Courtesy of Emerald City Bagels
Courtesy of Emerald City Bagels
Mother-and-daughter Deanna and Jackie Halcrow started serving their New York-style bagels in East Atlanta Village in 2018, after years accumulating a following at farmers markets and pop-ups. Six years later, their long-awaited BeltLine shop is finally open.
Located in the Citizen building near Kevin Gillespie’s now-defunct Cold Beer, Emerald City is modeled after old-school delis and pharmacy counters where the staff dons white coats and paper hats. The menu of both locations is similar, but with all bagel-making taking place in East Atlanta, the BeltLine outpost was able to expand its coffee program and add an automat for faster service.
Long Island natives, the Halcrows serve traditional bagel flavors such as plain, poppy, sesame, and everything, as well as more specialty options like pretzel, sea salt olive oil, and rosemary sea salt. Sandwich offerings include whitefish salad, egg salad, Scottish lox, pastrami, and of course, a BLT. Vegetarian options and vegan cream cheese are also available. Customers will be able to tap their credit card to purchase a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel without even entering the store when the Halcrows’ automat arrives from Denmark. As Jackie Halcrow explains it, the machine will be able to serve four different types of bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches (including one without bacon). Emerald City staff will monitor the machine constantly, ensuring sandwiches are fresh.
Courtesy of Emerald City Bagels
Courtesy of Emerald City Bagels
Inside the shop, patrons can order a variety of cold brew coffees, from salted mocha to brown sugar cardamon to a cold brew seltzer with orange peel—iced matcha too.
Although the new space is similar in size and looks to the original (hard wood elements, a letterboard menu), it features a terrazzo countertop instead of marble and a counter for standing and eating, rather than a handful of seats. It does, however, offer space for 20 people to dine outdoors comfortably under umbrellas.
Courtesy of Emerald City Bagels
More exciting, the Halcrows have added small bits of entertainment to the Emerald City experience. Customers can send pre-stamped postcards from the shop or dial a number on the complimentary pay phone to listen to a message from the “bagel fairy.”
“We’re trying to give people something to do while they wait for their bagels,” Jackie Halcrow says.
Next up, the Halcrows are considering investing in a production facility so they can focus on wholesale, shipping bagels nationwide. They also want to get into the specialty food world and make parbaked bagels.
