Posted on: 10th August 2011

On Sunday, August 14, Georgetown Bagelry proudly supports MoverMoms, a group of moms who work to make things happen and make a positive difference in the community, as they host a Sunrise Walk for Somalia. The goal of our walk is to raise awareness and funds.

The Sunrise walk begins at 6:30 a.m. from Old Angler’s to Great Falls park, and will be followed by bagels from Georgetown Bagelry.

Tags: community, fundraising, georgetown bagels, movermoms, sunrise walk for Somalia

Posted on: 19th June 2011

On Thursday, June 16 the Bethesda Naval Bowling Center hosted STRIKE! Out Children’s Cancerhonoring Jaiwen Hsu, a Bethesda middle school student who was diagnosed with cancer last October. His friends organized the Giant Bowling Fundraiser Party, with profits going to cancer research atChildren’s National Medical Center and a fund for families who can’t afford cancer treatment.

Georgetown Bagelry was honored to be among the many small businesses who donated gift cards for the event’s raffle. We were also delighted to hear from one of event organizers, 12-year old Ezra Pine. He wrote:

I am so thankful that [Georgetown Bagelry] could sponsor me to help support my friend, Jaiwen. You have no idea how grateful I am that all of you contributed to this. We raised over $2,500 in raffles, thanks to the generosity of Georgetown Bagelry and other local businesses.

Our bowling fundraiser was an amazing success. Everyone had a great time; Jaiwen was there with his family and it seemed like he had one of the best days of his life. Together we raised over $26,000 for National Children’s Medical Center. We had over 200 bowlers, most of whom were between the ages of 5 and 18. I was so surprised at how big of a success it was.

Congratulations to Ezra and his friends for organizing such an EXTRAORDINARY event! We love being apart of such an amazing community. Thank YOU for inspiring us!

Tags: bethesda, bowling, cancer, charity, Children's National Medical Center, community, neighbors

Posted on: 12th May 2011

The Georgetown Bagelry is lucky to consider many of its customers great friends and family. We are always touched and honored when we receive tokens of their appreciation. Recently, a friend of GTB,Margo Judge, author and blogger of MomOpinionMatters.com wrote us a poem for Mother’s Day.

We hope that you enjoy as much as we did! Warm Bagel Hugs.

The Legend of the Poke

By Margo Judge | Dedicated to Mary Beall Adler

Once upon a time there was a little Poke.
It was not very popular because little children were always taught not to use it.
And adults could certainly never use it!
So, the little Poke was very lonely.

It felt it had no real purpose in the world!
The only time it had any real chance to shine was when a little girl or boy wanted attention and poked a mommy or daddy.

Until…
One day a little girl got really angry with her Mommy.
The little girl wanted to say something very important but her Mommy wasn’t listening.
Her Mommy was too busy baking.
In fact, her Mommy had to bake 50 rolls for a customer before dinner.

Finally, the little girl in utter frustration, stamped her foot!
That didn’t seem to get her mommy’s attention.
It just made the pan jump!
When her Mommy turned around to get something out of a drawer,
the little girl SHOUTED!!!
That didn’t seem to work either.
Her Mommy said she would not talk to the little girl if she SHOUTED!
Then when the little girl’s Mommy turned her back the little girl poked her!
That certainly did not work!
Her mother said it was very impolite to poke someone!
So finally, when her Mommy went to get something out of the refrigerator,
The little girl stomped over to the pan and decided to poke something instead of someone- so she poked all the rolls clear through!
Her Mommy was shocked!
But, since she had no time to reshape the rolls, she simply had to put them in the oven poked and hope the customer would not mind.
The customer did not mind at all!
On the contrary, the customer thought the rolls with the holes were great fun and absolutely delicious!
The customer told other customers, and soon the little girl’s Mommy was baking a lot of round rolls with holes in the middle.
And the best part was the little girl’s mommy let her poke all the rolls before they went into the oven.

The little Poke was thrilled! Never had it been so busy or felt so proud!
Then the little girl asked her Mommy what her Mommy was going to call this round roll with a hole in the middle.
Her Mommy thought and thought and finally said-Bagel.
Why do you want to call it a Bagel asked the little girl?
Because, her Mommy replied, it stands for-
Bread/Always Gives Everyone a Lifejacket!

