We’re always on the hunt for good bagels in this city, but then what if I told you we’re about to hit a total jackpot with a bagelry, creamery, and coffee roaster, all in one spot? It’s true. Coming to Dogpatch in March (hopefully) will be DAILY DRIVER, serving wood-fired bagels, housemade cheeses, butter, and Red Bay Coffee.
The project is from two couples: Tamara Hicks and David Jablons of Toluma Farms and Tomales Farmstead Creamery in West Marin (which they started 15 years ago), and Hadley and David Kreitz—Hadley has been working on the farm for five years, working as cheesemaker, herdswoman, and events coordinator, and has perfected the European-style cultured butter and cream cheese, using milk from Jersey cows from Marshall Home Ranch & Dairy. David Kreitz is an industrial designer who built the farm’s wood-fired oven and is managing the construction of Daily Driver, and developed the bagel recipe we’re going to be thanking him for soon enough.
The bagels will be hand-rolled, boiled, and wood-fired every morning, and they have a crunchy, crackly exterior (so satisfying to bite into) and soft interior, with a developed flavor. The bagels will come in classic flavors like poppy, sesame, everything, salt, garlic, onion, and plain.
The tangy cream cheese is also made in-house at Daily Driver, as well as the butter, ghee, and other fresh cheeses. You can add fish, herbs, and seasonal vegetables to your cream cheese to create a special spread of your liking (fun!), plus there will be seasonal compound butters, including a butter dusted with local seaweed. The butter is hand-paddled, and wait until you taste how creamy, sweet, dense, and rich it is—I was lucky to get a preview chunk of it, and it’s something special, what a mouthfeel. You can try quark, a German-style cheese similar to yogurt—you’ll be able to order it plain, or served with fresh fruit, honey, or granola on top. You’ll also be able to buy fresh buttermilk, a byproduct from making butter. Bring on the best pancakes at home.
There’s going to be a menu of bagel sandwiches from a B.E.C. to pastrami (enough to make me drive over in the morning and back again for lunch!), salads, soups, pretzels, bagel dogs (awesome), and a Maine lobster bagel roll. Martin Siggins, most recently the sous chef at Nico for four-plus years, will be running the kitchen. You can peep his menu here, which includes some of the brunchy weekend specials like Turkish eggs and biscuits made from their house buttermilk. Down the road, look for some dinnertime pop-ups in the summer.
Oakland’s Red Bay Coffee—from Keba and Rachel Konte—will be roasting a special coffee blend on-site that is only available at Daily Driver. Beer and wine will also be available for those dining in, featuring neighborhood breweries Triple Voodoo and Harmonic, and local wineries such as McEvoy and Miner Family Wines.
This dream concept will be opening in a 5,000-square-foot industrial space in the American Industrial Center building—you’ll be able to sit on a mezzanine (130 seats!) and watch the bagels and cheese being made, butter being hand-paddled, and Red Bay Coffee being roasted. There will also be a retail area, where you can pick up a number of items, including plenty of cheeses.
Daily Driver will be open in March 6am-3pm daily, with an extended brunch menu on Saturday and Sunday. 2535 3rd St. at 22nd St.
The lineup of bagels from Daily Driver. Photo: Frankie Frankeny.
