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Davis Bakery & Company got its start selling bagels and breakfast breads amidst the houseplants and kettle corn of the Winter Park Farmers Market. You'll still find the bakery there on Saturdays, but owners Alex and Chris have now expanded to a permanent location in Avalon Park.
If I tell you to picture “cute little bagel and sandwich shop,” you've pretty much nailed Davis Bakery & Company – a lady in a sun hat drinking coffee at an outdoor table with her purse dog, big whimsical paintings about sugar and eggs, folks in flour-dusted aprons and baseball caps, cranking out the orders.
The menu is broken into Morning, Midday and All Day (aka desserts) – but the staff will make a breakfast bagel sandwich for you at lunch too, and that's where the Cheap Eats are. I'm a bagel traditionalist, so when it comes to a simple bagel with plain cream cheese ($2.39), I like 'em chewier than Davis Bakery bakes. That said Davis Bakery bagels work just fine for a bagelwich. Make a sandwich with a traditionalist bagel and all the fillings would shoot out on the first bite.
The veggie bagelwich ($3.59) is made with your choice of bagel (I prefer sesame or “everything”), cucumber, tomato (red and ripe), onion, capers and your choice of spread. “Spread” can mean hummus, plain cream cheese, or any of the flavored cream cheeses made in the shop. The turkey bagelwich ($4.59) includes deli-sliced breast, choice of cheese (Swiss or pepper jack for me), veggies and spread.
For me, the hand-mixed cream cheese spreads are a standout. The spinach-artichoke-red pepper blend is great on sandwiches and a mile better than what I've had at other bagel shops on both ingredient quality and quantity. I wouldn't put the cinnamon-raisin blend on a ham bagelwich ($4.59) or the scrambled egg bagelwich ($3.99), but again, it's got many more raisins than I'm used to seeing and visible cinnamon specks. The flavored mixes raise the price of a bagel with cream cheese from $2.39 to $2.89, but it's worth it.
Most of the lunch sandwiches fall outside my $5 limit, but going vegetarian can sneak you in under the cap. The powerhouse ($4.99) comes on shop-baked white, wheat, rye or bagel and is filled with cheese, hummus, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, onion and alfalfa sprouts. Again, the tomatoes are redder and riper than the pale-pink things you usually see in delis and the hummus literally holds the sandwich together.
The array of cookies ($1.39) and dessert bars ($1.89) and pies ($2.49) changes – or as the menu says, “Daily selections are determined by the whims of the baker!” I can recommend the PB&J bar and the one made with butterscotch. Whether you'll like the rhubarb pie depends on how much you like rhubarb. I love the tart stalks, so I could have used a few less cinnamon crumb crumbles, good as they were. My lunch mate hates rhubarb and says that if I told her it was apple pie, she probably would have believed me and enjoyed the whole slice.
Dish: Staff is really sharp. On my second visit, I got a “welcome back.” They're also quick with friendly advice – hipping me to that spinach-artichoke-red pepper cream cheese. When I got bagels to go, they asked if they'd all be eaten that day. Since Davis Bakery doesn't use preservatives, they're best frozen before day two rolls around.
Damage: Plenty of sub-$5 choices at Davis Bakery – and some tempting super-$5 ones. Plus, I like visiting Avalon Park's pseudo-downtown district and pretending I can afford to live there.
Decision: Now, Davis Bakery fans don't have to wait until Farmers Market Saturdays to get their bagel or brownie fix. Sure, depending on where you live, Avalon Park may be more of a drive, but you don't have to fight for a Winter Park parking spot either.
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