September Sunrise Sandwich Spree, Day 21: Lox & Cream Cheese

Lox & Cream Cheese

Heller’s Bakery 3221 Mount Pleasant Street NW Mount Pleasant Open daily from 7:30 a.m. $6.00

On the fourth day of our now nearly complete September Sunrise Sandwich Spree, I sampled the lox spread from the well-regarded bagel shop Bethesda Bagels. As I said then, I’ve never quite warmed up to lox. It’s always been too much for me; always any or all of too rich, too salty, too fishy, too smoky. My experience earlier this month was unfortunately no different. The spread was dense, heavy and ultimately overwhelming, but I promised then that I would revisit a smoked fish breakfast before the end of the month. Today’s entry, the twenty-first in this month-long stunt, is the lox and cream cheese bagel from Mount Pleasant institution Heller’s Bakery. I like Mount Pleasant, and I like Heller’s. Around since the early 1920s, it’s survived pretty much the entirety of the neighborhood’s long and often chaotic history, but feels no less vibrant than any of the more recent additions to the bustling strip. And guess what else. I thoroughly enjoyed the lox and cream cheese on a toasted plain bagel. Applied with a proportionately even hand, the creaminess of the cheese kept the sharpness of the lox just short of being overpowering, and unlike my experience with the lox spread, I never questioned whether I would finish the sandwich. So as to focus my attention on the fish, I once again opted to forgo the traditional fixings, traditionally tomato, onion, capers and cucumber. I’ll get into all that next time. I want so badly to like lox and to have at least one reliable alternative to the bacon-egg-cheese Axis of Breakfast Sandwich Evil. With my first positive encounter now behind me, I’m feeling encouraged.