"I remember eating burgers and fries at Johnny Rockets at this very location as a kid, which are some great memories," Call Your Mother co-founder Andrew Dana told Bethesda Today the week before his teal-and-pink shop opened at the corner of St. Elmo and Norfolk avenues. The space had been a Johnny Rockets, then Hardwood Artisans. Since Aug. 3 it has been the earliest bagel counter in downtown Bethesda.
Eleven days later, PopUp Bagels opened its first Maryland shop on Old Georgetown Road. That gives downtown five places to buy a bagel. Bethesda Magazine counts them as the two newcomers plus Bethesda Bagels, Breads Unlimited and The Red Bandana Bakery. Put their posted hours side by side and no two match. Each one owns a different piece of the day or week, so a bagel run in downtown Bethesda starts with what time it is.
6:30 a.m. Belongs to St. Elmo Avenue
Call Your Mother's Bethesda page lists 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays and 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends. Every other downtown counter opens later, so for the first half hour of every morning this is the only option.
This isn't the chain's first time in Bethesda. From 2020 until February 2025 it ran a mobile "Lil' Deli" on Old Georgetown Road. That truck now operates in Riverdale. In a 2025 Bethesda Magazine report, Dana said the trailer was never meant to be permanent and the team hadn't been able to make a permanent Bethesda site work. The Woodmont Triangle storefront is that permanent site. In the opening press release, Dana said the response the first time around showed them "we needed a bigger space."
The menu is built around sandwiches. Per Bethesda Magazine's summer bagel roundup, the dough is made with honey and boiled at a central commissary, then baked at each shop. The bagels come in seven core flavors plus seasonal ones, and the sandwiches are designed by co-owner and chef Daniela Moreira. The counter also sells potato latkes, yuca cheesy bread, coffee and matcha.
Two details matter for an early run. There's a second entrance on Norfolk Avenue at the back of the shop. The shop's own page says it's steps from the Bethesda Metro Red Line, with street parking and nearby garages. Its neighbors on the block include Max's Best Ice Cream, Kusshi Sushi, Rosetta Bakery and Jetties.
At 7 a.m., the Rest of Downtown Opens
PopUp Bagels opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 4 p.m., seven days a week, according to its location page. It sits on the ground floor of the Solaire apartment building at 7607 Old Georgetown Road. The opening slipped twice, first from July 24 to Aug. 7 and then to Friday, Aug. 14. The MoCo Show reported lines around the block on opening day.
PopUp works differently from Call Your Mother. The Connecticut-based chain encourages customers to tear off chunks of bagel and dip them into tubs of cream cheese or butter. Its schmears rotate weekly, and new flavors and collaborations are announced on social media. For opening weekend it made a Bethesda-only Chesapeake Spiced Schmear. Bethesda is PopUp's second shop in the Washington region, after Georgetown in April, and a Ballston location is under construction.
The block around it is growing too. A few doors down at 7535 Old Georgetown Road, the Element 28 building has Sweeteria and Chipotle, and Bethesda Today reported that Shake Shack set an Oct. 2 opening in the former SunTrust branch there.
Seven a.m. is also when Breads Unlimited opens on Arlington Road. Bethesda Bagels, on Bethesda Avenue, says all of its locations are open daily. It's the oldest of the five. According to the family's own history, Fran and Steve Fleishman opened the first shop on Bethesda Row in 1982, back when the area "had a concrete plant and railroad tracks." It is still family-owned, still hand-rolls its bagels every day, and describes itself as "the oldest original tenant on Bethesda Row."
So by 7 a.m., three of the four parts of downtown with a bagel counter are open: Woodmont Triangle, Old Georgetown Road and Bethesda Row. Call Your Mother and Bethesda Bagels have operated in the area for years, the first as a truck. Their reach changed this summer because both new shops are storefronts with long daily hours, a few blocks apart.
