Ë®¹ûÅÉAV

Now, Daddabbo wakes up at 3 almost every morning of the week for a date with dough at his new shop, Auburn Bagel Co.

Daddabbo needs the early start to satisfy the local appetite for his authentic New York City-style bagels. The shop opened at dawn April 16 to a ravenous line outside the door, and by the end of the week supplies were running so low and staff was running so ragged that he had to close for a day so everyone could catch up — him most of all.

"We got ransacked. But in a good way," he told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV earlier this month in the shop's modest dining area.

"We were out of bagels. If we were to remain open that next day, I literally would have not gone home. I would have been making bagels until midnight, and I have to be back here at 4 a.m."

As many bagels as he has to make, Daddabbo appreciates the job in a way he didn't 25 years ago. The Auburn native was in his 20s, fresh out of the Berklee College of Music and ready to become a rock producer. As an employee of Columbia Bagels on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, however, the only thing rolling in his life was dough.

The renowned shop remains the only job Daddabbo ever dreaded. Over the next two decades, he would go on to open dozens of restaurants around the world with Tao Group Hospitality. But he held on to Columbia's bagel recipes. He never fully understood why — until he was back in Auburn and looking to open his own business.

At first Daddabbo considered pizza, his family having operated a shop in the same 105 Genesee St. space where he would open Auburn Bagel Co. Poetic as that would have been, he said, it would have added little to the local food scene. That's when he considered bagels, experiencing a moment of what he called "divine paradoxical irony."

In that moment, Daddabbo realized that he had been holding on to Columbia's recipes so he could bring a bagel shop, the same job he dreaded, to his hometown. He also realized that it wasn't making bagels he hated — it was being in the shop when he wanted to be somewhere else. Now, he said, the shop is where he wants to be.

"I got blessed with this," he said. "I think there's great divinity, paradox and irony in everything. That's sort of my definition of god."

What makes the Auburn Bagel Co. recipes authentic, and an instant sensation with customers, is barley malt syrup. Daddabbo said the ingredient gives the crust of his bagels their signature New York City-style crunch and soft texture underneath. Sourcing the ingredient in central New York was hard, he continued, but worthwhile.

Another tradition Daddabbo follows is letting his dough ferment for 24 hours, preferably 48, for a better flavor profile. His resources are too limited, however, for him to roll his bagels by hand. While that would make their texture more pillowy, he believes machine rolling produces comparable enough results for much less expense.

"A lot of bagel makers, especially in Manhattan, have gone back to hand rolling," he said. "(They) will disagree with me, but I don't think it's such a great difference. It's a good publicity angle."

The rolling machine is one of many specialized pieces of equipment Daddabbo needed to open his shop. He also needed an oven, but when the used one he purchased from a New Jersey dealer came in worse shape than advertised, he had to delay his opening by several months to sell it, order a new one and redo the space's ductwork.

The only delay that concerns Daddabbo now is the one his customers encounter on busier mornings at Auburn Bagel Co. He's made it his top priority to speed up the service provided by his staff of 15, from the dozens of bagel and schmear combinations to the breakfast and lunch sandwiches like the classic lox and cream cheese. 

After that, Daddabbo would like to expand his ironic blessing of a business into wholesaling, supplying restaurants in the region and possibly opening satellite locations. 

"As I imagined it, I thought Auburn and the greater area has got an appetite for bagels," he said. "I did not realize that appetite was voracious way beyond what I imagined."