The Metropolitan, with a side of red potato salad, at Atlantic Bagel in Rumson. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Honestly, this kind of blew us away.
It’s called the Metropolitan, and it’s hefty sandwich of maple honey ham, provolone, lettuce, tomato and roasted peppers with your choice of dressing – we had the Russian – on a bagel.
Tasted great. All the ingredients obviously fresh. But what knocked us out was the price: $5.20. And it comes with a huge side of potato salad.
We’re talking about lunch at Atlantic Bagel on East River Road in Rumson. So what’s the deal? How does this deli make any money on a $5.20 sandwich, which could easily cost a couple of dollars more somewhere else?
“This is what we make,” says shop owner Ross DiMiceli. “We make the bagel, so we want you to have your sandwich on the bagel. So we give you a dollar discount.”
A dollar, that is, off the price of the same sandwich on a hard roll or a wrap. And two bucks off the price of a sub roll.
DiMiceli’s a bagel guy. He started working in the business as kid in Brooklyn, and now has three stores – one in Atlantic Highlands, and another on Route 35 in Middletown.
The Rumson shop has been his for four years, and replaced another bagel business. It’s a neighborhood-type place, not far from Rumson-Fair Haven Regional and a couple of other schools. Which is why the store stays open until 4 p.m., whereas his other places close at 3.
“It’s a big kid spot,” he says. “We stay open for them.”
Keeps it affordable for them, too, it seems.
“It’s a good weight sandwich for the money,” he says of the Metro.
No argument there.
