The owner of a popular bagel shop on Maryland’s Kent Island isn’t minding the store right now. That鈥檚 because of his other job 鈥� with the Minnesota Vikings.
Andrew DePaola founded DePaola鈥檚 Bagel and Brunch about three and a half years ago in Stevensville.
DePaola is from northern Baltimore County, but said his time at Rutgers University taught him about good bagels.
鈥淛ust as a kid growing up, I loved bagels. I loved eating them right out of the bag,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd then going up to New Jersey, spending years up there, I think kind of refined my palate a little bit with sandwiches and cream cheeses and spreads and things of that such.鈥�
His experiences visiting family on Kent Island, which he now calls home, also taught him that good bagels and cream cheese were missing there.
鈥淢y wife and I would come back to Maryland in the offseason, visit her sister and her husband in Kent Island, and we’d go out, have a good time, wake up the next morning, and just be like, 鈥業 always wish there was a place to grab like a bagel sandwich,鈥欌�� DePaola said.
So he opened one.
When DePaola is not in town, his parents, who used to run a restaurant in Baltimore County, supervise the business.
鈥淗onestly, I saw an opportunity, and I was hoping it would do well,鈥� he said.
Occasionally, he鈥檒l bring samples to his teammates and coaches in Minnesota. Their feedback is helpful, he said, and sometimes it shows up on the menu.
鈥淐ouple ideas that actually come from some of the guys on the team, some players, some coaches, just throwing in their input, like, 鈥楬ey, you should really try this in one of your cream cheese spreads. Or I wonder if this would go good as a bagel,鈥欌�� DePaola said.
DePaola can also boast of being the only long snapper in NFL history to be picked for the Pro Bowl four seasons straight, according to the Vikings.
At this point, DePaola is less the baker and more the quality control guy. He credits an expert he hired as the one who really gets her hands in the dough. But business is going well enough that a second store is at least something he and his family are willing to think about.
鈥淚 don’t know if we’ll open up another one,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat would be great if we could figure that out. But if not, I’m having a great time with the one location.鈥�
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