Bagels

Where can you find rhinestone flip-flops to match your cocktail dress, a new look for the living room and that chocolate body paint you've been secretly longing to try? Bethesda offers all this -- and more. The suburb just above Northwest Washington has become one of the hottest shopping spots in Maryland. While Bethesda has always prided itself on its restaurants, it also has an impressive array of home furnishings and clothing stores. Yet the real appeal is the personality of the place, which has maintained its own local flair in spite of an influx of popular national franchises including Barnes & Noble, Ruth's Chris Steak House, Houston's, Fitigues, Aveda and many more.

Old Glory waved from front porches, stood tall in flower pots and glowed from computer screens yesterday, as if the calendar had suddenly flipped to July 4. A star-spangled symbol of mourning, patriotism and even defiance, the flag came out of mothballs and flew off store shelves. Wal-Mart sold 88,000 flags nationwide Tuesday, the day terrorists struck. The retailer sold 6,400 on the same date last year, a company spokesman said. "I think everybody should be hanging their flags today, until we get this conflict settled," said Derek Deneke, 29, vice president of The Big Iguana Co. Ltd., a chain of funky home decor and clothing stores that normally couldn't be confused with a VFW hall.

GOOD MORNING, ladies and gentleman of the press. I thank you for coming to Bagels-On-The-Bay at this early hour. In keeping with my well deserved reputation for brevity and candor. I announce my decision not to run for the presidency in 1996. I'll take your questions? Sarah?Q.If I bought a dozen bagels here, you know, mixed -- a few sesame, three garlic, an onion -- would they throw in one extra for the same price?A.The question is a bit removed from our purpose this morning, but in keeping with a long record of constituent service, my staff will check it out and get back to you. You have a follow-up?

FOOD snobs often turn up their noses at the prospect of going to a chain restaurant, dismissing such a place as nothing more than a food factory for hungry hoi polloi. In doing so, they're failing to acknowledge the beauty of a decent chain, and that is the consistent comfort zone it creates. For example, you're alone, you're in a strange place and you're hungry. In such a situation, the restaurant you're familiar with looks mighty appealing. A good chain to get familiar with is Panera Bread, a St. Louis company that used to be affiliated with Au Bon Pain.

In a planned community like Columbia, it's tough to have a distinctive identity. Mega Bytes Gourmet Cafe has established one, however. The new cafe relies on warm yellow faux-finished walls, decorated with Van Gogh posters, and dishes such as flounder Provencal to conjure up images of the Mediterranean instead of the innocuous strip mall that could be anywhere in the country. The owners of Mega Bytes are Michael Strati and Bradley Callahan, who also own Hunters' Lodge in Ellicott City.

Here we are again, in pursuit of the Honest Man and the Honest Woman, and we begin this tale with cream cheese icing. Actually, we begin with Catherine Richardson's unhappiness with cream cheese icing. She doesn't like it. More correctly, she doesn't know from it. She hears cream cheese, she thinks of bagels -- not birthday cake.So, when her brother Frank, 24 years old and a junior at Towson State, showed up with cream cheese icing for the party at their mother's house in Northwest Baltimore, Catherine turned him around and sent him back to the grocery store.

Goldberg's Kosher New York Bagels 708-710 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville 410-415-7001 HOURS // 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday Now this is New York-style. Frighteningly thick, Goldberg's garlic bagel, 70 cents, is almost cloudlike. You could buy a bunch, pile them up and use them as a pillow if the seasoning wasn't so sticky. Though the bagel is coated in minced garlic and onion, the flavor is well-dispersed throughout and thankfully not too sharp.

THE VOICE ON the radio sounded authoritative enough. She was representing one of those nutrition labs that tells us what we should and should not eat.The subject was Halloween, and the health guru was telling listeners that candy was a horrid thing to give little children that night: too much sugar, too much fat, too many carbohydrates, etc.But when she suggested a bagel as a substitute, and added that it would be fun for the kids, any authoritative connotation...

Sam's Bagels & More is offering its customers more than just its chocolate chip, banana, jalapeno and other flavors of bagels -- it's offering them a piece of the action.In an unusual move for a small company, the owners of the 2-year-old Baltimore bagel business last week sent out 1,500 postcards to customers asking if they would be interested in owning part of the business. Of course, an investment will cost a bit more than a 55-cent cinnamon raisin bagel -- $9,999.45 more.Allan D. Gallant, chairman and chief executive officer of Bagels Inc., the company that owns the two Sam's Bagels shops, said the idea of offering stock to consumers came from the patrons themselves.

On Saturday, to celebrate National Bagel Day, Feb. 9, Brooklyn Water Bagels , and its national spokesman, Larry King, are inviting folks in for a Free Bagel and a Shmear. The promotion is valid in participating Brooklyn Water Bagels stores in Florida, Georgia, California and Maryland. There's no purchase necessary and the offer is valid for one per customer. There's a Brooklyn Water Bagels on Hooks Lane in Pikesville. Brooklyn Water Bagels was founded in 2009 in Delray Beach, Fla. as the Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. Follow Baltimore Diner on Twitter @gorelickingood