Get To Know Red Hen Bagelry in Portland

Back in February, my friend Judith raved about the bagels she got from Red Hen Bagelry. She said, “Best bagels I’ve had in a looooong time.” We both lived in NYC for a number of years and ate our share of bagels during that time. So I would say we’ve had solid experiences with NYC-style bagels enough to know what is good and what is not.

I reached out to Deirdre Tipley, owner at Red Hen Bagelry, to learn more about their bagels and their business, and we had a nice chat on a rainy morning at Sebastiano’s in Sellwood.

A Bit About Deirdre

Deirdre has lived in Portland for about 10 years, and before that they lived on Long Island. They grew up in Saint James on the Island’s north shore, and then moved to Port Jefferson during high school. When their brother and cousin moved to Brooklyn, they would go into the city to meet up with them.

At one point in our conversation, we realized we are both Seawolves as fellow alumni of Stony Brook University (where I got my doctorate in harpsichord and early music studies). We reminisced about the local deli, the fish market, and various restaurants, including Mario’s, which was up the hill in East Setauket.

Mario’s, along Rte 25A, was owned and operated by their family, and is now closed. Their family bought it in 1978, sold it in 2007, and purchased it again in 2020, operating it until its closure. As you can probably guess, Italian food was involved, “like a pizzeria—and then they expanded it and had a bar,” said Deirdre.

They grew up working in the kitchen at Mario’s, and spent time learning to make pizza dough (“I’ve always been with dough.”), and doing general work in a restaurant kitchen. They did not make bagels at the time.

So what brought Deirdre to Portland? “I came to visit,” they explained. “I had some friends that moved out here, and I just really liked it. I think I was ready for a change.”

Why Bagels and Not Pizza

Though they worked with pizza dough back on Long Island, they found themself focusing on bagel dough in Portland. So why was that they case? “Moving out here, I just couldn’t find a good bagel,” they said. NB: I have heard this from many New Yorkers out here.

And they told me a story about what prompted them to work with bagels. “When I first moved out here I moved in with friends, and we would go out for brunch a lot,” they explained. “One day my friends said, ‘We’re going to go get bagels.'”

They continued, “And, I so we go in. I order a bagel sandwich and sit down. The place is packed. Everyone’s smiling enjoying themselves, just eating like it’s the best day of their lives. And I take my first bite of this bagel, and I’m like, ‘This is not a bagel.'”

I wondered was it was about that bagel that they found lacking. “This is years ago, but from what I remember it was just super dense,” they said. “Flavor wasn’t there. Nothing that I like in a bagel was there. So I thought, ‘I’m going to work on this—let me see if I can make a good bagel.'”

So what are the qualities of a good bagel, according to Deirdre? “I think it has to be chewy, but not too much. I like to see that when you take a bite, there is a little bounce back.”

“And not gummy,” they added.

The Goal of Red Hen Bagelry Bagels

I was curious to know what their main aim is with their bagels. Is it the texture? The flavor? The heft? “I mean, it’s the whole package,” they said. And they’ve done a lot of testing to get where they want with their bagels. “I worked on it,” Deirdre said. “I tweaked one little thing at a time, each time in the recipe, just to get closer and closer to the bagel I grew up on.”

They continued, “Maybe there’s a better bagel, but to me, this reminds me of home.”

Some Hot Bagel Topics

Like pizza, bagels are a food item people have strong opinions about. I brought up a few topics people like to debate on when it comes to bagels, and Deirdre was kind enough to humor me.

“It’s the Water”

There’s this assertion I’ve heard over the years, and it goes like this: “A lot of people argue that you can’t get a good New York style bagel here because the water is different than NYC’s.” I asked them what they thought about that.

They responded, “I think that is BS.”

“Because if that was true, we wouldn’t have good bread out here,” they continued. “I think it’s just that New Yorkers have done it longer, so they know how to use what they have to produce a good bagel—and you have to do that anywhere you are.”

Boiling vs. Steaming

There are definitely strong feelings about the boil vs steam controversy, and Deirdre was generous in their attitude. They brought up Olmo Bagels in New Haven, which they consider to be a good bagel shop—and it has won multiple awards at the NYC Bagel Fest.

At Red Hen, they boil their bagels, but give the benefit of the doubt as to why some might want to steam them. “Maybe it’s for higher production or to produce them more quickly,” they suggested.

