Who Needs 7-Eleven When You've Got Bagel Heaven?

Whenever I think of where to go for my next post, I automatically think of food first. So, without further ado, I’d like to present Bagel Street Deli, the best fast food shop in Athens.

During class on Wednesday, my stomach was hankering for a tasty, toasted bagel sandwich, or “bagelwich.” I’d been waiting to go to Bagel Street for days but never had the chance.

  Class was over; the time had come.

My friend Jess and I headed from Scripps to Court Street. Bagel Street came into sight and my mouth began to water at the thought. What shall I get this time? I pondered.

Jess and I pulled open the glass door and excitedly walked into the narrow, dimly lit restaurant that smells like toast. The red brick walls are covered in aluminum foil figures and the chalk signatures of loyal customers.

We continued down the thin hallway to the ordering counter. To my left hung two gigantic chalkboards with their signature selections sorted into categories: Breakfast Served Anytime, Originals, Carnivorous Cravers, Poultry Pursuers and Veggie Delights.

Each of these creations is served on your choice of bagel (There are 22 to choose from!).

My typical Bagel Street experience involves me getting a Tom’s Turkey with an Oweo for dessert. Wednesday was my lucky day because Tom’s Turkey was the special of the day for only $3.25.

Once we ordered and received our bagels, we ate at a table created with Naked Juice lids.

I carefully unwrapped the warm aluminum foil, suddenly smelling the aroma that was being concealed by the foil. I took a large bite, getting a taste of everything (sun-dried tomato bagel, American cheese, mayo, tomato, lettuce and turkey). Within 10 minutes, I devoured the entire thing, without one crumb to spare. Jess did the same with her OU Bagel (a wheat bagel with cream cheese and bacon). I think we finished our sandwiches so fast because we knew what was coming for dessert.

The Oweo. A delectable, gooey mess made of two, fist-sized chocolate chip cookies with cream cheese in the middle. The sandwich is then steamed, which brings out the flavors. The two of us split one of these delicious treats, and that too was gone within minutes. 

Although it took us literally fifteen minutes to eat, the uniqueness of the place kept us there chatting for about an hour, which was probably the best hour of my day.

An Athens-Themed Weekend

Every week, I show you to a different business in Athens and attempt to describe the feel of each place in two blog posts.  But with this week’s second post, I’m stepping slightly out of topic.  Only slightly.  Instead of another post on Athens Underground, I want to take you through my Athens-themed weekend with my parents.

Ohio University has quite a few weekends each year dedicated to the family visiting—Parents Weekend, Sibs Weekend, Moms Weekend and Dads Weekend. Not only do our families have an excuse to visit us and check out the town and our lives as students, but we also have the opportunity to bring money to local businesses in Athens.  But does it really bring money to the little shops, or does it just provide more business for Applebee’s or Bob Evans?

In my attempts to stick it to the “corporate” man, I took Mom and Dad to the little Athens wonders, which I’m in love with. During the 27 hours they were with me, we jumped from place to place, starting with the Athens Farmers Market, an outdoor market located on East State Street, where local producers and businesses sell fresh produce, fruit, breads, pastries, salsas, jellies, flavored coffee and so much more.

At the AFM, Mom and Dad bought me necessities to get me through the next four weeks—pumpkin spice coffee, pineapple hot salsa and Fuji apples. After roaming through the crowds for a bit and getting me a blueberry muffin for breakfast, we left to get any remaining food items from Kroger (OK, I didn’t completely stick it to the corporate man, but you get the point). 

From there, we hopped to Brennan’s for a soup-and-sandwich lunch and some chatting. Then to Donkey for some hot, non-fat vanilla chai drinking, some Pastimes board game playing and chatting (I had to take Dad to Donkey since he’s never been there).  Because of the hours of chatting, we were hungry again, so we left for Casa Nueva, where we ate our share of local veggies with a Mexican kick and did some more, you guessed it, chatting. Sorry, no habanero salsa this time.

We finished up the rest of yesterday by sitting in the lobby of my dorm playing 500 Rummy, and … chatting.

This morning after church, we traveled to the Village Bakery on East State Street to feed our appetite for healthy, local foods yet again. Sitting on high stools next to the window, we enjoyed our slices of quiche Lorraine and fresh, sweet apples and pears. Oh, and we did more chatting.

If you haven’t noticed, we do a lot of eating and chatting.

Although my throat is still a tad bit dry from all the chatting I did this weekend, I wouldn’t have traded that time for anything.

Undergrounding Photos

We took these photos before the employees yelled at us for taking pictures in the store.

I wanted to be a part of the Red Hat Society.

Leah and I felt like wearing all the old-fashioned hats.

Jess is pretending to be a cowgirl.

I found a copy of Life Magazine from 1942 dated Dec. 14, my birthday.