The counter sits a step off Main Street downtown, with a few sidewalk tables out front and, at peak, a line worth an app order to skip. You order at the counter, and on Friday and Saturday nights the kitchen keeps going long after the bars have emptied. What draws people is the steaming: since 2013 the shop has built its bagel sandwiches to order and run them through a steamer until the bread goes soft and the fillings warm and melted through. It stays firm on the distinction, not a bagel shop but a sandwich shop that happens to put everything on a bagel.
The board is a wall of named steamers, most of them playful nods to pop culture, among them the Griswold, Mr. Burns, the Club Steamer, the Nacho Maximus, and the breakfast-leaning Sister's Sunrise. Classics like Phillies, Reubens, and Italians sit alongside lighter builds, vegan hummus and vegetables, and a build-your-own for starting from scratch. Gluten-friendly bagels are available for anyone who needs them.
The steamed idea tends to convert the doubtful. Reviewers who walked in unsure what a steamed bagel sandwich even was describe leaving won over, and the same points come up again and again about quick service and easy ordering through the app when the morning is short on time.