Northeast Portland has an under-the-radar, weekends-only spot for killer bagels. After about a year of doing wholesale baking for local coffee shops and holding occasional pop-ups, Red Hen Bagelry launched its residency at Red Sauce Pizza a couple months ago, selling bagels and bagel sandwiches every weekend for the foreseeable future—including some unusual varieties.
Egg everything bagels, which marry an egg bagel with all the seedy goodness of everything topping, are a rarity in Portland that you’ll find at Red Hen—and former East Coasters are hyped. “People are psyched about it, especially people from New York,” says owner Deirdre Tipley, who grew up on Long Island. There’s also a bagel with black sesame paste swirled into the dough and dotted with chopped chocolate, which Tipley originally launched at a pop-up at now-closed coffee shop Electrica last June. A sweet-salty sesame number inspired by sesame candy is delightfully sticky and chewy. Savory options include za’atar and rosemary sea salt.
There are a dozen flavors of bagels in total, including classics like sesame, poppyseed, and everything. But for Tipley, nothing is as nostalgic as a plain bagel…