the once plain bagel is now a “hot” food that has been given the gourmet treatment and they are enjoyed by more than 200 million Americans every year.

The bagel was once described in the “New York Times” by connoisseur Ed Levine as, “a round bread made of simple, elegant ingredients: high-gluten flour, salt, water, yeast and malt. Its dough is boiled, then baked, and the result should be a rich caramel color; it should not be pale and blond. A bagel should weigh four ounces or less and should make a slight cracking sound when you bite into it instead of a whoosh. A bagel should be eaten warm and, ideally, should be no more than four or five hours old when consumed. All else is not a bagel.”

While purists may still believe that only the traditional form is a bagel, those who consider themselves more enlightened know that sometimes you have to give into the “fancification” of the basic item.

Bagels are now believed to be a food of Jewish origin, but they actually most likely come from 14th century Poland or Germany, according to “The Atlantic.” In Poland they are known as “obwarzanek.” Quite a mouthful. However, the name we call them comes from the German for stirrup, “beugel,” because that was what they were supposedly made to look like.

Beginning as a savory food, today the most popular bagel flavor is cinnamon raisin, followed by Everything and Asiago. They are topped with just about anything from egg and cheese for breakfast to peanut butter and bananas to avocado to pizza toppings. And the simple cream cheese that has long been tied to the bread is now blended with just about anything, from honey to sun-dried tomatoes to fresh veggies and herbs.

No matter how you like your bagels, here are some places to enjoy them on National Bagel Day:

Davidson County: Crieve Hall Bagel
4825 Trousdale Drive, Nashville, Tennessee
Hours: Monday, Wednesday through Saturday, 6:30 am until 1:30 p.m.

This success story got started during the pandemic shutdown by the owners delivering fresh warm bagels and flavored cream cheese spreads to their neighbors. Now they have a storefront off Trousdale. Flavors of bagels and toppings rotate. Coffee is also sold here. They open at 6:30 a.m. and are usually sold out by 11:00 a.m. Get there early!

Dickson County: Pumphrey and Beard
134 North Main Street, Dickson, Tennessee
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 7:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m.
Sunday, 9:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.

Described as just what Dickson needed, this homey restaurant offers three types of bagels with an option to build your own breakfast bagel or the traditional lox and cream cheese topping option. They are served with the very popular homemade roasted potatoes. In house coffee blend or beer-mosas are available to wash it all down during brunch.

Maury County: Towne Coffee
107 North Main Street, Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee
Hours: Wednesday and Thursday, 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.
Friday, 7:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

The coffee shop is cute and their breakfast bagel sandwiches are delicious. They offer egg and cheese; ham, egg and cheese; bacon, egg and cheese; sausage, egg and cheese; bacon and cheese; or sausage and cheese. They also make an egg and avocado toast that is good on a bagel.

Robertson County: Grain and Honey Bake Shop
202 East 8th Avenue East, Springfield, Tennessee
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

A family owned bakery that makes bagels, sourdough bread and other treats. They are considered by locals as the best bagel baker in Robertson/Sumner/Davidson counties BY FAR. “The sweets and bagels are to die for,” said one loyal fan. “I can’t get enough. I love how there is something new every day.”

Rutherford County: Joe and Dough
1220 East Northfield Boulevard, Suites B and C
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 5:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.
Sunday, 6:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

Primarily a doughnut place, they offer fresh bagels with a choice of several cream cheese spreads. The bagels are more of the old-world chewy style instead of the soft, bready Americanized version. A good place for purists to get a bagel.

Sumner County: Dreamer Bagel Café
145 Sideview Road, Gallatin, Tennessee
Hours: Every Day, 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

This is bagel central. They have breakfast bagels, lunch bagels, and bagels with all different flavored cream cheese options. A hit, the cinnamon raisin bagel with orange cranberry cream cheese. It’s a winter flavor explosion in your mouth. Or be wild and try the jalapeño cheddar on pumpernickel rye.

Williamson County: Franklin Bakehouse
100 East Main Street, Franklin, Tennessee
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

On a scale of one to ten, this place is a 12. They make an everything bagel filled with scallion cream cheese that is a little piece of savory heaven. And they also make one with lox, cream cheese, capers and red onion. Either one goes perfectly with one of their herbal teas.

Wilson County: Jersey Oven
300 Pleasant Grove Road, Suite 460, Mt. Juliet, Tennessee
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

If you’re from the northeast and you miss good bagels, you must go here. The bagels are traditionally made. The sandwiches they make out of them are just like those from an East Coast Jewish Deli. Meat is piled up and the cheese is all melty. So delicious. They even make their own cream cheese in-house.

 

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