The Scooped Bagel

When I worked in Manhattan, we’d have bagels on Fridays at the office. A number of my coworkers would scoop out the interior of the bagel, leaving mostly crust behind—and a kind of trench for adding cream cheese. Full disclosure: It was never my preference to do so. So I asked Deirdre what they thought of this practice.

“With a scooped bagel, you should do that behind closed doors,” they said. “Take your bagel home and do that in private if that’s what you want. Don’t let me see it.”

They continued, “It’s taking away an important part of what makes the bagel a bagel. I mean, sure, the crust and the exterior are important, but so is the interior.”

“When you cannibalize the bagel, you turn it into something it isn’t,” they remarked.

The Bagels at Red Hen Bagelry

All Red Hen Bagelry bagels on the standard menu are vegan. Those bagels are: water/plain, sesame, poppy seed, everything, rosemary sea salt, and onion. This means no egg bagels (which are hard to find in the area anyway).

Additionally, they do a za’atar and a sweet & salty bagel. They’ve done a cranberry sage flavor, masala chai golden raisin this past spring, and most recently they did a black sesame chopped chocolate bagel.

For schmears, they offer plain (dairy and vegan), scallion, and Calabrian chili scallion flavors.

For a leavening agent, their bagels use yeast, rather than a natural fermentation (like sourdough). They have been described as “soft and chewy,” “works of art,” and “the best damn bagel to have ever been or will be.”

You can find Red Hen Bagelry bagels at places like Prince Coffee, Either/Or, Guilder (Cully), and Hinterland Empire on the weekends.

Their Favorite Bagels

I asked Deirdre if they have a favorite bagel flavor. “It’s hard to choose,” they said. “But sometimes it’s great to just rip open a plain bagel to see.” They acknowledge that seasoned bagels are going to probably taste pretty good, but the plain bagels reveal the art and skill of the bagel maker—unadorned, they hold the raw power of the bagel.

“A water bagel, it brings me back,” they reminisced. “I remember picking up a dozen bagels on a Sunday—it was a tradition, you know. I’d be in the car going home, and just rip open a bagel, still warm, right out of the bag. I just remember that flavor of that plain bagel.”

Accessing Red Hen Bagelry Bagels

Brick and mortar shops that sell their bagels just sell the bagels alone, no cream cheeses/schmears. But at the pop-ups (like at PDX Coffee Club, Electrica, Straggler, among others) they sell the cream cheeses, too.

They do online orders for their regular pick-ups—place your order on their online store. with pick-ups being the first and third Sunday of each month between 10am and 1pm at Cherry Sprout Produce (722 N Sumner Street in Portland).

As far as ordering, you can order as little as one bagel. The ordering opens the week before pick-up and the cutoff to order is that Friday before pick-up, by 10am. It is theoretically possible that bagels could be sold out by then, so its worth considering putting in an order earlier in the week.

Additional pop-ups and specials are usually posted on their Instagram account.

They really like the pop-ups so they can connect directly with customers. “You know, I make all these bagels for these stores, and I drop them off,” they explained. “And I don’t even see anyone. It’s dark out. It’s like the middle of the night, and I don’t get to see people try the bagels. It’s fun to be face-to-face with someone wanting to try something you put so much into.”

“It is nice to get that immediate feedback,” they added.

At pop-ups, walkups are welcome, but the available bagels usually sell out in the first half hour or so.

The Mindset for Starting a Business

As a kind of bonus question, I asked Deirdre, “What do you say to people who are looking at starting a business, who want to pursue a love or a dream, especially when they are at an age when society wants to tell them they’re going to fail?”

They responded, “If you’re passionate about something, I would say just go for it. Because what else are you gonna do?”

Even in the name of their bagel shop, “Red Hen Bagelry,” reflects that attitude. It is a reference to the children’s book, “The Little Red Hen.” On their website, it says, “The name ‘Red Hen Bagelry’ serves as a reminder to always keep working on what you care about, even if you have to go it alone.”

Thanks to Deirdre for their time and telling me about Red Hen Bagelry. Here’s to access to great bagels in Portland, and go Seawolves!

Red Hen Bagelry
Online ordering and pop-ups
Red Hen Bagelry website | Instagram