838: How Apollo Bagels Took Over NYC… and Tokyo with Joey Scalabrino

Joey Scalabrino (0:08)

For me, I just wanted to not look like a bagel shop. We didn't have so many cream cheeses, so I didn't need that fridge up in the front. And I want to look like just like some sort of bakery, eatery that just happened to only sell bagels.

Aliza Abarbanel (0:20)

Yeah.

Joey Scalabrino (0:21)

And then that's evolved over time since the first one and always playing around with something new with the interior.

Aliza Abarbanel (0:30)

This is TASTE. I'm your host, Aliza Abarbanel.

Joey Scalabrino is the co-founder of Apollo Bagels, a new school bagel shop rooted in old world techniques with nine locations across New York City and Jersey. He started making bagels in The Kitchen at Leo, the Williamsburg Sourdough Pizza Restaurant, and built Apollo through thoughtful pop-ups, design, and collabs. Today on the show, we talk about building up Apollo Bagels. It's recent mega-popular pop-up with Dean & DeLuca in Tokyo and its brand new bagel chips. And at the top of the show, Matt and I talk about some of the fall cookbooks catching our eye.

Matt Rodbard (1:11)

Aliza, we are back. How are you doing?

Aliza Abarbanel (1:12)

I'm doing well, Matt. How are you?

Matt Rodbard (1:14)

I'm doing great. We are in the midst of the fall cookbook season, and I wanted to take this time to talk about some books that we're looking forward to. These are not out yet. And, you know, I think the preface is that we haven't seen these books, like, at least in their physical form. I've seen a couple of mine in PDF form. So I don't want to take away from the actual bookmaking, like the trim, the paper quality, all that is really goes into assessment of these cookbooks. And I haven't physically held all these books. So that's like the preface.

But it's such a cool season right now.

Aliza Abarbanel (1:50)

Yeah, there are a lot of things to be excited about, and I'm looking forward to cooking from all of these books and many more that we're not discussing.

Matt Rodbard (1:57)

Absolutely. We have a really full lineup of conversations this fall with so many authors from around the world of cookbooks. And we'll be dropping those all fall into December. And so many cool authors. Okay, the first one is The Kitchen I Came Home To from Sarah Bradley with Emily Timberlake, my old colleague here at Crown. That's out September 29th. This book really speaks to me. It's from Bradley who was a Top Chef runner up twice. Top Chef of Kentucky and Top Chef World All Stars and a Chopped Grand Champion. So big TV chef. I'd known the name Sarah Bradley, but I didn't really know her story until I checked out this book. And it's a really interesting approach. I mean, she's from Paducah, Kentucky, which as somebody who grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, I grew up in a version of that city that, yes, there is a Paducah, Kentucky, yes, there is a Kalamazoo, Michigan. Respect. It's more of a Midwestern book than anything. It's not a Southern book. And I think the thread here is that Sarah is sharing her Jewish traditions, but also the Appalachian traditions, Midwestern traditions in some ways.

She says it's not the Midwest, not the South, but the middle of everywhere is how she describes Paducah. And I think that's well said.

But I love it. She's a chef at Freight House in her hometown. And really, the recipes jumped out on the page. Like a couple of them that came come to mind, the beer cheese with crudite. Yes, please. There's a pepperoni dip. There's a cornbread salad with knot ranch, which she's describing as a Midwestern taco salad, which I think is really, really fun. And there's a honey cougar recipe that has a little bit of a twist. And then there's this pimento cheese waffle, that beautiful photography there and cool idea. Like, yes, more pimento than waffle, please.

And I just love the way it's written. It's really well done. That's The Kitchen I Came Home To from Sarah Bradley.

Aliza Abarbanel (3:58)

Incredible start.

Matt Rodbard (3:59)

What's your first one?

Aliza Abarbanel (4:00)

My first one that I want to call out is Nixta Taqueria Presents, From Tacos to Tahdig, Recipes and Stories from Mexico, Iran and the Inbetween. And this is a cookbook from Nixta Taqueria in Austin, Texas, which I have wanted to go to for years and never been to. I've actually never been to Austin.

Matt Rodbard (4:17)

Wait, really?

Aliza Abarbanel (4:18)

Yes. So, this is, I think, what's so cool about cookbooks is that you can try recipes from a restaurant that you've never had the opportunity to go to. And there's so many recipes in this book that I want to try. This is from this couple, Sarah Mardambigi and Edgar Rico. And Sarah is of Iranian descent and Edgar is of Mexican descent. And they are kind of sharing recipes from each of their backgrounds and also like intermingling between the two in a way that just sounds really delicious and fun to me. So they have smash burgers, al pastor, saffron tres leches, torta de milanesa de pollo, chicharrones and salsa verde, and then also kind of more Persian staples like cuckoo sabzi, feshenjan.