Well, the little Poke thought it would become as famous as the Bagel.
It did not.
The Bagel became extremely popular; the Poke remained extremely impolite outside of the little girl’s kitchen.
Besides, bakers wanted to find a way to bake Bagels without having to use a Poke. It took too long. So soon even the little girl stopped poking the rolls.
The little Poke had no more work, no place to be and again grew very lonely.

Until…
Many moons later, something called Facebook was born.
And Facebook had an idea. The idea was to help friends connect with one another.
They created pages, where people could talk and share pictures.
Facebook then got another idea!
The idea was to help people say hello to each other whenever they wanted.
It invited the little Poke to appear on its site.
Well, needless to say the little Poke was more than ecstatic!
Everyone wanted to use it! Poking was not at all impolite on Facebook!
The little Poke was so honored.
Again, it became very busy. Everyone used it to say hi to friends.
It even had a very special place at the top of each and every page!

Now the poke lives proudly, happily and virtually every after bringing friends everywhere together—including those who make bagels and those who still love to poke!

Happy Mother’s Day to a WONDERFUL bagel baker who loves to poke and be poked!

Love,
Margo

Tags: bagel poem, Georgetown bagelry, legend of the poke, margo judge, mary beall adler, momopinionmatters, Mothers Day

Posted on: 24th March 2011

Georgetown Baglery was named Washington, DC’s Best Bagel in 2011 according to the Washington City Paper and the results of its annual Reader Poll.

We attribute the Bagelry’s success to putting customers first when making decisions for menu items, ordering experience, physical improvements, and daily food specials.

As an artist at heart, I believe in nurturing the old tradition of bagel baking and enjoys bringing the raw talent behind the process to her Bagelry.

Thank you for voting for us!

Tags: best bagels, best of DC, customers, Georgetown bagelry, washington city paper

Posted on: 22nd November 2010

Now in its fourth year, The B-CC Chamber of Commerce combined two successful annual events, the Legislative Reception and the Fall Gala, CELEBRATE, for one great evening on Wedneday, October 27. This annual gala allowed Chamber members and government officials to meet and discuss issues that are important to our community and local economy. This year’s event featured a taste of Bethesda and Chevy Chase’s finest restaurants, including Georgetown Bagelry. We were thrilled to have been a part of such a premier event, which brought together incumbents, candidates, appointed officials, and the business leaders of the B-CC community for an evening of networking and discussion.

Tags: bagels, BCC, Chamber of Commerce, Georgetown bagelry, GTBagel, Legislative Gala 2010, Restaurants

Posted on: 6th October 2010

On Monday, October 4, the Georgetown Bagelry set up a marvelous bagel spread at the2010 Business Expo. It was a great success and we got to meet so many of our wonderful small business neighbors!

Tags: 2010 Business Expo, bagels, Bethesda Chamber of Commerce, Georgetown bagelry, small business

Posted on: 7th September 2010

Transitioning into autumn is bittersweet at Georgetown Bagelry. Folks are coming back to town yet students whom we serve almost daily are leaving to go back to school. Erin Slowinski and Jessica Janov from Holton-Arms, Ruthie Levine from UC Davis, and Scott Thiede from Villanova, who are coaches and lifeguards at on of the neighborhood pools have been “regulars” through the summer months. They love coming in with their 15+ orders and taking them back to everyone at the pool to start their day off right!  Often, they come back for lunch. There is nothing quite like a BAGEL BOOST! We will miss Ruthie and Scott, but we’ll be here with fresh, warm bagels to welcome them home for Thankgiving. We wish you the very best through the academic year. Godspeed. You make everybody at Georgetown Bagelry proud.

Tags: autumn, back to school, bagel boosts, Georgetown, neighborhood

Posted on: 17th August 2010

We are selling fresh squeezed lemonade like there is no tomorrow! It goes well with fresh, homemade chicken salad, lettuce, tomato, and Swiss cheese on a whole wheat everything bagel, scooped and toasted. We use chicken breasts baked on sheet pans for our chicken salad. I’m sitting here thinking about this because I just saw two customers order it for their lunch after ordering both a bacon, egg, and cheese, and a Miami Burger for breakfast! Do these guys love bagels, or what? These sandwiches smelled and looked so good I thought I would share the moment.

