From Bethesda Magazine: There’s a bagel boom happening in Bethesda

Three businesses are setting up new shops

July 1, 2026 4:21 p.m.

The humble yet beloved bagel is experiencing a renaissance with three shops slated to open in Bethesda in the coming months. Here are the mouthwatering details:

The hype is rising around Connecticut-based Popup Bagels’ upcoming location in downtown Bethesda. The roughly 1,200-square-foot spot on the ground floor of the Solaire apartment building will be the chain’s first in Maryland and follows one that opened to big crowds in April in Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood.

Popup Bagels serves just a few flavors—plain, salt, sesame, everything and poppy seed—and all are intended to be ripped apart and dipped in tubs of schmear. Bagels are made on-site and are hand-rolled and kettle-boiled. “The dough is proofed, it’s boiled, it is seeded and baked and served hot right at the location,” says Brian Harrington, a franchiser of six Popup Bagels, including the Bethesda and D.C. locations.

Razzle-dazzle comes from a rotating weekly menu of schmears, with flavors and collabs dropping to a dedicated social media following (June offered a cream cheese made with Truff brand hot sauce, and a flavored butter made with Boston-born Grillo’s Pickles). In early June, Harrington said the shop was “getting close” to opening.

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Popup Bagels, 7607 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, popupbagels.com

Esvin’s Bagels and Cafe

Esvin Gramajo Barrios and his father, Esvin Gramajo Hernandes, have worked in restaurants and eventually decided to open a bagel venture together. Esvin’s Bagels and Cafe will offer hand-rolled, kettle-boiled bagels in a variety of flavors, and drinks made with coffee from Gramajo Hernandes’ native Guatemala. The Oxon Hill, Maryland, residents plan to offer unique bagel sandwiches, such as the Chimichurri Bagel, a housemade bagel topped with chimichurri sauce and steak. The space in Westfield Montgomery mall will feature an olive green and cocoa brown scheme and an outdoor patio (near The Cheesecake Factory). As of mid-June, Gramajo Barrios says the shop is waiting to receive a plumbing permit before it can open.

Esvin’s Bagels and Cafe, 7101 Democracy Blvd. (Westfield Montgomery mall), Bethesda, esvinsbagelandcoffee.com

Call Your Mother

This Washington, D.C.-based bagel business rolled out its first location in 2018. Several shops have opened since and by early August Call Your Mother plans to open a shop with a teal exterior paint job at the corner of St. Elmo and Norfolk avenues, according to co-owner Andrew Dana.

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Call Your Mother makes its dough with honey for light sweetness and boils its bagels at a central commissary. The bagels, baked at each location, come in seven “core” flavors plus seasonal offerings (the summer menu features a pretzel bagel). The Call Your Mother menu centers on imaginative bagel sandwiches that are the creations of co-owner and chef Daniela Moreira. Summer items include a Chicago hot dog on a bagel bun, and the Delray Club, a bagel sandwich stacked with bacon, jalapeno, potato chips, nectarine slices and peach-flavored cream cheese. Call Your Mother’s Woodmont Triangle location will offer espresso drinks, such as a peanut butter and jelly-flavored iced latte.

Call Your Mother, 4828 St. Elmo Ave., Bethesda, callyourmotherdeli.com

This appears in the July/August 2026 issue of Bethesda Magazine.

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine