When Ann Farrell finds a flavor she likes, it becomes more than food. She sees it as treating herself to something that makes her happy. That’s how she felt when she discovered the lemon lavender bagels at The Daly Bagel, 130 Chicago Ave. in Oak Park.
“It’s like buying yourself flowers, in bagel form, right?” Farrell said.
For bagel shop co-owner Adrienne Guldin, this bagel is special too, a weekly special!
“Every week we have a new or different specialty flavor,” Guldin said. “Because of the way the sugar behaves on this bagel, it’s actually just a spring and summer flavor. It doesn’t behave as well in the winter.”
The dough creation is flavored with lemon zest and lavender flowers, then sprinkled with sugar. Making it a genuinely sweet option when it comes to bagel choices. Note to self: don’t order this bagel to go with the shop’s famous “vampire killer” sandwich, slathered with roasted garlic. Not a combo made in heaven.
Daly bagels are baked fresh each day.
“There are three generally accepted styles of bagels,” Guldin said. “There’s East Coast style, which is what we do. They are a slow ferment. The dough is always made at least the day before and then the bagels are boiled before they’re baked. That’s what gives them the signature shine and texture on the outside and then that chewy inside.”
Other styles are Montreal, which are smaller, sweeter and chewier; and St. Louis which uses a quicker fermented dough that is steamed in the oven. Most larger-sized bagels are St. Louis style.
Getting back to the bagel flavor in question. Inspiration for lemon lavender started with The Great British Baking Show.
“Somebody used it in a signature bake and Paul Hollywood said this is the new, up and coming flavor combination.” According to Guldin her co-owner Amanda Daly started working on the flavor even before they opened their brick-and-mortar store. “We have our own process for putting all the ingredients together. You can’t get them anywhere else. And when we have lemon lavender weeks, we are actually busier than any other weeks.”
The shop carries a variety of cream cheeses that are mixed on site. The one that Farrell likes to pair with her lemon lavender bagel is rhubarb strawberry. It’s a touchstone for childhood memories.
“I grew up with a rhubarb bush in my backyard and I was the only one in my family that would eat it,” Farrell said. “When I left forever from that house, I thought that was the end of my rhubarb career.”
Guldin also shares a love for rhubarb, “I have occasionally taken a tub of strawberry rhubarb cream cheese home and frozen it and eaten it like ice cream.”
When Guldin first created the strawberry rhubarb cream cheese flavor, lemon lavender bagels were one of the specials that week. “Lemons and strawberry and rhubarb goes so well together that I tried it, and I have never looked back.”
Ann Farrell stops by The Daly Bagel one or more times a month. But it’s not always for her own dining pleasure. She regularly picks up leftover bagels that the shop donates to Soup and Bread, an organization that raises money for local organizations addressing food insecurity.
“I don’t know if everyone knows how much they give back to the community,” Farrell said. “I think this place is a great community partner. That’s partially why I picked it. I thought, OK, they deserve this.”
If you have a favorite dish that you’d like to see featured, drop us a line at eats@oakparkeats.com.
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Get in on the flavor:
thedalybagel.com
130 Chicago Ave., Oak Park
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Also open those same hours on Mondays through Aug. 25.
