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Roland Park Bagel Co. still has an assortment of fat bagels, but the display case is also filled with freshly baked, beautiful (and delicious) cupcakes, chunky cookies, fruit scones, muffins, and more, produced by the shop’s new pastry chef, Jason Hisley, pictured.
When I talked to Jason this morning, he had been at the store since 4 a.m., turning out dozens of baked goods, including the bagels, for customers. He took a few minutes to sit down and tell me about his path to Roland Park Bagel Co.
The 21-year-old Baltimore native is a graduate of Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in baking and pastry. He was a baker at Panera Bread and for a catering company in Bethesda before landing at the bagel shop, which is owned by Eddie Dopkin, three months ago. And he’s excited about the possibilities there.
For winter, Jason is working on making bread puddings, using leftover bagels. He likes to use natural ingredients and fruits in season, he says. From what I sampled, the products hold true to that.
The peach scone is moist and, well, peachy. Jason also adds interesting touches to his cupcakes ($2.25 each), like a marshmallow on top of the s’mores one, a piece of cookie on the chocolate chip, pastel frostings on the red velvet, and fresh blueberries on the lemon-blueberry.
“My take is that pastries are a little piece of art for the senses,” he says.
And his baked goods are not just pretty, they’re yummy as well.
