Review: Good Boy Bagels in Canton Gets Four Paws Up

Dogs are everywhere inside Canton’s hopping new breakfast and lunch spot. Paintings of them hang on the walls. Polaroids of them are posted everywhere. And, of course, one adorns the restaurant’s logo. To be clear, the living, panting, drooling, shedding, yet irresistibly lovable kind have to stay outside, but their positive energy undoubtedly adds to the great vibe at Good Boy Bagels—and bowls of cold water and dog biscuits are available for them on the patio out front.

Since it opened in May, the cafe has attracted a loyal following of people who come for the hand-rolled bagels, housemade sausage and sides, and locally roasted coffee from Ceremony. Once they experience the warm, welcoming space, they keep coming back.

“I’ve always loved hosting gatherings, and I always said that if I ever had a place like this, I would want it to feel like you were coming to my house,” says co-owner Lauren Kistner.

She accomplished that by decorating the space with bright colors, art sourced from Etsy, and some of her own work, including paintings of food. Her business partner is Benjamin Sawyer (it’s his dog, Luffy, on the logo), who runs the back of the house. A veteran of respected kitchens like Magdalena, most recently he was a butcher at John Brown General & Butchery in Cockeysville.

“Since I’ve been in Baltimore, what I’ve really craved the most is bagels,” says Sawyer, a New Jersey native who lives in Canton. “I would visit my mom and get bagels at our local bagel shop every day. I just felt like we didn’t have our style of bagels here.”

Sawyer has created a menu that melds the type of bagel from back home—denser than many made here—with items like pit beef from his adopted state of Maryland. The king of the breakfast specials is the 40 Gold (the name pays homage to the legendary Chaps Pit Beef on Route 40), a bagel sandwich that pairs the beef—usually bottom round rubbed and injected with seasoning, rare on the inside, charred on the outside—with fried eggs, onion, and cheddar horseradish cream cheese.

Because Good Boy’s bagels are flatter than most, when the halves are pressed together, they don’t squeeze out the components between them like many other bagel sandwiches do. Take for example the pizza bagel, a delightfully garlicy concoction that leaves the marinara on the side. Instead of taking a bite that pulls all the cheese and sauce off the bagel and onto your chin, it holds its structural integrity. Dunk it in the tub of marinara at your leisure.

Each bagel here comes out hot and fresh with a subtle natural crunch, so it doesn’t need to be toasted. Hash browns are a single fried, circular, bagel-sized patty that can go on the bagel or beside it. Pasta salad uses pimento cheese, elevating it from a standard side to a star. Breakfast sausage is made in-house, heavy on sage and ginger.

Oh, and no need to tie up your pup if you want to order: An employee will come outside to take your order. And if you want to pick up curbside, instead of listing the model of your car, you can give your dog’s name and breed. It’s these little touches that have made Good Boy Bagels a favorite for Cantonites—two- and four-legged alike.

GOOD BOY BAGELS: 834 S. Conkling St., Canton. HOURS: Mon., Wed.-Fri. 7 a.m.-2 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. 8 a.m.-2 p.m. PRICES: Bagels: $2 (single), $22 (baker’s dozen); breakfast and lunch: $10-20.