The Afternoon Drop-Off
The two newcomers made mornings easier and did nothing for late afternoon. Here are the posted hours from each business's website:
| Counter | Address | Opens | Closes | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Call Your Mother | 4828 St. Elmo Ave. | 6:30 a.m. | 2 p.m. weekdays, 3 p.m. weekends | Daily |
| PopUp Bagels | 7607 Old Georgetown Rd. | 7 a.m. | 4 p.m. | Daily |
| Breads Unlimited | 6914 Arlington Rd. | 7 a.m. | 7 p.m. | Check posted hours |
| Bethesda Bagels | 4819 Bethesda Ave. | Check posted hours | Check posted hours | Daily |
| The Red Bandana Bakery | 8218 Wisconsin Ave., Suite 101 | 10 a.m. | 6 p.m. Tue–Fri, 4 p.m. Sat | Closed Sun & Mon |
On a weekday, Call Your Mother closes at 2 p.m. and PopUp at 4 p.m. Both new shops are built for breakfast and lunch. If you want bagels for tomorrow morning after school pickup or on the walk home from the Metro, the newest shops won't help. Hours change, so check each business's own page before you go.
Breads Unlimited Keeps the Evening
At 6914 Arlington Road, Breads Unlimited posts hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., which makes it the only downtown option still open into the evening. Bethesda Magazine dates the bakery to 1980 and says it's best known for its cronut, along with challah and hamantaschen. The bakery's own history page lists both 1980 and 1981 as its Bethesda opening year.
Its 2026 news was an expansion. In April, Breads Unlimited and Pizza opened at 10303 Kensington Parkway, its second Montgomery County location, under Jose Molina, the bakery's third owner. Downtown, the original Arlington Road bakery is still the place to get a bagel late in the day.
The Weekend Map Has One Gap
Saturday and Sunday mornings are when downtown has the most choice. Call Your Mother stays open until 3 p.m. on weekends, an hour later than on weekdays. PopUp keeps its 7-to-4 hours every day, and Bethesda Bagels is open daily.
The gap is gluten-free. The Red Bandana Bakery at 8218 Wisconsin Avenue has been fully gluten-free since it opened in November 2017, as Bethesda Magazine reported at the time. It's open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and it's closed Sundays and Mondays. It sells gluten-free, dairy-free bagel kits in plain, everything and cinnamon-raisin. The bakery takes walk-ins and suggests calling ahead to make sure what you want is in stock. It also offers curbside pickup for advance orders, so you don't have to park.
For a gluten-free household, Sunday breakfast needs planning. Red Bandana's last pickup before Sunday is Saturday by 4 p.m., and the next is Tuesday at 10 a.m. On Halloween weekend this year, that means pickup by Saturday, Oct. 31 at 4 p.m., with the bakery reopening Tuesday, Nov. 3.
How the Five Divide the Day
Here's how the posted hours work out:
- Before 7 a.m.: Call Your Mother on St. Elmo Avenue is the only counter open, every day of the week.
- 7 a.m. to early afternoon: All of Woodmont Triangle, Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda Row and Arlington Road are covered, with Red Bandana joining at 10 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
- After 2 p.m. on weekdays: Call Your Mother closes. PopUp follows at 4 p.m., and Red Bandana at 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.
- Into the evening: Breads Unlimited on Arlington Road posts a 7 p.m. close.
- Sundays and Mondays: There's no dedicated gluten-free bagel counter downtown, so Red Bandana orders have to be picked up by Saturday afternoon.
There's also a sixth option for some readers. Call Your Mother has a shop at Pike & Rose in North Bethesda, which is outside downtown but close by. Bethesda Bagels also has a Cabin John Village shop, which Bethesda Magazine reported was set to open in October 2025.
Want help working out what daily life looks like in a part of Bethesda you're considering, down to which bagel shop you could walk to before your train? Melissa L Lambert shares this kind of street-level detail with every client. Let's Connect.
