The Good Egg: Beer + Bagels 2018
This June, The Good Egg’s co-founders Joel Braham and Alex Coppard are bringing their Beer + Bagels series to Soho with a lineup of North America’s best delis, appetizing stores, restaurants and bagel bakeries paired with craft beers from London’s leading breweries. From NYC legends Russ & Daughters to Montreal’s famed Joe Beef and Rooster Soup Co. over in Philly, each will design an exclusive bagel, available for one night only, every Monday throughout summer, with a huge launch party featuring all the collaborators’ bagel fillings and corresponding beer pairings.
The first bagel will come courtesy of New York stalwarts Russ & Daughters, sharing their signature Classic Bagel & Lox with secret-recipe scallion cream cheese, followed by Brooklyn restaurant Glasserie with their Jerusalem Mixed Grill. Montreal’s Joe Beef will showcase their renowned smoked brisket recipe, followed by Philadelphia’s Rooster Soup Co. and their mushroom Philly Cheese Steak. Ivan Ramen’s Shiso-Cured Salmon with Nori cream cheese will be next up to the pass, followed by Montreal bagel royalty Fairmount Bagel who will step into the ring with their Dijon Egg Salad. The penultimate week will see DJ BBQ’s bagel inspired by his family’s roots in the American Deep South, and rounding off the series; Black Seed Bagels’ ‘everything’ bagel will include all-beef breakfast sausage patty with egg and aged white cheddar.
Kicking off proceedings last night, The Good Egg welcomed world-renowned BBQ aficionado DJ BBQ and the BBQ Zoo crew to the decks, offering guests the one chance to try a selection of smaller versions the guest accompanied by sides including tahini mac ‘n’ cheese and everything slaw, followed by a North American-inspired version of their chocolate bark.
On the taps, The Good Egg teamed up with us (under the guise of the London Craft Beer Festival) and our friends at The Bottle Shop; together we curated a menu of craft beers to complement each of the bagel fillings; from Kernel to Brew By Numbers, Brick, Hackney’s CRATE and Pressure Drop.
The food was incredible, from the loaded ‘zoo’ fries to the delightfully hard to eat bagels – fillings spilling out every which way – and the beers paired wonderfully with the rich deli fillings. The stand out pairing for us was the Rooster Soup Co wild mushroom Philly cheesesteak bagel paired with our own Rhubarb: A User’s Guide – the delicate, herbaceous notes of the beer really complemented the mushrooms and turmeric onions, whilst cutting through that richness and density.
Beer + Bagels 2018 will be running until mid-August, with monthly bagels collabs happening until the end of the year. We advise you to go.