Hole in one

Like many people at the start of the pandemic, Tim Veling suddenly found himself out of a job. The former Hawaiian Airlines employee decided to use the downtime to pursue a hobby he’d been interested in for years — bagel making.

By then, friends had grown tired of listening to him talk about his longing to one day open a bagel shop. He’s finally realized his dream with the opening of Empty Elle Bagels in Kailua. Empty Elle is inside craft beer tasting room Grace in Growlers, Veling’s other venture. The bagels are displayed in a charming, bright yellow, retro camper.

The shop offers fresh bagels to-go, as well as open-face and sandwich-style bagels to-go or for dine-in. One thing that’s unavailable here, at least for now, is the classic cream cheese and lox bagel. That’s to separate Veling’s shop from the quintessential New York-style bagel because what he’s offering — the Montreal-style bagel — is something new to Hawaii. Both styles arrived in their respective destinations with Jewish immigrants from Poland a century ago, with flavor profiles reflecting regional preferences of bakers’ hometowns.

A bagel connoisseur since childhood, San Diego-raised-Veling — whose grandfather owned a bakery in Brooklyn — thought he had reached bagel heaven during a trip to New Zealand, where he discovered the honey-boiled Montreal-style bagels that are popular there. He was particularly enamored by the bagels from Auckland-based Best Ugly Bagels, which is named after the bagels’ imperfect appearance, due to being hand-rolled.

Fermentation of the dough, boiling, followed by baking then toasting before being served, results in a bagel that’s crispy on the outside, with a dense feel, pleasant chewy interior and touch of sweetness from Manoa Honey. The business’s name is an acronym for MTL, the abbreviation for Montreal.

Veling goes through the traditional laborious process of hand-rolling his artisanal bagels starting at 3 a.m. Without machinery to crank them out, these bagels are in short supply. That means that although the shop is open for breakfast and lunch, it often sells out in an hour.

Although his bagels have evolved to incorporate ingredients such as cinnamon raisin and blueberries, Veling sticks to traditional Montreal-style toppings of poppy-seed, white or black sesame seeds or the “Everything,” a savory, house seasoning blend. Heavy seeding helps to give his bagels an extra-crispy exterior.

He offers a rotating menu of 12 open-faced or sandwich bagels, but only about five are offered daily. All the ones I tried so far were winners.

I was asked which bagel sandwich was my favorite, a moving target based on my particular craving. On that day, my favorite was an open-faced Black dessert bagel ($8.50) built on a charcoal and black sesame-topped bagel with Maui Upcountry’s Kula black raspberry jam, drizzle of Big Island dark chocolate butter and salt. Because the bagels are traditionally made without salt, the light sprinkling that tops the sandwich dances on the palate, the perfect finishing touch.

On another day, I might have preferred something more savory, like the Spicy bagel ($7.50) topped with garlic hummus and pickles. Empty Elle uses Andy’s Bueno Salsa’s ghost pepper-infused pickles, resulting in a spice that was balanced by the neutral everything bagel and hummus.

For those who love sweet-sour pairings, there is the lemon ($7.50), a jam schmear bagel covered with Big Island lemon butter on one half and Kula black raspberry jam on the other, embellished with a fresh lemon twist. The Eggel, a hefty egg bagel sandwich ($9.50), features a cream cheese schmear topped with two scrambled eggs, Jerky Labs pork jerky and sharp cheddar.

Given the huge demand for his bagels, Veling is in the process of adding more days to Empty Elle’s schedule. He’s also working on additional sandwiches based on his favorite childhood combos, such as peanut butter and jelly with potato chips, and is also trying to develop a gluten-free bagel.

Empty Elle Bagels
143 Hekili St. No. 120, Kailua
(inside Grace in Growlers)
Food: ****
Service: ****
Ambiance: ****
Value: ****
Call: 808-975-9317
Hours: 8 A.M.-Noon Thursdays-Fridays, 9 A.M.- Noon Saturdays
Prices: about $10 per person
Online: emptyellebagels.com
— Ratings compared to similar restaurants: **** – Excellent *** – Very Good ** – Average * – Below Average

Nadine Kam’s restaurant visits are unannounced and paid for by Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Follow Nadine on Instagram (@nadinekam) or on YouTube (youtube.com/nadinekam).