Brooklyn Water Bagel comes to Charlotte

If you’re one of Charlotte’s many transplanted New Yorkers and have been aching for a taste of home, come out on Feb. 12 for the opening of the region’s first Brooklyn Water Bagel franchise store at 15105 John J Delaney Drive. This company claims to produce the most authentic Brooklyn-style bagels in the nation.

We shall see.

The secret, as the catchphrase states, is “it’s all about the water!” Brooklyn Water Bagel’s hook is that it uses a special process to “Brooklynize” the water used in all products – bagels, baked goods and coffee are all made with this special formula water.

What makes the water special, you ask? I had the same question. The company’s website is a little vague on that point, saying only that regular tap water is filtered down to laboratory-grade H20 and then infused with “those unique elements found only in New York water.”

I get the impression that Brooklyn Water Bagels strives to be as mysterious as possible. Hey, it’s working, at least in my case. I’m so curious that I will gladly go out of my way to see what the hype is about. Judging from the menu offering everything from gourmet bagels to breakfast sandwiches to melts and muffins, I’ll at least get a decent meal out of it.

The company’s marketing strategy seems to be paying off, judging from its rapid growth. The first store was opened by Brooklyn-born Steven Fassberg in Florida in 2009, but Brooklyn Water Bagel now has seventeen locations in six states. If the public at large is anything like me, this may be due in part to their signature Iced Coffee Cubsta – iced coffee in which the ice cubes are made of coffee. I’m salivating as I type.

This article appears in Feb 5-11, 2014.