Golden Bagels & Coffee’s house cured nova. The Build Your Own Reuben with corned beef, sauerkraut, Russian, on a sliced and toasted everything bagel, and served with potato salad and made in-house pickles. The Nova Plate with house cured and smoked nova, cream cheese, onions, capers and on an Everything bagel.The many bagel offerings you can choose from behind the Golden counter. The Three Salad Plate featuring the Israeli, Pasta and Shrimp salad. (photos by Christina Martinez).
The details that go into the bagel, coffee and menu program at Golden Bagels & Coffee do not go unnoticed. Upon arrival, Chef Joseph Apa walked me through kitchen stations, through each bagel step process and station, he proudly showed me where his lox and nova cure in the walk-in fridge and he talked history. Details shared before we even glanced at a menu.
The Heights concept is fruited from Katz Coffee owner Avi Katz and local attorney Gregg Goldstein. The duo is working to celebrate classic New York bagel offerings on the menu, with their own gulf twist and freshly cured and smoked fish. And, of course, coffee.
The Golden kitchen is equipped with all the necessary tools, machines and mechanics to produce their 11 bagel offerings. Baking staff comes in around midnight to begin the process and passes in the early morning with the morning shift at about 5 a.m. Bagels are made fresh daily and choices are abound. On top of 11 bagel offerings, 14 spreads are also an option.
“The Cutler oven is refurbished from New York,” chef Joseph Apa said. “It’s a bagel oven and we had it shipped from New York to Houston.”
If you are a lox and/or nova person, Golden Bagels and chef Apa have a treat for you.
“Everything is from Airline seafood,” Apa said. “The cure process takes me about 66 hours. After it is smoked and chilled, the full process is about 72 hours and everything is hand sliced.”
The smoke process for the fish is probably one of the only things that chef Joe and his Golden team do not tackle in-house. Just down the road in the old Katz Coffee warehouse on 34th Street is where Apa has made his smoke house and equipment.
During my visit, chef suggested we try the Build Your Own Reuben – opting for corned beef, sauerkraut, Russian, on a sliced and toasted everything bagel, and served with made in-house pickles; we also ordered the Nova Plate and tried the Three Salad Plate that comes with bagel chips! The three salads we opted for were the Israeli, Pasta and Shrimp – all were delightfully fresh and paired perfectly with a bagel chip.
Also during my lunch visit I tried the Café De Olla, a Nitro cold brew on tap with chocolate, cinnamon, anise and piloncillo notes; a second tap is their Jumping Mouse on CO2, a milk chocolate and currants tasting cold brew. You can also find classic coffee offerings like a Cafe Latte, Cortado, Americano and more. These offerings are all Katz Coffee at the core, naturally.
Apa said currently they have two frequent customers: the weekday morning customer that comes early for a coffee and a bagel(s) to-go before work. The second customer is the weekend customer that comes to hangout, order a few things for the table to try and share, and slow down with friends.
The menu offers breakfast and lunch options, ample seating inside and out, and there’s even wi-fi for when you need to get things done.
The Golden menu is fresh and bright and Apa’s attention to detail and cured/smoked fish program is unrivaled.
Email christina@theleadernews.com
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