64 | MARCH 30 • 2023 

E

ntrepreneur Ben 
Newman is refreshed 
and excited about last 
month’s reopening of his 
popular Detroit Institute of 
Bagels (DiB), whose marketing 
tagline is “Nosh, Nibble & Fress 
(Yiddish for “eat”) on Some 
Fun.
”
Trying to recall the 
inspiration for his business’ 
name, he said, “I think it was 
a play on ‘Detroit Institute of 
Arts,
’ and/or an homage to 
‘Detroit Institute of Physical 
Medicine and Rehabilitation’ 
(the Newman family’s longtime 
medical practice) in Southfield.
”
By any name, DiB was a 
bright spot for years, starting in 
2013, in the Detroit Corktown 
neighborhood where Newman 
still lives. An unfortunate series 
of infrastructure problems and 
the COVID pandemic led to 
the shop closing in July 2020. 
Today, after restorative 

time as a new dad, Newman 
is happy to be back at work 
again with his crew. He said his 
bagel shop gives local people 
the opportunity again to cross 
paths with acquaintances. The 
new location is in the former 
Ochre Bakery and Astro 
Coffee outpost on Grand River 
Avenue near Warren Street. It’s 
next door to BARDA Detroit, 
billed as a modern Argentinian 
restaurant. 
“From bakers to counter 
staff to prep cooks, everyone 
seems to be ready to help serve 
Detroit great bagels, bread 
and Jewish comfort food,
” said 
Newman, who designated Feb. 
16 as DiB’s official first day after 
a week-long “soft opening.
”
His mention of comfort 
food is an allusion to Core 
City Noshery, a newly built 
2,200-square-foot space toward 
the back of DiB’s large, rented 
building. Indoor dining is 

available for up to 40 guests 
seated in booths or at four-top 
tables.
Working with Chef Brendon 
Edwards on the menu, 
Newman said, “We’re taking the 
hits of Jewish deli and Jewish 
comfort food. Our reworked 
deli salads (egg, tuna and 
whitefish) are all noteworthy. I 
am personally most excited 
about the house-smoked 
pastrami and potato latke fries.
”
Customers place their 
orders at the bagels counter, 
pick up any desired coffee and 
beverages, and “then the food 
is run out to them,
” the owner 
said. Outdoor dining will be 
offered when appropriate, 
including for Core City Park, 
adjacent to the restaurant. 
Newman, raised in 
Bloomfield Hills, said he “grew 
up going to classic delis — like, 
Star, Stage, Deli Unique, Steve’s 
and Ember’s, as well as all of the 
various bagel shops in Metro 
Detroit. 
“I love that bagels are 
historically a Jewish food with 
strong ties to urban settings,
” 
he said. “I thought that, if done 
right, there was an opportunity 

to use bagels as a vehicle for 
investment in our community.
” 
He didn’t apprentice 
anywhere to learn to make 
bagels, knowing just from 
his own taste that the boiled-
and-baked style of bagels was 
best. The process of boiling 
bagels and then baking them 
“is certainly a labor of love and 
results in a greater contrast 
between the crust and chewy 
interior of our bagels.
”
Newman and his IT specialist 
brother, Dan Newman, initially 
made the bagels in their Detroit 
kitchen. They went over so well 
in Detroit’s Eastern Market that 
Ben knew he was on the right 
track to produce such bagels at 
DiB. 
Utilizing separate ovens for 
bagels and bread, he said, “our 
bagels are baked on a rotating 
deck oven, and the bread is 
baked in a classic Bongard deck 
oven with steam injection.
” 
Working with DiB’s head 
baker, Jeremiah Kouhia, 
the original bagel recipe 
was reworked recently to 
incorporate levain (starter) 
for improved flavor and 
consistency. Newman added, 
“The rye bread that Jeremiah 
is making is out-of-this-world 
good!”
Until recently, DiB preferred 
that customers place online 
orders for quick pick-up. That’s 

NOSH
DINING AROUND THE D

Detroit Institute of Bagels reopens 
in the city.

Back in 
Business

ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

DETROIT INSTITUTE 
OF BAGELS
4884 Grand River Ave.
Detroit, MI 48208
(313) 512-8292
detroitinstituteofbagels.com 

ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER

ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER

