Bagels have been booming in Dallas, and there’s a new competitor with roots in Brooklyn poised to enter the scene. Aptly named Brooklyn Bagel, it’s a spin-off of David’s Bagels, a traditional, New York-style bagel spot in Pomona, a small town north of Brooklyn.

The new shop will open at 146 Town Pl. in Fairview, in a new food hall concept from Revolving Kitchen. It’s expected to open in April.

Brooklyn Bagel is owned by John Choi, whose father Sangmann has owned David’s Bagels in Pomona for the last 23 years. Choi moved from New York to Texas, where he now lives in Allen, for a corporate finance job in 2020. But following his father’s footsteps into the bagel business was always in the back of his mind.

“I found out bagels aren’t really a big thing in Texas, but they’re becoming more popular,” Choi says. “I really saw a potential market here and wanted to give it a try to serve the best bagel I can make.”

After working at his father’s bagel shop for “half his life,” opening his own spot makes sense for Choi. Under the new name and branding, Brooklyn Bagel will use many of the same recipes for “authentic” New York bagels as David’s Bagels.

They’ll boil their bagels in water with malt, which gives them the signature, New York texture with a hard skin and soft center. Choi says their bagels will be made fresh every day without leftovers carried over to the next day.

The menu will feature standard bagel flavors like plain, sesame, poppy, everything, and onion, plus breakfast and signature sandwiches. Cream cheese flavors will include plain, honey walnut cranberry, garlic and chives, blueberry, pesto, lemon and dill, and jalapeño.

Sandwiches will include:

• Dumbo: bacon, banana, honey, jalapeno cream cheese, and avocado
• Williamsburg: lox, plain cream cheese, avocado, red onion, tomato, cucumber, and capers
• Flatbush BLT: bacon, lettuce, sun-dried tomatoes, and mayo
• Bensonhurst: cracked pepper turkey, lettuce, tomato, and onion, plus garlic & chive cream cheese

Since moving to North Texas, Choi has witnessed the recent proliferation of bagel shops that have opened in the past few years. However, many of the new spots have been concentrated in Dallas — Starship Bagel, Sclafani’s, Lubbies Bagels, and Abby’s Bagels have all opened recently — with few offerings in the suburbs of Allen and Fairview.

"There’s lots of doughnut shops, but there’s not that many bagel shops nearby,” Choi says. “We have an opportunity here.”

He’s excited to test the waters in the Revolving Kitchen concept, which will include 34 fully equipped commercial kitchens with the goal of helping food entrepreneurs start up a business.

“In this time and era, it seems like the way to go,” he says.

In the interim, he'll be getting the bagel word out at other venues including Frisco Fresh Market, the city’s outdoor farmers market, where Brooklyn Bagels will make its debut as a weekly vendor on March 23.