By Pete Dulin
A fresh-baked bagel with a schmear of scallion cream cheese from Luca Bagel conjured a taste of home for owner Luke Salvatore. Since December 2022, Salvatore has boiled and baked dough to create bagels that reminded him of his upbringing in the Northeast.
“I have family in the tri-state area. I’m accustomed to eating bagels in New York and New Jersey. It was an experience growing up. I spent summers in New Jersey with my grandparents, and we ate bagels one to two times a week,” said Salvatore.
Salvatore, who owns and operates Providence Pizza, runs Luca Bagel as a pop-up at the Grandview and Westport locations. On a Saturday morning, employees bustle about the pizza restaurant behind a bagel counter to fill orders from walkup customers. Luca Bagel has also sold their bagels at the Overland Park Farmers Market and other locations for the past two years.
“We served bagels at the market on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We sold out. We love it,” said Salvatore.
Since he already had access to flour, yeast, and water to make pizza dough, learning how to make bagels from these ingredients wasn’t a stretch.
Customers in Grandview and the surrounding area have snapped up Salvatore’s bagels, such as plain, Everything, asiago, pumpernickel, and savory cheddar serrano. Festive red-and-green holiday bagels are popular this time of year. Other cream cheese flavors for schmearing are hot honey, plain, gingerbread holiday with house-cured lox and herbs, and traditional lox schmear.
After the dough is mixed, the bagels are rolled by hand and made fresh. The entire unrushed process takes 48 hours. This methodical handmade approach delivers flavor quite unlike mass-produced bagels frozen, shipped, and baked for large-scale retail bakery operations.
“I’m still learning, always learning,” said Salvatore about refining his craft. “A New York-style bagel is big, puffy, round, and has a shine (from boiling).”
Salvatore isn’t a stickler for being bound by tradition though. For example, his Everything bagel is made with sourdough. His bagels are baked in a pizza oven rather than a bakery oven. Like the variety of regional pizza styles prepared at Providence, Salvatore aims to provide a “bagel experience.”
“In New York, their bagels would be different from this. Like the thousand people making Neapolitan pizza in New York, some of whom might be from Naples, and technically make a New York-style pizza, it’s always evolving. I’m adapting to see where it goes. If you can make it better, then why not?”
Luca Bagel continues to host pop-ups at Providence Pizza and other spots around the metro area. Dates and locations are announced on the website and their Instagram page.
Salvatore hints at future plans to open a storefront for Luca Bagel but isn’t quite ready to spread the word. Or should we say, schmear?
Further south in Belton, the owners of B’s Bagels & Bialys (100 Main St., Suite C) offer their own homespun approach to bagels, bialys, and other baked goods. Married couple Barbara Steel and Tim Yearout opened their walk-up storefront on Veterans Day in 2023. Open only on Saturdays and Sundays currently, the family-run startup does a steady business.
“I couldn’t get good bagels here,” said Steel, whose Long Island, New York, accent is unmistakable.
Steel’s husband grew up in Lee’s Summit. They chose to open on Main Street in Belton close to their home in the area.
Steel, who grew up in the restaurant business, loves to eat bagels. Naturally, she applied her experience and knowledge to address a local void in East Coast-style noshing.
“We’re a mom-and-pop shop. Built from the ground up. Only family works here. All of our treats are made by hand,” said Steel.
Keeping true to tradition, B’s bagels are boiled and baked. Flavors range from savory jalapeno cheese, plain, asiago, and Everything to sweet French toast, cinnamon raisin, chocolate chip, and more. Steele noted that the rainbow-colored bagel is popular with kids.
Bialys, a cousin to bagels, are typically stuffed with onions and poppy seeds. Adapting to Midwest palates and following her creative whim, Steel also packs a bialy with sausage, bacon, egg, and cheese. Big as the Empire State, a sweet version loads brown sugar, apple, and cinnamon into and on top of a plate-sized bialy. Oof.
For Midwesterners not familiar with the baked goods, Steel clarified that a bialy is “not a pastry.”
“I love bialys personally,” said Steel. “It’s a big thing in New York to grab a bialy and coffee.”
Other menu items include sandwiches, schmears, cannolis, cookies, and “fan favorite” cheesy garlic stuffed bagel topped with seven types of cheese. Double oof.
A man with dark hair and a mustache strolled up to the walkup window. He overheard the conversation and Steel’s mention of Long Island. He proudly announced that he’s from Brooklyn. His smile appeared gracious and grateful, sharing a connection to a fellow New Yorker and expressing thankfulness to find an authentic bite from his home state.
Walking away with a bag of bagels and bialys is apt to put customers in a New York state of mind while in the heart of Belton.
Discover more from Martin City Telegraph
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.