Bagels News

Dallas' Starship Bagel releases Rocky-esque video for national competition

Eye of the Bagel.

Lila Levy

Dallas' top bagel shop Starship Bagel is participating in the 2023 edition of New York BagelFest, taking place in New York October 21-22, competing against more than two dozen bagel bakers from around the world.

BagelFest is a celebration dedicated to all things bagel, with bagels, bagel sandwiches, speakers, games, photo ops, and demonstrations — all climaxed by "The Best Bagel" contest with more than two dozen contestants from around the world. Starship — rated the best bagel in Dallas — is the only bagel shop from Texas to compete.

In preparation for the event, Starship founder Oren Salomon is currently in residence at Bagel Market, a small chain in New York who've lent their kitchen to become Starship's temporary headquarters.

Salomon brought a team of five to help produce the bagels he'll serve over the course of the two-day event. "We're tasked with making 800 samples per day," Salomon says.

They'll be serving menu highlights including a bagel and schmear; the Millennial Falcon with choice of schmear, plus smashed avocado, tomato, pickled red onion, sprouts, and red pepper; and Supernova Lox, topped with Acme Nova Lox, tomato, cucumber, red onion, and capers.

"We’re also doing a collaboration at the event with New School American cheese, where we'll be serving a bagel grilled cheese on our Italian bagel," Salomon says.

Part of the competition entailed the making of a video: It's called "Eye of the Bagel" - a parody of "Eye of the Tiger," the song by Survivor.

For the video portion, Salomon used portions of a documentary about Starship shot as part of a WFAA series. For the soundtrack, he enlisted a top musical team headed by award-winning recording, mixing, and mastering engineer and producer Michael Briggs of Civil Audio in Denton.

Briggs is a regular at the original location of Starship in Lewisville. "I'm picky about bagels, and Starship has the best in Texas," Briggs says. "Whenever I go in, I stand by the oven so I can get one fresh."

Briggs recruited Mills Chaiken on guitar and Dean Adams on drums - "my usual studio session musicians," he says.

The greatest challenge was finding the right singer to recreate the distinctive vocal style of original Survivor singer David Bickler, and it was a flash of genius: Leah Lane, the epic singer-guitarist of Dallas alt-rock band Rosegarden Funeral Party. A girl!

"It's a great cover, and Leah killed it on vocals," Briggs says.

They all collaborated, including Salomon, on the lyrics:

Wrap it up, ready to eat

Wakin' up, feelin' hangry

The ovens boiling, You can feel the oven’s heat

Just a mensch 3 AM

Bagel time

It’s the eye of the bagel, It’s the tooth of the bite

It’s the chew that you find on the inside

The last bagel standing Will take home the prize

And she’s judging us all through

The eye of the bagel

"It felt Rocky-esque, like you’re training for this Olympic level challenge," Salomon says.

chefs video

Festival News

North Texas Irish Festival leaves Dallas' Fair Park and heads north

Photo courtesy of North Texas Irish Festival

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The long-running North Texas Irish Festival has decided to pull up stakes from its home in Fair Park and relocate to Denton, starting with its 2027 edition.

According to a release, the 2027 event will be held at the North Texas Fairgrounds on March 13 and 14.

Produced by the Southwest Celtic Music Association, the festival has been in existence since 1983, growing into one of the largest Irish festivals in the United States.

The festival was the second-largest annual event at Fair Park, behind only the State Fair of Texas.

In a phone interview with CultureMap, North Texas Irish Festival entertainment director Sheri Bush, who has been with the event since 1997, said the impetus for the move was when Fair Park First took over management of Fair Park in 2019.

Prior to that year, Bush said, Fair Park allowed the North Texas Irish Festival to handle all of the logistics of the event, from ticketing to concessions to security. But that changed under Fair Park First, which - among other things - raised ticket prices to a degree that it was affecting attendance, she said.

Bush said the loss of control, combined with the deteriorating condition of Fair Park's buildings, attendees' perception that the area was unsafe, and what she described as a lack of promotion by the city of Dallas, ultimately made relocating a more appealing option than staying.

The city of Denton has shown an enthusiasm for the event that has been lacking from Dallas, and all logistics will once again be under the festival's control, Bush said.

The move to Denton will not change anything about what the festival has to offer, including including multiple stages of live Celtic music, Irish step dancing performances, cultural demonstrations, storytelling, shopping, authentic food and drink, and more.

"We’re honored that the North Texas Irish Festival has chosen Denton as its new home," said Denton Mayor Chris Watts in a statement. "This move reflects our city’s commitment and reputation as a premier destination for arts, culture and community events."

Festival organizers say in the release that Denton's renowned arts and music community makes it a natural fit for the North Texas Irish Festival.

"Denton is known for embracing music and creativity," Bush said in the release. "Those values align perfectly with what the North Texas Irish Festival has represented for more than four decades. We're excited to become part of the Denton community while continuing to welcome attendees from across Texas and beyond."

Additional details, including the performer lineup and ticket information will be announced in the coming months.

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