PACIFIC BEACH – During the early days of COVID, as people crocheted scarves, rode Peloton bikes, and planted victory gardens, Pacific Beach resident Gabe Rubin found his pandemic hobby in the kitchen — perfecting the art of the homemade bagel.
From a quarantine craft to a full-fledged business, Rubin now owns Mission Bagel, a kosher food truck that opened on May 18 at 1608 Grand Ave.
“[During COVID] I was like ‘I need a good bagel and there are no good bagels here,’” recalled Rubin, a construction software engineer by trade and native of Cincinnati. “I had a mixer, I had my little saucepan and I ran a bunch of tests. There were several iterations.”
Rubin built a small, but loyal customer base selling bagels from home. As COVID restrictions eased, he returned to his day job — but one customer kept coming back, inspiring him to start a food truck.
Although initially hesitant because of the challenges in maintaining volume and quality, to him, bagels made financial sense. Encouraged by his wife’s full support, he launched Mission Bagel.
“Every day, I make the dough,” he said. “I hand roll them, then they get a cold ferment overnight, and then they get boiled in my special water mix, and then they get baked. I am up at 4 a.m., boiling and baking.”
In the truck, he is joined by his sister Hannah, as they endeavor to bake what he described as a bagel for the sensibilities of a New Yorker.
“I treat my water in a unique way to give the bagels the right chew and the right flavor,” Rubin said. “I look for the New Yorker opinion. We had three customers from the East Coast come back on Monday and Tuesday. That’s something I look for.”
Pacific Beach resident Gabe Rubin is in his Mission Bagel food truck at 1608 Grand Ave. (Photo by Noah Perkins/Special to Beach & Bay Press)According to Rubin, customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
“When I get the bagel from the truck, I feel like I’m a little bit in New York for just a moment,” Pacific Beach resident Eric Sender said. “The chew and crisp feels authentic. I like the sesame and onion bagels the most, and the bagel density is on the high side, so if a person likes thick bagels, this is a win.”
The truck offers sesame, cinnamon raisin, everything, poppy seed, and plain bagels, with schmear options such as strawberry, lox, scallion, and plain. Sandwich choices include egg salad, whitefish salad, tuna salad, and lox with cream cheese.
“Bagels are a hyper-local food,” Rubin said. “You can get a bagel and a coffee for under $8 or $9 — about the cost of a latte — but you’ll get it a couple times a week if it’s just five minutes from your house. My goal is to serve the local community and be right in the heart of where people are.”
Rubin’s go-to order reflects his taste for unexpected pairings.
“I love sweet and savory, so I’ll either do an everything bagel with strawberry cream cheese or a cinnamon raisin with tuna salad. Our tuna and egg salads are kind of the secret winners — people assume they’ll be bad because they’ve had bad egg salad in the past, but then they try them and say it’s the best they’ve ever had.”
Depending on how business goes, Rubin is open to expanding, either with a second food truck or a storefront location. He also offers catering services for events, bringing Mission Bagel to larger groups across the community.
“The catering side is where I’m going to focus my energy in developing next, and we’re able to do fully kosher catering,” he said.
Mission Bagel, 1608 Grand Ave. open Sundays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Mondays-Fridays 8 a.m. to noon.
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