Featuring 'bleeding' Halloween treats, Bagel Nook opens new location in Freehold Township

Gabriela L. Laracca, Asbury Park Press
Updated ·4 min read

Why settle for a plain or everything bagel this Halloween season when you can order a "Beetlejuice"-themed bagel with sugar cookies crammed inside?

Or how about a "Scream"-themed bagel with a whole red velvet muffin smooshed in between — it makes it look like it's bleeding.

You can find these "overload" bagels at the new Bagel Nook location on Route 9 in Freehold Township, which just opened in the former home of Eli’s Hot Bagels.

Why would owners Alex (son) and David (father) Berkowitz create something so spooky?

“This is one of our favorite seasons," Alex Berkowitz said. "We’ve been doing the pumpkin bagel for so long and it’s done so well over the years that we’re looking to outdo ourselves. That’s also why we wanted to do the overloads. 'Beetlejuice' is a worldwide sensation, and everybody knows 'Scream.' ”

The Beetlejuice is a green, white and black hand-rolled bagel, with purple sweet cream cream cheese and themed sprinkles. The Scream is a black and white hand-rolled bagel with sweet cream cream cheese — plus the muffin.

The pumpkin overload is a pumpkin-shaped orange bagel with a green apple licorice stem, filled with pumpkin cream cheese and a pumpkin muffin top. This year, The Bagel Nook also is offering the Great Pumpkin, which is about the size of your head. It can be served overloaded as above, or plain, or filled with cream cheese.

They like blowing their customers' minds.

“It’s the wow factor," Berkowitz said. "We love seeing it on people’s faces. One of the best things we see is when we put something crazy in front of someone, and their face lights up.”

Alex Berkowitz, co-owner of The Bagel Nook, prepares The Scream overload bagel, a black and white hand rolled bagel with sweet cream cream cheese and a red velvet muffin stuffed in the middle.
Alex Berkowitz, co-owner of The Bagel Nook, prepares The Scream overload bagel, a black and white hand rolled bagel with sweet cream cream cheese and a red velvet muffin stuffed in the middle.

The Bagel Nook makes bagels for most holidays, including heart-shaped bagels for Valentine's Day and four-leaf clover bagels for St. Patrick's Day.

Throughout the year, they offer more than 50 types of bagels in crazy flavors like Captain Crunch and Cheetos. There are also almost 50 types of homemade cream cheese, including bacon ranch, fudge brownie, crumb cake, peanut butter swirl and jalapeno cheddar.

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Other menu items include donuts, pancakes, sandwiches and paninis. While you won’t find lattes or espresso drinks, you will find coffees in flavors like Chocolate Nightmare, Apple Pie, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Vanilla Bourbon.

For those who want something over-the-top, try an overloaded coffee like the Cookie Monster (Chocolate Nightmare coffee with blue cream, piled high with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, cookies and Oreos).

Alex Berkowitz, co-owner of The Bagel Nook, holds the new Giant Pumpkin Bagel at the new location in Freehold Township.
Alex Berkowitz, co-owner of The Bagel Nook, holds the new Giant Pumpkin Bagel at the new location in Freehold Township.

The Bagel Nook started with its first Freehold Township location in 2015. They have since expanded to Princeton and Las Vegas.

The overload bagels are what put them on the map, after a customer came in one day and asked for an Oreo bagel with Oreo cream cheese. Alex asked, "Do you want Oreos on that, too?"

About 112,000 Instagram followers and TV appearances later, the rest is history.

The business is now a franchise. The new location is owned and operated by Brooklyn-native and Old Bridge resident Limor Shekhter, along with the help of her husband, Manalapan native David Shekhter, and their five children.

"Bagels are the only thing I can eat for breakfast every day," Limor Shekhter said. " … I could eat them morning, noon and night."

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The Bagel Nook owners Alex Berkowitz (left) and David Berkowitz (right) pose with Limor Shekhter inside the new Bagel Nook location in Freehold Township.
The Bagel Nook owners Alex Berkowitz (left) and David Berkowitz (right) pose with Limor Shekhter inside the new Bagel Nook location in Freehold Township.

Shekhter has been in corporate hospitality for over 20 years, serving as director of operations for Chick-fil-A. She also was director of operations for Don’t Tell Mama, a nightclub in New York City. She and partners briefly owned Good Health Cafe, an organic luncheon on the Upper East Side, but it closed during the pandemic.

The Bagel Nook is her first solo venture.

“I’m a mom of five so doing all of those 70 (or) 80 hour weeks was enough for me,” Shekhter said. “Traveling back and forth from the city, two hours there and two hours back, plus being a mom … This [shop offers] the perfect hours for me because now I can be a mom at night, too.”

Some of Shekhter's kids will also be working in the store, along with other local teens.

“This place could be a first job for some of these kids," she said. "We’re going to end up becoming part of someone’s memories, someone’s story."

Gabriela L. Laracca joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2021 and eagerly brings her passion for cuisine and culture to our readers. Send restaurant tips to glaracca@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bagel Nook opens new spot in Freehold Township