Montreal-Style Courage Bagels Comes to Life in Virgil Village Tomorrow

It’s been a long road for Ari Skye and the Courage Bagels crew. What started out as an underground home baking operation back in 2017, with Skye selling bagels on the sly from a retro bicycle that she rode between Silver Lake and Echo Park, has blossomed into a full-fledged Virgil Village restaurant. And now, tomorrow is the first day for fans to actually try a bagel from the shop.

Skye announced the quiet opening of her storefront at 777 N. Virgil Avenue last night on Instagram, telling followers that the shop would open “softly and slowly” starting at 7 a.m. on Saturday, as the crew worked to eventually get up to full speed. Skye and partner Chris Moss have completely flipped the 820-square-foot space, formerly Super Pan Bakery, and plan to offer a similar menu to their former farmer’s market days, with toppings like hand-sliced smoked salmon and lots of veggies, plus coffee. As for the bagels themselves, they’re done in a smaller, crispier, Montreal style, a far cry from the usual efforts found around Los Angeles.

Courage Bagels is just the latest new restaurant to land along Virgil Village, an area that has undergone a massive amount of change in the past decade. Other newcomers include East Coast expats Ken’s Ramen, which opened in September just a block from Sqirl and Melody, and right along the same strip as longtime restaurants like Wah’s Golden Hen and California Grill. The area recently saw the opening of Voodoo Vin as well, even as sites like This Side of Hoover continue to offer context for the ongoing gentrification of the community. This summer The LAnd published an article on Sqirl’s role in changing the neighborhood, along with ongoing issues of representation and ownership across Virgil Village and East Hollywood, that interviewed locals and spoke to the heart of what it means to be a restaurant as well as a community partner.

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