Sophie Sonnenfeld Photos.
DERBY — A.M. Bagel is now open for business at 111 New Haven Ave.
The place has already earned a good reputation in the Valley because owners Alexis Pollina and Myron Seniw have been serving the area by doing home deliveries while prepping the new store. They officially open for business today (Thursday Aug. 20) with a ribbon-cutting led by Mayor Rich Dziekan.
Pollina and Seniw (pictured) had been making deliveries of six or thirteen warm bagels on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. A. M. Bagel offers 11 flavors including Onion, Blueberry, Cheddar, Cinnamon Raisin, and Jalapeno Cheddar.
The idea behind the store is simple: there’s no bagel place in Derby. In fact, it’s tough to get a freshly-made old school bagel in the area without traveling to Brugger’s on Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton.
Through the winter Pollina and Seniw started playing around with different recipes. They had friends come over to taste test their many batches of bagels and then sent them all Google form surveys to rate the bagels. “Our friends were getting bagels every weekend and we kept changing them as they gave feedback” Pollina said.
Eventually their friends started asking if they could buy more batches to send to their friends and family. That’s when Pollina and Seniw got their cottage food operation license which allows people in the state to sell homemade low-risk food-related injury or illness food out of their house.
As soon as they started selling the bagels in March, COVID-19 struck. “We were like well this sucks, but it was good for us because people couldn’t leave their houses so we came to them” Seniw said.
And yet word continued to spread about their fresh-baked homemade bagels.
Someone in a Trumbull neighborhood Facebook group posted they were getting bagels from A.M. Bagels and encouraged others to support the business, too. Seniw said the entire neighborhood ended up ordering bagels.
Then another Facebook group of Stratford moms posted about A.M. Bagels. Pollina and Seniw had a flood of 35 orders in 10 minutes from the moms. “We were sitting there like oh my god what’s going on?!” Pollina said.
A.M. (which stands for Alexis Myron) Bagel Logo in their new shop.
In total, Seniw said they’ve made over 1500 deliveries. Their most popular bagels are the everything bagel, cheddar, and sesame. Seniw said he recommends the jalapeno cheddar and Pollina said her favorite is the blueberry. “The blueberry is the best bagel you’ll ever eat. I eat a blueberry every day!” .
Seniw attended culinary school at Johnson and Wales and has been in the food industry for 15 years. He was born in Ukraine and said that as a kid he often spent time in his family’s gardens and kitchen helping to prepare food.
About a year and a half ago, he was laid off from a corporate catering job and was looking to get out of the food world entirely. Seniw applied to become a police officer and was even having interviews just as A.M. Bagel began to take off as a business.
Pollina started out in the food industry as a waitress when she was 16 and worked at an ice cream truck her junior year of high school. She continued to work in restaurants as a waitress, hostess and catering marketing coordinator for ten years. Pollina now teaches ESL in Norwalk, but said she still bakes in her free time.
“With that combination of him being the cook and me being the baker we’re going to have to exercise our whole lives” Pollina said laughing. With their strong foundations in the food industry, Pollina said their skills and techniques have balanced out well to help A.M. Bagels flourish.
Most bagel shops use a machine that pushes out the dough and adds in a hole, but Pollina and Seniw said they always hand-roll theirs. “They’re all uniquely shaped and each one is made by hand which I think makes it taste more authentic and delicious and fresh” Pollina said.
As for their recipe, Seniw said “We tinkered around with different recipes and fell in love with one and made it our own.”
Seniw said what also sets their bagels apart is that they put their toppings inside the bagels. They sprinkle the everything seasoning in the dough of their everything bagels and add in fresh sauteed onions in the onion bagel.
In addition to experimenting with various recipes, every day they watch Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives for inspiration. Just as they were starting A.M. Bagel, Pollina said they watched an episode about a Boston shop called Bagelsaurus.
Pollina and Seniw took notes on Bagelsaurus’ process and realized they should refrigerate their dough overnight to make their own process more efficient. Pollina and Seniw said their goal is to get A.M. Bagel featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives someday.
They initially looked to open up their shop at different locations in Milford and Stratford, but start up costs were too high. Then, Pollina and Seniw got a tip about an empty space where a pizza shop closed down a mile away from their home in Derby. Pollina and Seniw said the location was perfect because it came with working sinks, hood system and a pizza oven. “Everything was already here for us!” Seniw said.
A.M.Bagel’s new space.
Since they got the property in early June, Pollina and Seniw have added in all their own equipment including new ovens, tables, pans, and mixers. They also repainted the shop and put up their logo.
Behind the counter, Seniw installed industrial shelving to hold and display all the bagels and Pollina hung up an antique board from a 200 year old barn where they will write out their menu.
Pollina said they were very lucky to have lots of help from her mom who will also help behind the counter as the shop opens up. She said they also might get help from one of her cousins, Seniw’s eighteen year old brother, and are planning to hire someone to help in the back.
Click here for the AM Bagel Facebook page.
The phone number is (203) 317‑1201.
