Dudley’s Bagels celebrates its first year in Marin
Locally crafted specialty foods can be found throughout the county, but, for the greatest concentration, there’s no better place than Marin’s farmers markets.
Fairfax resident Will Dudley of Dudley’s Bagels made his first appearance at the Thursday farmers market in San Rafael a year ago this month, where he quickly earned a following and regularly sold-out. In June, he expanded to the seasonal Saturday market in Point Reyes Station and in November, he’ll bring his bagels and spreads to San Francisco’s Stonestown market on Saturdays.
Dudley’s journey from finance to food began in 2020. Having grown up in New Jersey, and later living in Hoboken and Brooklyn, he felt dissatisfied with the local bagel options after relocating to his parents’ home in Sonoma.
“They were more like bread in a bagel shape,” he says.
A combination of circumstances — extra free time during the pandemic, his boss’s retirement and company severance package, and a sourdough starter from his cousin — put Dudley in position to step up and recreate the bagels from his home state.
“Cooking has always been a creative outlet for me. I read a lot of recipes and took what sounded good from each,” says Dudley about his trial-and-error process.
The first challenge was to replicate the perfect everything bagel from his hometown shop, which now represents half of his sales. Positive reviews from family and friends led to growing demand and a weekly pickup spot. In addition to the two farmers markets, Dudley did a two-month breakfast collaboration with the Lodge in Fairfax last spring. In May, he outgrew his kitchen and moved to a shared commissary kitchen in San Rafael, allowing him to increase production.
Dudley describes his bagels as having a “Montreal skin and New York body” — crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside.
The sourdough bagel menu covers all the classics — plain, sesame, salt, poppy and everything —along with rotating specials like onion, rosemary, cinnamon raisin, peanut butter berry and his latest project, pumpernickel. These are made with organic flour, locally sourced produce and sourdough starter, which he prefers to yeast.
For cream cheese, Dudley always offers plain and scallion veggie and adds two to three rotating flavors like cold-smoked (for a salmon flavor without the fish), lox spread, charred jalapeño or caramelized onion.
The “bagel bombs” have become a crowd favorite — a portable bagel-dumpling hybrid stuffed with cream cheese in combinations like everything bagel with plain cream cheese, garlic bagel with charred jalapeño and sesame with scallion veggie.
Though he hasn’t yet tried some of the local heavyweights like Boichik Bagels and Loveski Deli (Larkspur) and Barton’s Bagels (San Anselmo), he’s had family members report back and say they feel confident his bagels are a contender.
Dudley’s biggest skeptics-turned-fans? Surprisingly, he says, it’s the East Coast, die-hard traditionalists who initially doubt whether a California transplant can make an authentic bagel.
“They challenge me at first but buy one and then come back for three more,” he says.
Find Dudley’s Bagels from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursdays at 10 Avenue of the Flags in San Rafael, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays at Toby’s Feed Barn in Point Reyes Station (through Nov. 2) and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays beginning Nov. 10 at 501 Buckingham Way in San Francisco.
Leanne Battelle is a freelance food writer and restaurant columnist. Email her at ij.lbattelle@gmail.com with news and recommendations and follow on Instagram @therealdealmarin for more on local food and updates on the launch of The Real Deal Marin restaurant search guide.