Beloved Coast bagel shop expanding to new city, might leave current location
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Lil’ Market Deli and Bagelry will open a Biloxi location at 179 Reynoir St.
- Owner Oren Zweig said construction permits are pulled and work starts soon.
- The shop plans early-fall opening, aiming to open before Cruisin’ The Coast.
Few places in South Mississippi serve fresh-made bagels, but soon there will be one more.
Lil’ Market Deli and Bagelry in Ocean Springs is opening a sister location in Biloxi, at 179 Reynoir St., the former location of Parrain’s Cajun restaurant.
The construction permit is pulled and work is under way, said owner Oren Zweig. They are shooting to open in early fall — possibly in time for Cruisin’ The Coast the first week of October.
“I owned the building for a long time,” he said, and when the former tenant moved out, he decided to move in.
The Biloxi restaurant will be similar to the Lil’ Market that Zweig opened in 2019 in a tucked away spot in downtown Ocean Springs. This new location gives him more room and a chance to shake up the menu and take people on a journey with food.
“I get to experiment and play more,” he said.
He plans to add his favorite international cuisine from his childhood and food from other parts of the country so people who visit or move to the Coast can have a taste of back home.
“We’ve got no rules here,” he said
Back up plan
Zweig says he loves his Lil’ Market in Ocean Springs and doesn’t ever want to leave. But the property is up for sale and real estate prices are soaring in downtown, so he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to remain where he is now.
“I do want to stay in Ocean Springs,” he said, and have two locations. He also owns a building in Gulfport for possible expansion.
It’s all about timing. He’s been fighting major health issues and now is making steady progress. “I feel so much better than I did when I was recovering,” he said.
That’s got his creative juices going, and he’s thinking about food.
Bagels and more
He’s feeling a little nostalgic being back in Biloxi, Zweig said. He first moved to South Mississippi to work as a poker dealer at Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi before later opening a sports bar and the restaurant in Ocean Springs.
Like the Ocean Springs Lil’ Market, the Biloxi will have outdoor seating, but lots more room inside and a bigger kitchen, so he’ll have a frier and be able to serve French fries with his sandwiches.
“We’re still going to be grab-and-go,” he said, rather than table service, and bagels will still be hand-made, as they’ve been since he opened in Ocean Springs.
“I really opened up here because I wanted a bagel and there were no bagels around,” he said.
“Until I opened that shop I never made a bagel,” he said. He took the best from about 50 recipes, watched videos online and kept working and tasting to get the bagel recipe the way he wanted.
“ It took me six months. I finally perfected it,” he said.
To those who claim New York bagels are so good because of the water, he says, “It’s not the water, it’s the process.”
He’ll share the recipe — water, flour, yeast, salt “and we use malt,” he said — but few people want to take all the steps and time required to make an authentic, tasty bagel.
“Rolling by hand is a lot of work,” he said. The dough has to ferment at least overnight before it is kettle boiled, baked and topped with “everything” and other flavors. Jalapeño cheddar and Italian herb mozzarella are some of their specialty bagels, and for fun, the bagels can be ordered with their homemade cream cheese schmear, smoked salmon and other toppings.
New flavors in Biloxi
While bagels are “our secret sauce” that draw people to Lil’ Market, Zweig is planning to introduce new concepts and flavors to make the Biloxi location a success.
He was born in Israel and his family moved to Miami when he was very young. He didn’t know the blend of Middle Eastern cultures and foods he grew up with he’d still crave today, he said. He believes others will also will want kabobs and falafel, pita sandwiches, shawarma and other Middle Eastern specialties.
To give customers a taste of their favorite regional foods, he makes his own Cuban sandwich, a Philly cheesesteak and his own style of muffaletta. Occasionally he makes his own corned beef and some of the daily specials in Ocean Springs he plans to add to the regular menu in Biloxi.
That menu has a big variety of breakfast sandwiches, served on bagels, biscuit or as a burrito. Breakfast plates and bowls are a mix of favorite eggs and meats. Biscuits are topped with their own gravy.
For lunch, they’ve introduced scratch made, house baked focaccia in original or spicy Italian. Also on the menu are eight varieties of smash burgers plus a smash wrap, spicy Italian sandwiches, Reubens and build your own sandwiches.
“We just take pride in our sandwiches,” he said, served on perfectly toasted breads and stacked with fresh ingredients, so everything comes together.
“There’s nothing more fulfilling than nourishing people,” he said.
