Bruegger's

WEDNESDAY JOURNAL: Ah, Those New York Bagels

By: Bob Skolnik

This weekend was the grand opening of Bruegger's in downtown Oak Park, a location that Arado's husband, Jim, opened with his younger brother Scott, and Pat Madden, their childhood friend.

"I was coming from the car business and then I'm thinking, 'Wow, I'm going to be a baker,' " Jim Arado said, recalling his inkling that there might just be something to this business after he bit into a Bruegger's bagel in Iowa. Arado, 43, left a job as sales manager at Park Plaza Dodge in Forest Park a few years ago.

The partners all grew up in River Forest and all played linebacker on the Oak Park and River Forest football team. Jim Arado graduated from OPRF in 1983; Scott Arado and Madden were in the Class of 1991. Madden, who still lives in River Forest, has been friends with Scott Arado since they met in fifth grade at Roosevelt School.

Jim Arado was well into pursing his Bruegger's franchise on White Sox opening day last year, when he ran into Madden in a beer line at U.S. Cellular Field. Madden, who had worked at the Chicago Board of Trade for 14 years, had recently quit.

"My love for trading wasn't there anymore," Madden said. "It was time for me to find something else."

Madden and Arado chatted. A week later, Scott Arado, whose career in real estate development in Naples, Fla., had stalled amid the housing crash, decided to join up. The three say they want to open more Bruegger's locations in and around Chicago.

For now, they're touting what makes Bruegger's bagels different.

"I just had never really tasted a bagel like that," Jim Arado said, referring to what he sampled with his wife on their visit to a Bruegger's in Iowa. "I knew there was something different to it and then found out it was boiled."

A big window into the kitchen of the downtown Oak Park shop lets customers see the kettle that everyone from Bruegger's corporate office to servers on Lake Street swears is the company's edge.

"We're the only national chain that boils and bakes our bagels in the traditional New York style," said Jim Greco, president of Bruegger's. The chain, based in Burlington, Vt., was founded in 1983. It has more than 280 stores in 23 states.

David Sokol, an Oak Parker who hails from New York City, gave Bruegger's a thumbs-up Friday morning, saying its bagels remind him of those he grew up with in the Bronx.

"Pretty good," Sokol said. "Fresh, good variety, moist, chewy."

A bagel at Bruegger's is $1.09. A baker's dozen with two tubs of cream cheese is $13.99. The assorted half dozen called Last Night's Bagels is $2.69.

Bruegger's also serves Panini sandwiches, wraps, soups, salads and coffee - which isn't worrying Louise Mihalik, a co-owner of Lido's Caffe, a shop around the corner and down Marion Street in downtown Oak Park. Lido's is less than a year old, and although it doesn't serve bagels, it does serve paninis, soups, salads and coffee.

"It's something a little different," Mihalik said. "I don't think either one of us will hurt each other."

Mihalik, whose Italian coffee shop is at 122 N. Marion, said that she's in favor of anything that brings more foot traffic to the area.

"I think the more places that open up, it helps this town," Mihalik said.