Peter Njoroge/Fourth Estate

Wood-Fired perfection

BY PETER NJOROGE, STAFF WRITER

Get your mom, dad, brother, aunt and second cousin twice removed on the line for a bagel that will change everything that you think about breakfast.

New-ish to the Parkview neighborhood in Washington, D.C., is Call Your Mother, a self-proclaimed “Jew-ish Deli” that serves a ton of different creations on bagels that taste truly unique. For all who think a bagel is just a bagel, making this trip is an important, educational experience. Call Your Mother is the destination for bagel-lovers in the DMV area.

If that description isn’t reason enough to believe that Call Your Mother is worth the trip into D.C., “Food and Wine” wrote that Call Your Mother is on their “14 New Names to Know” list in Jewish delis across the entire country.

The breakfast-bagel sandwiches offered are highly unique, combining flavors like bacon and strawberry cream cheese or spicy honey and cheese. With names like “The Efron” and “The Rihanna Flex,” the sandwiches’ iconic names match the delicious taste of the food they describe.

The offerings and options are plentiful. The obvious standouts are their classic wood-fired bagels that can be ordered singularly, in a half-dozen or a dozen at a time. They also serve “Luuuunch,” which includes another group of interesting sandwich creations accompanied by chips, relish and a pickle spear.

Lastly, their menu also has a wild-card section titled “Other Jew-ish Stuff.” Here, they offer Pastrami Fried Rice, a pizza bagel and the only Jew-ish taco this side of the Mississippi. In the evening, they also hold all-inclusive family dinners for 18 guests that are “like dinner at your mama’s house but way tighter,” according to the deli’s website.  

The staff is friendly and serves lots of different beverages, including coffee, to either get your morning started or keep you going throughout the day. They also proudly display that they put a real emphasis on locality when it comes to their ingredients. According to the menu, they “only use that good good!”  

The store is incredibly colorful, inside and out, and much like all of the menu items, the bright signage and equally bright furniture appeals to the more fun side that is hidden within us all.

Additionally, there are, plenty of Drake photos to go around along with a collection of old-school pool chairs in their patio area that help contribute to their satirical aesthetic.

The whole business seems to be poking fun at everything, everywhere, while casually reminding you of something from your more innocent years. Call Your Mother is a spot that is definitely worth the work to get there.