Miles Odell is a classically trained chef, who’s cooked around the world, including in Japan as a culinary ambassador for three years. But the New Jersey native is ready to get back to his roots: bagels and smoked fish.
“Bagels are one of my favorite things, and I’ve perfected my own recipe,” Odell said. “Trust me, it has nothing to do with the water.”
The 33-year-old chef hopes to open Odell’s Bagel in the former Denver Bread Co. space at 3200 Irving St. by spring 2024. Owners Greg Bortz and his wife Kristy announced in August that they had decided to permanently close Denver Bread after nearly 29 years, along with their cookie business Victory Love + Cookies.
Odell had originally planned to open a Japanese restaurant dubbed Keepsake when he moved to Denver last year. He started his own pop-up at the Highland Square Farmers Market this summer, selling bento boxes and Japanese breakfast sandwiches with milk bread, pork and a Japanese omelet, which “took three days to prep,” Odell said.
But when the Denver Bread Co. space became available, he switched to bagels — and began selling them at the farmer’s market as well. Odell said he spent the last 10 years perfecting his recipe, “which has seen 100 variations.” On the first day at the market, he sold out of 200 bagels in a couple of hours.
“By the end of the season, I was baking 600 bagels overnight — the most I could do in my tiny commissary kitchen,” Odell said.
Odell’s Bagel will serve hand-rolled, naturally leavened bagels made with locally milled flour. “Since we don’t use a machine, not one bagel will be the same, sort of like a snowflake,” Odell said. He plans to stick to the classics, like everything, plain, salt, garlic, poppyseed, etc. “No trendy rainbow bagels,” he said. There will be a variety of playful cream cheese flavors, like hatch green chile or cereal milk.
The shop’s other specialty will be house-smoked salmon, trout and whitefish, plus occasional specials like smoked eel. He plans to use his connections to Japan to source the whole fish, which he will cure for 24 hours, air dry, smoke for another eight hours and hand slice. “It’s super time-consuming, but I think the end result is worth it to stand out,” Odell said.
There will also be breakfast sandwiches such as bacon, egg and cheese and a Taylor ham, egg and cheese, a New Jersey staple. “Coming from the East Coast, an hour-and-a-half wait is unacceptable at a bagel shop, so a huge goal of mine is to set a 30-minute or less standard,” he said.
Odell also hopes to host 12-seat chef’s tasting experiences on Friday and Saturday nights, collaborating with chefs from around the world.
“I would love for this to be the best tasting-menu experience in Denver,” Odell said. “This will fulfill all of my passions as a chef. I grew up working in fine dining and Michelin-starred restaurants, and this is kind of way for me to use my skills.”
Odell started cooking when he was 15 and attended The French Culinary Institute (now known as the International Culinary Center) in New York in 2009. He then went on to work for Nobu and three Michelin-starred Bar Masa, before he was selected by the Japanese Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries as one of 15 chefs around the world to move to Kyoto for three years as part of a culinary ambassador program.
Odell learned the language and worked at a different restaurant each month, including three Michelin-starred Gion Sasaki, to learn the traditional cuisine and culture.
“Now, I’m a culinary ambassador of Japan,” said Odell, who visited Japan again last month, five years after he left.
He later moved to San Francisco to become a private chef. When the pandemic hit, he began offering private cooking classes on Zoom, and one of his customers asked him to come cook for their family in Aspen, which he did in 2021. He moved to Denver last year.
“The goal was to always open my own spot,” Odell said. “I never thought it would take 18 years to do so, or that it would be a bagel shop first, but here we are.”
