Food & Beverage

Virginia pizzeria owner swears: 'There really IS something in the water'

Photo: iStock.

December 3, 2020

Virginia Beach-based Brooklyn Bagels and Brooklyn Pizzeria are teaming up to bring New York pizza and bagels to Virginia Beach, courtesy of New York WaterMaker's patent-pending water source replication system, according to a news release.

The owner of the concepts, native New Yorker Charlie Cohen, went from operating six tire shops throughout Hampton Roads to opening up a bagel shop and a pizzeria. Since moving to Virginia, Cohen missed authentic New York pizza and bagels. So, after 15 years in the auto industry, he followed his passion.

However he is no stranger to the restaurant business as his family has owned restaurants in New York for the last 42 years. Likewise, his wife, Shannon, also grew up in the restaurant business through her grandparents' cafeteria in Portsmouth, Virginia.

"We love living in Virginia Beach, but the one thing we were missing were authentic New York bagels, so I decided I would come up with the perfect recipe in an effort to replicate bagels that New York is most famous for," Cohen said in the release. "After six months of trying various recipes and techniques, I fell short every time. But after visiting my family in New York and trying the recipe, the bagels came out perfect. At that point, I knew it was the water. So, after researching how to get New York water to Virginia, I discovered New York WaterMaker."

Today Brooklyn Bagels sells around 3,500 bagels and Brooklyn Pizzeria sells about 1,500 pizzas a week, according to the release.

"Our customers comment on the crunch of the crust which comes from the New York WaterMaker water system as well as the taste of our coffee and soda, which also uses the NY water," Cohen said in the release.

"All of our new customers who are skeptical of our system and think that the water is an advertising gimmick are given a water test. We give them a shot of Virginia tap water and then a shot of our New York water and let them taste the difference. When making bagels with New York water instead of Virginia Beach water, our bagels also average 6.5-6.7 ounces each while our competitor's weigh in at only 3 ounces. The texture and the taste and the color is also greatly improved; it makes a huge difference."

The Cohens are actively searching for outlets for the brands in a quest to bring New York City H2O to points far and wide.