MARCH 30 • 2023 | 65
BEN NEWMAN
Title: Owner, Detroit Institute of
Bagels
Residence: Detroit since 2010
Family: Jessica Fullenkamp, his
wife since 2016 and a clinical
social worker at Ruth Ellis
Center in Highland Park; and
their daughter, Selah, 3
Education: Graduate, Lahser
High School in Bloomfield Hills;
University of Michigan in Ann
Arbor: undergraduate degree
in history and master’s in urban
planning
Hobbies: Making non-bagel
food, jogging along the Detroit
Riverfront and spending time
with family and friends.
Jewish connections: His late
paternal grandparents, Dr. Max
and Sophia Newman, were
among the founders of Temple
Israel, now in West Bloomfield,
where Ben’s parents, Dr. Steven
and Kathleen Newman, sent him
and his four siblings to religious
school. Ben had his bar mitzvah
and confirmation in the 1990s.
While not belonging to a
particular synagogue, he said,
“I admire the work happening
with Chabad in the D and the
Downtown Synagogue. I also
try to embrace the Jewish
traditions of asking questions
and advocacy for social justice
causes.”
perhaps why I glimpsed baskets of fresh bagels only
on shelves in the kitchen area, rather than behind a
counter as at other bagel shops.
I was a walk-in the morn-ing I visited. Summer
at the front counter pleasantly ticked off the bagel
choices, including salt, jalapeno-cheese and the
everything. Wanting something new to me, I chose a
few of the rosemary olive oil bagels with chunky sea
salt flakes on the outside — “they kept us afloat at our
first location,
” Newman said.
The specialty bagel had a novel taste I really
enjoyed eating later at home with my usual
Philadelphia-brand Chive & Onion cream cheese. But
I could have tried DiB’s own scallion, lemon zest and
veggie cream cheese, a popular combination. “We use
a Philadelphia base and then mix in fresh ingredients
like herbs or vegetables,
” Newman explained. Thanks
to my bagel’s deliciousness, I ate a whole bagel at once
instead of my usual half.
For his part, Newman said, “
A hot everything bagel
with butter is one of my favorite job perks.
”
Hours of operation at Detroit Institute of Bagels are
currently 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday-Monday. Customers
with vehicles can park along 16th Street, in the
approximately 10 or so spaces in the alley between
DiB and another building, or in a lot across Grand
River. More parking and investment are reportedly in
the works.
Ben
Newman
Ben
Newman
Ben
Newman
ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER
Wishing our community a wonderful Passover,
filled with health, happiness and joy.
Chag Pesach Sameach!
Chag Pesach Sameach!