Exodus Bagels Will Open a Diner & Deli in Roslindale

(L to R) Adam Hirsh and David Dubois and an Exodus Bagels roast beef sandwich at a recent Egleston Farmers Market. / Photo via Facebook

UPDATE, August 10: Adam Hirsh has launched a $60,000 Kickstarter campaign to help fund Exodus Bagels diner and deli. If all goes well, the restaurant could start selling bagels on premises in December, with counter and table service coming next year. Exodus has until September 10 to meet its goal.

PREVIOUSLY:

With more than 140, meticulously-numbered batches of bagels under his belt, baker Adam Hirsh is ready to open his own restaurant. Exodus, a diner, deli, and brick-and-mortar shop for the bagels he began experimenting with more than two years ago, is coming to Roslindale, Hirsh and his partners announced last night.

A longtime Jamaica Plain resident and former manager at Pomodoro in Brookline, Hirsh has been full-time with Exodus Bagels since late 2014. It’s his first baking venture. Along with his wife and business owner Priscilla Andrade, executive chef Seth Morrison, a former partner at the Gallows, and sous chef David Dubois, Hirsh has built up a loyal fanbase through the Egleston Farmers Market and frequent pop-ups around Boston, with sesame, jalapeño-cheddar, salt, and other classic bagels, spreads, creative sandwiches (smoked salmon with avocado orange caper relish, “carrot lox“), and specials like schmaltz-and-bagel meal-matzoh ball soup.

He has long wanted to open an all-day breakfast restaurant, he previously told Boston. “I want to open a place in my neighborhood. Before opening anything though, I wanted to make sure it was something people were willing to go say an extra mile for,” he said.

The Exodus team at their soon-to-be storefront in Roslindale. / Photo by Derek Palmer provided

Exodus’s new kitchen is about four miles from Egleston Square, on the end of McCraw Street in Roslindale. “I could throw a bagel at the Bellevue Commuter Rail platform,” Hirsh says.

The building, formerly Tables of Content catering, is currently zoned as a production kitchen, not for restaurant service or retail. Hirsh’s lease starts August 1, at which point he’ll begin the rezoning and licensing process with the city.

“This can, and will take at least three months,” Hirsh says, adding that the team also needs to renovate what is currently office space into a 60-seat dining room. Exodus will launch a Kickstarter after the Fourth of July to help raise money for the buildout.

“There are a lot of great design/functionality ideas in the air, but in the end, the money we raise over the next two months will determine this reality,” he says. “We want counter seating, and there will eventually be table service.” There will also be a “curated coffee program,” but no espresso drinks, he says.

While Exodus raises money, begins renovations, and wades through the zoning process, the team will continue to be a regular vendor at the Egleston Farmers Market. They will also ramp up private and corporate catering, Hirsch says.

“This is a big leap for us, so we need to create revenue streams for our survival the first few months,” he says.

Keep an eye on Exodus’s social media for news about upcoming events, as well as the launch of the crowdfunding campaign. (See update above.)

It’s no New York, but the Boston area is no longer the bagel desert it once was. It now boasts Mary Ting Hyatt’s Bagelsaurus, Moody’s Delicatessen baker Luke Fetbroth‘s gluten goods, and regular availability of Better Bagels at 7ate9 Bakery in Somerville. Already this year, Benchmen Bagel Co. has joined the pop-up scene, and next week, Levend Bagelry will debut its kiosk at the Boston Public Market.

Exodus Bagels, Diner & Deli, opening late 2016/early 2017 on McCraw Street, Roslindale, exodusbagels.com.