Roland of Roland's Bagels opense Terra Bakery and Cafe
Roland has relocated his bagelry to the recently-opened Terra Bakery and Cafe at the corner of Gough and Hayes; tiny spot with a few outside tables for Hayes Valley peoplewatching. The bagels are good ($2 each, but hefty), the interior a bit softer than my favorites from New York; bialy is very very good. The pastries look enticing but I was so excited about the bagels I didn't manage to try any sweets. Next time.
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I finally stopped here yesterday and this morning. I had peeked in last week to check out their pastries, but didn't get anything then because the pastries were tiny and super expensive (around $3.25). This week the pastry size seems to have increased, although not consistently by any means - some of the croissants were twice as big as others. For that price, I definitely want the big one :) Yesterday I tried a raisin snail, which I have to say was fabulous. It was super buttery with lots of raisins and the edges were a tiny bit crispy.
Today I had a poppyseed bagel with cream cheese, which was $3.19, maybe $1 more than most places. It was quite good, but definitely pricey, and not that substantial (weighty) like some bagels w/cream cheese, which could be good or bad, depending on what you desire.
I still want to try the apricot danish and the plain croissant - but only if the pastry size is consistently larger.
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Unfortunately Phil (Roland) is no longer involved with Terra Bakery. His name is off the front window and the bagels are clearly not as good as they were at Roland's original shop. They claim that they're the same recipe, but we all know how that goes.
Anyone know where Phil ended up?
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Terra Bakery
401 Gough St, San Francisco, CA 94102›1 Reply -
Stopped by last week. The bagels are quite good, but they have some service issues. Lots of employees buzzing about with no discernible purpose. There is table service, but most people seem to order at the counter, and it's confusing. Pricing for bagels is a bit kooky; a bagel with lox and cream cheese is $9.95, which seems normal to me, but their egg and cheese bagel is the same price.
Are they really charging $2 a bagel (so, $24 a dozen)? If so, that's crazy.
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re: mrs bacon
Whoah. $10 for a lox and cream cheese bagel seems normal? that seems pretty expensive to me.
A bagel from H&H is $1.10. There are lots of places in nyc you can get a bagel with lox (+ tomato, onion etc.) for around $7. Just for price comparison:
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re: mrs bacon
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re: mrs bacon
ChowFun_derek
May 25, 2010 11:13 AM
Now THAT would be tasty! I wonder if the bagels' Hebrew ancestors would be turning in their graves? Mine would be dancing!
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ChowFun_derek
May 17, 2010 04:34 PM
Roland would earn a lot more money if he had a reality TV show about the soap opera which is his life...I went to Terra today and asked if he was there ...the server looked uncomfortable and said he just started there 3 days ago so he knows nothing...but then a server from Rolands on Haight noticed me and said Roland stormed out and is looking for a new place.........and so the Saga de BagelBoy continues!
PS...The fried chicken sandwich I had was crispy and juicy...on a homemade "club roll".
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re: ChowFun_derek
Melanie Wong
May 17, 2010 05:20 PM
Good to know it's open on Monday. Roland's was not.
Did you get your cookbook back from Bagel Boy?
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Terra Bakery
401 Gough St, San Francisco, CA 94102-
re: Melanie Wong
ChowFun_derek
May 18, 2010 10:59 PM
No not yet .."Secrets of a Jewish Baker" I was trying to improve his baking...I do want it back..who knows where he'll pop up next.
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re: jenny132
ChowFun_derek
May 25, 2010 11:12 AM
I'll pick it up when the "Wandering Jersey" boy finally finds a home of his own! How about the "new" Divisadero...near Haight???!!! (walking distance for me!
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re: jenny132
Does this mean that Roland is no longer overseeing the bagel and pastry production at Terra? If so, has the quality already declined from those first several weeks? During his brief tenure, Roland was absolutely charming, delighted to take time to talk with patrons about the mysteries of the bagel (and business-savvy enough to ask me what my favorite varietal is--poppy, as it happens--and to tuck an extra one into the bag), but the staff seemed clueless.
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re: Melanie Wong
Yes, there is a surprisingly elaborate and varied menu of appetizers, sandwiches and entrees, including braised short ribs, fried chicken sandwiches, steamed mussels, baby back ribs, smoked mozzarella pizzette and more--choices so dizzying you have to believe they couldn't execute everything well in such a small space. By the way, plain bagels are $1.25, bagels with "soil amendments" (as well as bialys) are $2--how can a tablespoon of poppy seeds warrant a 75 cent mark-up?
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re: dordogne
Melanie Wong
May 14, 2010 10:01 PM
Thanks, sounds like the "cafe" portion has blown up. Will stay tuned for reports on how well the execution of the new menu goes.
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re: Melanie Wong
The pastries looked pretty amazing just to the eye, but I was in the mood for the sockeye salmon bagel, which was the only thing I had had at the original location. I'll have to ask if Roland is the only one involved--for some reason I had the sense that this is a mini cooperative.
As for the space being small, it was a full restaurant before, so I'm sure the kitchen is up to a variety of preps, especially since they don't make fresh bagels all day long--just in the morning.
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re: SteveG
Today's sockeye lox bagel was scrumptious, accompanied by some wonderfully tasty and amazingly greaseless home-fry-like potatoes. A week or so ago I had the crab cake sandwich, which was OK - the wasabi mayonnaise was a bit much for me, but I have a low wasabi tolerance. But it was good enough to get me to go back for the bagel today. A nice addition to the neighborhood!
Michael
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re: SteveG
Today's bagels looked about the same, but there was way less variety in the pastries, and what was there didn't show the layering and careful construction of a few weeks ago. Service was still slow and discombobulated enough that I ended up leaving and going back home for oatmeal without trying the bagels. Too bad it didn't work out--would have loved to have "Roland" stay in the neighborhood.
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Yep, they're open, and the sockeye lox bagel was as delicious as it was at the prior location. I haven't had anything else yet for either the original or the new location, so I can't say much beyond that. The pastries did look better.
They originally asked if we wanted our bagels toasted, then recanted and told us they were so fresh that we should have them as-is. They were right.
