Tender, tangy, crackly, just chewy enough, and not too hulking. Baked with regenerative wheat, unyeasted, room-temperature fermented for 48 hours, and schmeared with a koji-inoculated organic cream cheese from a local dairy and crowned with sweet, juicy Sun Gold tomatoes.
These are the sourdough bagels from Jason Winter’s “Little Ugly’s,” which are currently taking over the corner of 4th Street and Termino Avenue in Long Beach’s quiet Belmont Heights community every weekend.
“I just sold nearly 900 bagels this last weekend,” he tells L.A. TACO, mid-bite of a freshly baked “little ugly” still warm from the oven.
It all started with baking pizza bagels out of his mobile wood-burning oven during the pandemic.
“Little Ugly’s is a project I’ve been wanting to get started on for quite some time,” Winters says. “School is starting up again; the economy is not what it used to be. I’ve been working out a lot and feeling good. Why not now?”