Norwalk's new bagel shop serves three-day sourdough bagels

Sourdough bagels do not happen fast, and Norwalk Bagel Co. is betting that the wait is the point. The new shop at 133 Washington Street opened on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, with bagels that take three full days to make, a long-fermentation process the Kings say gives the dough a more distinctive chew and flavor than a standard bagel.

Gary King and Emily King run the Norwalk shop from the former Pokemoto space, and they have built the menu around artisanal bagels made fresh daily. Before the doors open at 7 a.m., the bagels are hand-rolled and boiled the old-fashioned way. The shop stays open until 3 p.m. each day and rounds out the bagel lineup with deli classics, sandwiches, wraps, coffee, espresso drinks, house-made baked goods and seasonal items.

Emily King said the multi-day sourdough process changes how sugars and proteins are broken down, and that the result is easier on the stomach and more digestible. For home bakers, that detail matters because it points to the same principle behind many long-fermented breads: time does part of the work that rushed dough never gets to do. The bagels also arrive at the table with a different structure, the kind of texture that comes from a patient fermentation schedule rather than a quick-mix formula.

The Norwalk opening also extends a family operation that already has a following in Fairfield County. Gary and Emily King also own Ridgefield Bagels & Bakes, which opened in 2023 and was voted No. 1 Best Bagels in Fairfield County and No. 2 in Connecticut on the Norwalk Bagel Co. site. That gives the new shop an immediate regional reputation as it steps into a Connecticut bagel market where longtime New York-style shops and newer sourdough-driven bakeries are all competing for breakfast regulars.

Gary King brings nearly 20 years of kitchen experience across Europe, Australia, China, Southeast Asia and New York City, including time with Tom Colicchio, Steven Starr and Brad Farmerie. Emily King, a Culinary Institute of America graduate, worked for Pierre Hermé in Paris and at Cookshop and Veritas in New York, and has also appeared on Food Network. Their combined background shows in the shop’s setup: a straightforward neighborhood bagel counter with serious technique behind it.

In Norwalk, the promise is simple. The bagels are already rolling out daily, but the flavor starts three days earlier, long before the first customer walks in at 7 a.m.