The opening of Rebelle Artisan Bagels in 2024 on the Kendall Square/East Cambridge line was something of a homecoming for owner and James Beard-nominated chef Milena Pagán, who moved to Cambridge from Puerto Rico to attend MIT. After graduating with a degree in chemical engineering, Pagán moved to Providence for a corporate job that was not for her, so she taught herself to bake, starting with “bagel experiments.” Those trial-and-errors were good enough for her initial bagel shop in East Providence in 2016, which earned Pagán that Beard nod. (Pagán recently announced she’ll close Little Sister, her Puerto Rican cafe in Providence.)
In Cambridge, a town where fresh bagels are as hot as fine Italian, rich clam chowder, spicy ramen, and wood-fired pizza, Rebelle offers its own take. One standout at Rebelle — the name is a cheeky play on rebellion — is the hyper-yellow egg bagel that is slightly sweet like brioche and dense, not chewy, and surprisingly soft. You can also order your bagel — flavors include pretzel, everything, poppyseed, cinnamon raisin, and onion — as two tiny round pizza bites. Add pepperoni, if you wish. (Vinal Bakery in Union Square does the same trick with their house-made English muffins.) But what really lures me to Rebelle is the bagel sandwich. Yes, they serve standard breakfast sandwiches (custardy egg with pastrami, sausage, and other savory add-on options) and lox with your choice of creamy schmear, but the fish- and fowl-leaning sandwiches are your best choice. Rebelle also offers a case of fresh, made-in-house baked goods, including a strawberry pop-tart that’s thicker, tastier, and more organic than the foil-wrapped Kellogg’s product.
If the folks at Rebelle know one thing other than how to knead, boil, and bake fresh bagels, it’s how to make crisp, non-greasy bacon slices that are bursting with flavor. You can get the BLT squared — they make their own mayo in-house — but if you want to kick it up a notch, there is the kick’in club: herb-roasted turkey, the exquisite bacon, lettuce, tomato, house mayo, and jalapeño-honey mustard. The hot and sweet of the jalapeño-honey mustard plays extremely well with the egg bagel’s sweetness, and the mayo — light compared to most jarred versions — really brings the bird and bacon flavors together.
The whitefish salad is a solid pleaser, but it’s the bluefish melt that is Rebelle’s superstar — smoked-bluefish pâté, lemon zest, chives, black pepper, and Cabot cheddar with pickled red onion, bread-and-butter pickles, and potato chips for accents. It comes up warm — perfect for these cold fall days — and the onions are a puckering revelation, sweet and succulent with a zing. The pickles and chips give the meal a summery picnic vibe.
Rebelle has a homey, mom-and-pop atmosphere, but Pagán and her team take sustainability seriously, encouraging regular coffee-sippers to bring their own mug or reusable cup. The utensils at Rebelle are compostable wood. A final note: Rebelle is a good deal. Most lunch sandwiches land around the $10 mark.
Rebelle Artisan Bagels
249 Third St.
Kendall Square, Cambridge
$ (out of $$$$)
Rebelleartisanbagels.com
Have a favorite dish or dine out spot that we’ve not covered and you think we should? Email Tom at tmeek@cambridgeday.com.
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