North Central Austin Edition | September 2022

DINING FEATURE

BY DARCY SPRAGUE

The Alexa ($8): This bagel sandwich includes tomato, avocado and choice of cream cheese.

The Lox ($12): This breakfast sandwich features lox, capers, onion and cream cheese.

DARCY SPRAGUECOMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

Nervous Charlie’s New York-style bagel shop thrives in Austin C hris Cunningham was mostly not nervous when he and his wife, Ali White, opened

initially. Then, on their rst week- end in Austin, they could not nd a place to get bagels—which had been their normal routine in New York. The couple decided to open a bagel shop, but they knew nothing about making bagels. They knew they wanted the name to represent their dog, a red and white Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, named Char- lie. White said Charlie has always been nervous, so “nervous Charlie” seemed natural. When the restaurant opened in September 2018, Cunningham started with two racks that each hold 300 bagels, and thought they would never use the second. On their rst day, he made between

200-300 bagels and sold out within an hour. For the rst month, Cunningham said they could not make enough bagels to keep from selling out. Now, Nervous Charlie’s has six racks. The menu includes more than a dozen types of bagels and 10 breakfast or lunch sandwich options. “The life that we built for ourselves down here is something I never thought that would happen,” White said. The success and drive that we have had was enormous. [Nervous] Charlie’s has been amaz- ing. We’ve really found a family down here with our friend group that are really strong support.”

Owners Ali White and Chris Cunningham said their dog Charlie inspired the name.

Nervous Charlie’s, despite his failed attempts to make bagels just days before the soft opening. “I tried to just kind of block out [the nerves] and just focus on mak- ing bagels because I was like, there are no bagels in town. We have good bagels, good operation and the food tastes good,” Cunningham said. White, however, was nervous. The couple moved from New York in 2016 for Cunningham’s dream of opening a restaurant and a change of pace. The couple actually thought they might open a live music venue

COURTESY NERVOUS CHARLIE’S

Nervous Charlie’s 5501 N. Lamar Blvd., Ste. B101, Austin 512-366-5305 www.nervouscharlies.com Hours: Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m.-3 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

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NORTH CENTRAL AUSTIN EDITION • SEPTEMBER 2022