Noms at Owen's Bagel
- Nom
- Dec 1, 2016
- 4 min read
One of the strangest things about Charlotte is your perpetual proximity to a strip club. Personally, this is how I like to give directions to people too because nobody is going to miss or forget a strip club. No, I’m not passing judgment on anyone who does visit these establishments. I just have a weird sense of humor I guess. So why, in a food column, am I writing about a strip club? Well, that is where you need to park...or across the street in the limited parking.
Across the street from the magnificent glowing purple neon lights and sexy silhouettes of naked women is a place called “The Pavilion”. Since I am one of those people who unfairly categorizes things, judges books by their cover, and buys wines by their label, I associated this “pavilion” with Leather and Lace across the street. They share the same color pallete of purple and neon green. But, if you would stop being a loser like me, discriminating and making categorically incorrect assumptions, you would find out that “The Pavilion” is actually kind of cool. And by cool, I mean, It has a restaurant inside that I eat at way too frequently. It’s called Owen’s Bagel. (I have not been inside Leather and Lace, so I cannot vouch for that.)
Einstein Bagels is right down the street from me. I used to walk there fairly frequently when I first moved to Southend. I haven’t been back since my first trip to Owen’s. If you are a hipster, cool, between the age of 20 and 35, or simply have taste buds that are functioning, this is where you should be getting your bagels from now on. This is more of a bagel sandwich though, less of just a “bagel” that you share with the trashcan. If you’re just a plain bagel person who likes cream cheese on an everything bagel, you can get that here, but, what's the point? You can do that at home. This is Owens. Home of the steamed bagel. Branch out.
Owen’s is everything that you like about a food truck inside of a building. Oh, by the way, they have an outdoor patio in the back which nobody uses. I’m not sure if you noticed, but chill outdoor patios that get sunshine are few and far between in Southend. The decor of Owen’s is like the inside of your high school yearbook. It looks like people with different colored Gel-pens decided to just doodle shit all around. Literally. This is not an expression. Either the decorator was inspired by Graffiti or it's some “A Beautiful Mind” stuff going on in there.
The menu is even more fun. These gourmet, and sometimes messy, bagels come with some of the most ridiculous names like the “nice piece of ash” or the “Tonya Harding Club” which happen to be two of my personal favorites. Remember when I said food truck? All of the bagels are delivered at the counter wrapped in a fancy layer of tinfoil. Help yourself to a bag if you need one. I need to locate their suggestion box and tell them that they need a food truck now.
Anyway, I’m not ever going to be a wine connoisseur type of food critic. I can’t describe to you the overtones, undertones, or whatevertones of wine or food. Listen, it tastes really good in my mouth. I’ve had a lot of bagels in my life. I like these and they are currently my favorite. Just do me and yourself a favor and DO NOT BITE INTO THEM right away. Because they are cooked with steam, the bagels are really stinkin' hot. That is a perfect way to ruin your bagel experience with a burned top of your mouth.
So, branch out and enjoy this. Tell them that Nom sent you. They will have no idea who you’re talking about and probably just nod and smile. If you’re still looking for parking, behind the building is probably the best spot. I still can't bring myself to actually park in the strip club parking lot.
Enjoy!
Nom
Hours:
Tuesday - Sunday: 7 am - 3 pm
Monday 7 am - 2 pm
Location
2041 South Boulevard Suite G Charlotte, NC 28203 (704) 333-5385
About The Author:
Thomas also known as "Nom" has gone by this pseudonym since 2010 when his niece was unable to pronounce his name properly and ended up calling him “Nom”. This, not-so-interestingly, is the way most people get their nicknames - unless they were unfortunate enough to do something really stupid enough to earn a much worse nickname like “meatball”. As fate would have it, all of the rest of his nieces have adopted this name for him, and now, unfortunately for him, the rest of the world.
Nom likes eating food. Graduating with an Art Degree in 2008, (not culinary) he has absolutely zero qualifications to be writing a food column. Especially disqualifying is his limited tolerance for many common vegetables and mild (and seemingly selective) lactose intolerance. He isn’t even a very good writer as demonstrated by what you just read. Nobody actually knows why he is writing this column besides the ironic nature of his name.
He will be keeping his day job.
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