We’re starting to see the young, local athletes coming in for breakfast and lunch. High school and college sports teams have begun to train and it’s a thrill to see them when they come back to town.  Many of the kids we’ve known since they were in strollers. They keep coming back. We get to witness their lives maturing and share each others trials and tribulations. Clichés are an important part of life here at the bagel shop because there can be much truth in them. People celebrate good times and bad times with good old fashioned artisan bagels. A great bagel makes you feel good because a whole lot of love goes into making them.

It’s heart warming to see our young athletes and friends back in town. Welcome home. We’ve missed you.

Tags: athletes, bagels, childhood, fresh squeezed lemonade, Georgetown bagelry, miami burgers

Posted on: 10th August 2010

I’m extremely proud to say that our entire bagel crew is ServSafe certified. It’s a requirement of both DC and Montgomery County that at least one certified food service manager is always on the restaurants premises. This is very important. The things that has bothered me for years is the dominating mentality of only the people in the position of “management” were certified! The people that do a large majority of food handling and cleaning are not the managers. Typically, the manager’s are telling everybody else what to do. I decided to change that because I believe in partnering in all my relationships. Believing and doing are two different things. This is definitely a work in progress.

I decided that the entire staff will learn and become National Restaurant Association(NRA) Certified. It took awhile to find an instructor that taught in both Spanish and English. I was fortunate to find Frank, who was flying in from California to train the Occidental Grill’s managers. He agreed to come to Georgetown Bagelry the same week-end and lead the class with our crew.  We began studying 3 weeks before and during slow times through the day where we paired up and taught each other everything in the manuals. Everybody passed the exam and is ServSafe Certified. This has given everybody’s self-esteem a serious boost, not to mention how much more efficiently and consciously we’re cleaning and handling the food.

Yesterday, the Health Department came in for their regular inspection. They were amazed! I wish the world could have seen the proud look on our team’s faces. Now, we must have a Montgomery County Certified Manager on the premises. This is a licensing thing that I’ve never heard of before! 15 plus years in Montgomery County and this is the first time the inspectors have pointed this out. I’ve decided everybody will get this too. There’s a $45 processing fee for the picture ID card and proof of passing the ServSafe course and picture identification are required.  


Tags: Food service management, Georgetown bagelry, health inspection, national restaurant association, ServSafe

Posted on: 2nd August 2010

Georgetown Bagelry is bustling. Our baking team loves what they’re doing. I came by at 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning to hang out with Santos as he baked the morning bake. There’s no place in the world like the bagel shop when the first bake is rolling and the smell of fresh baked bagels begins to cut through the cool morning air. It was his birthday. He just smiled and welcomed me. We have been working together over 25 years. It’s heart warming and peaceful to be at the bagel shop in the middle of the night. It’s a feeling of warmth that transfers from the rise of the dough and warming of the equipment and final baking of the bagel to one’s heart.

We put our new “Open” sign up! This tiny sign cost more to make and have installed then the big neon “Georgetown Bagelry” sign. The fellows from Rainbow Neon and New Age Electriccoordinated the installation.  It was difficult to match the font. I wanted an easy on and off switch which became complicated to make happen. Mission accomplished.

The power outage from last weeks storm brought the entire neighborhood to the shop for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We were one of the few place that had power and I was grateful we didn’t have to throw anything away. During the winter storms we lost everything and that was a bummer. We couldn’t GIVE bagels away. This time it was a pleasure to give our neighbors sustenance and a place to hang out and use the wireless!

Last week’s GroupOn was a major success as we wrapped up the week. It’s been pleasing to see many new faces in the shop. It’s thrilling to see pleased faces when they eat our artisan, fresh, hot, bagels for the first time. We saw new customers and they were people without GroupOn vouchers. That is interesting to me. We also have had more traffic to the website in a couple of days then we’ve had in half a year.  Good stuff.

Tags: bagels, customers, Georgetown bagelry, GroupOn, neighborhood, new faces, power outages, storms