Watertown will have a new place to grab bagels, coffee, and soon brunch when Wicked Bagel opens on School Street.
The location at 68 School St., the former Porcini’s spot, will be the third for Wicked Bagel, which also has stores in Lexington and Woburn. Wicked Bagel opens for business on Saturday, June 1, and will be open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Wicked Bagel President Maria Mahoney said customers will get a discount during the opening weekend, with 25 percent off the entire order for walk-ins on Saturday and Sunday.
The Watertown store will have something that the other two locations do not offer – brunch with alcohol available.
“We’ll have pancakes, French toast, Eggs Benedict, along with bagels, breakfast sandwiches and coffee,” Mahoney said.
Wicked Bagel also makes the cream cheese spreads in house. The menu also includes items such as sandwiches featuring Boar’s Head deli items, pizza bagels, and fresh made baked goods, said Joe McLaughlin, who will be the manager of the Watertown store.
Brunch will begin within the next week, Mahoney said, along with online ordering.
There will be seating for about 40 inside, and the back patio seats about the same number.
Former Porcini diners may not recognize the space, which was gutted, and rebuilt with a bright open layout with white tiles and exposed ceiling. The look, and the concept for Wicked Bagel, was inspired by the local bagel shop that Maria and her husband Jack would go to when the lived in New York
“We would have our bagel with cream cheese, a coffee, and sit and read the newspaper,” Maria said. “When we came back my husband said, ‘I can’t believe we can’t find a good bagel.'”
Wicked Bagel will serve what Maria calls real New York bagels, “not bread bagels.” And customers will be able to see them being made.
The bagels start in a giant mixer, upstairs, then are put into a former, which makes what starts to look like a bagel. Then employees will shape them into the final bagel shape and they will be placed on racks that go in an elevator to take them into the basement where they will proof.
When the bagels have risen enough, they are put in racks that hold 600 bagels in the walk-in cooler, a large walk-in space that had to be dug into the floor to fit in the basement. The next day, they go back upstairs, are boiled in a big kettle for about 30 seconds, and then the seasoning is added before they bake for about 2o minutes.
The bagels will be made fresh every day, and those that aren’t sold will be donated to a local food pantry or a food rescue organization, Mahoney said.
As with other locations, Wicked Bagel will employ local residents, many of which are teens, McLauglin said.
The Mahoneys have been working with McLaughlin for about 25 years. They started working together as a subcontractor for Aramark at stadiums and NASCAR race tracks around the country. The first Wicked Bagel started in Lexington over seven years ago, and the second one opened in Woburn two years ago this July.
Wicked Bagel also does a lot of catering for companies around the region, many of which are in Boston. The Watertown location will become the center for those orders.
Find out more about Wicked Bagel, and see the menu, at wickedbagel.com.
Finally! Bagels right here in Watertown!
A dream come true.