Bagel-buying in Bethesda soared Tuesday morning as a well-known Washington, D.C., bagel shop and deli made its debut from a trolley near Suburban Hospital.
Call Your Mother set up shop at 8 a.m., welcoming customers to purchase from a limited menu that features six bagel sandwiches. Customers could also buy bagels by the baker’s dozen, which is 13.
Word of the trolley spread quickly. By the lunch hour, most items had sold out, Co-Owner and Executive Chef Daniela Moreira said.
“It’s 12 p.m. and we’ve sold out of [nearly] everything. We’re super, super happy to be here and it’s great to get to know all the people from the neighborhood,” she said.
Moreira said she didn’t know how many people came on Tuesday, but it was “a lot,” including many from the surrounding neighborhood.
The most popular item, she said, was the “Sun City” sandwich, which features a choice of bacon or pastrami, egg, American and cheddar cheeses, and spicy honey on an everything bagel.
Call Your Mother’s two brick-and-mortar shops in D.C. have become so popular that there is often a line.
“We are very excited to have it in the neighborhood,” Gabby Kearney said on Tuesday as she made a purchase at the Bethesda trolley with her daughter Hadley. “We haven’t made it out to Call Your Mother in D.C. yet because we’ve heard how long the lines are. So when we saw the trolley, we were really excited.”
Hadley said the pink-and-blue trolley caught her eye.
“When I saw the trolley I was, like, ‘Can we take pictures with it?’” she said.
Call Your Mother announced a few weeks ago that it would be serving from the spot at 8804 Old Georgetown Road “for the foreseeable future.”
Moreira said Call Your Mother’s brick-and-mortar shop in D.C.’s Park View neighborhood is serving as the “commissary” for the bagels, spreads and other foods sold from the trolley.
“We’re baking everything in the morning and then putting in a truck and shipping it here,” she said.
Moreira said she hopes to soon add lunch sandwiches, drip coffee and more pastries to the menu.
The bagel trolley will be serving daily from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Customers can place their orders in advance or buy at the trolley.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@moco360.media
