Bev's Bagels Opens on East Liberty Street
Ann Arbor's first dedicated bagel shop in recent memory is here, between Spencer and RoosRoast, with hand-rolled, kettle-boiled bagels baked on boards.
Bev's Bagels is set to open at 115 East Liberty Street this month. If the shop's Detroit track record is any indication, expect a line on Saturday mornings. Ann Arbor has been waiting for a proper bagel shop. This one has the pedigree to deliver.
I wrote about Bev's Bagels coming to town back in March. The core promise is simple: hand-rolled, kettle-boiled, baked on boards. No shortcuts. Chef Max Sussman started Bev's as a pop-up in Ann Arbor in 2020 before opening the original location in Detroit's Core City neighborhood, where it became one of the city's most talked-about food businesses. The Ann Arbor shop is a homecoming of sorts.
The Bagels
The process matters because you can taste the difference. Hand-rolling gives each bagel slight irregularities, a texture that machine-shaped bagels don't have. Kettle-boiling in water with malt syrup creates the thin, crackly exterior that defines a real bagel. Baking on boards, rather than on sheet pans, gives the bottom a flat, golden crust.
The plain bagel is the test. If the plain is good, the shop is good. At the Detroit location, the plain is dense and chewy with a slight malt sweetness in the crust. It does not need cream cheese to be interesting, which is the highest compliment you can pay a bagel.
The planned lineup includes everything, sesame, poppy, salt, onion, and rotating specials. The rotating special is the one to ask about when you walk in. At the Core City location, rotating flavors have included jalapeño cheddar with actual heat and actual cheddar, neither of which is a given at most bagel shops.
The Block
The location is not an accident. 115 East Liberty sits between Spencer, which USA Today named to its 2026 Restaurants of the Year list, and RoosRoast, Ann Arbor's flagship independent coffee roaster. This is one of the strongest food blocks in the city, and Bev's fits. A morning bagel, a RoosRoast coffee, and a walk through Kerrytown could become a complete Saturday morning circuit.
The space is planned for counter service and takeaway. You order, you wait, you get your bagels, you leave or you sit. The format is functional in the way that good bagel shops are functional. Nobody will be there for the ambiance. They will be there for the bread.
What Took So Long
Ann Arbor has sold bagels for decades. Grocery stores stock them. Bakeries offer them. Cafes put them on the menu. But a dedicated bagel shop, a place where bagels are the entire point and the process is uncompromised, has not existed here in recent memory. The distinction matters more than you'd think. A cafe that sells bagels among twenty other items is not incentivized to boil every batch. A bagel shop has no choice.
Sussman has been scaling this operation since Detroit, and the Core City location runs with the efficiency of a kitchen that has already solved its systems problems. The Ann Arbor shop benefits from that experience.
The Core City location in Detroit is also expanding. Bev's is not slowing down.
The Takeaway
The Liberty Street corridor — Spencer, RoosRoast, and now Bev's — is shaping up to be one of the best food blocks in the county. If the Ann Arbor shop matches the quality of the Detroit original, this will be worth the line.
Bev's Bagels is at 115 E Liberty St, Ann Arbor. Originally from Core City, Detroit.