Call Your Mother Deli in Fishtown (Photo by Jarrad Saffren)
Call Your Mother Deli — the viral, fast-growing bagel shop and “Jew-ish” deli concept founded by Andrew Dana in Washington, D.C. — has the substance to back up its resplendent style. The fast-casual chain makes all of its bagels in-house.
But it is the style that gets people’s attention. Earlier this month, Call Your Mother opened a location in Fishtown, its first in Philadelphia and 28th overall.
Situated on the heavily foot-trafficked Frankford Avenue, its pink-painted banner and siding and its vibrant teal blue font spelling out Call Your Mother are unmistakable. Multiple patrons at the deli on Sept. 17 said it was the pink branding that drew them in.
“They definitely did a lot of marketing compared to the other places in the area,” said Ricky Nesbitt, a neighborhood resident dining at Call Your Mother with his family. “And Call Your Mother is just a completely different type of name. And bright colors and everything kind of attracts. As we did our daily walks, we saw it being built.”
On Sept. 17, Nesbitt and his family were “just walking around,” he added. “So, we figured we’d just go out and get breakfast, and try out the new spot.”
Call Your Mother Deli in Fishtown (Photo by Jarrad Saffren)
Dana is a half-Jewish (on his father’s side) D.C. native. His backstory has been detailed in The Washington Post, Forbes and local D.C. outlets, among other platforms: He worked in tech sales but found corporate America to be too constricting.
With a tech salesman coworker, Chris Brady, he founded the Timber Pizza Company in 2014. Dana has joked in profiles that the venture was designed to cater to people with late-night pizza cravings like his own. He started traveling to farmers markets to sell the wood-fired pizza, eventually scaling up to nine brick-and-mortar locations, five food trucks and $11.6 million in revenue for 2025.
During an early farmers market stop, Dana met Daniela Moreira, an Argentinian immigrant and elite fine dining chef who had graduated from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America. Moreira joined the Timber team and started dating Dana. In 2018, they pivoted to a bagel shop concept. Two years after that, they got married.
The pivot was inspired by Dana’s father, a D.C. divorce attorney who had always told his son he wished he had opened a deli because it would have been a more community-centered profession.
Dana also wanted better work-life balance than the late nights offered by his pizza venture. Additionally, he recognized that D.C. had a bagel void; the Jewish deli concept needed an update; breakfast and lunch spots with few tables offered consistent customers and high margins; and the fast-casual trend was replacing brunch in millennial dining.
Dana and Moreira spent nine months perfecting their bagel recipe. They decided to add sweetness, Montreal-style, to the bagel by kettle-boiling it in water that had been sweetened by honey. They also gave it fluffiness, New York-style, by adding a little more water to the dough, creating a lighter texture.
Call Your Mother Deli in Fishtown (Photo by Jarrad Saffren)
The founders and other early members of the team then sat down and brainstormed name ideas. They talked about what their Jewish grandmothers used to say to them.
Someone yelled out, “Call your mother.”
“We knew it couldn’t be your traditional Jewish deli. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we’re serious about bagels. Whether you’re Jewish, Jew-ish, or nothing in between, Call Your Mother is a deli where anyone can enjoy some of our favorite food traditions … with a twist,” Dana said in early press releases about the concept.
At the Fishtown location, you can buy old Jewish daily staples like bagels, cream cheese and whitefish salad. But the menu also offers fun twists that you can probably only find at a modern, millennial-crafted concept like this.
Diners are free to make their own bagels with cream cheese, schmear and toppings.
“We love how the bagel is softer than a traditional bagel,” said Rishi Oberoi, a Fishtown resident who was dining at Call Your Mother on Sept. 17.
Call Your Mother Deli in Fishtown (Photo by Jarrad Saffren)
“The sandwiches are huge,” added Kelsey Hebert, who was eating with Oberoi.
Call Your Mother started as a D.C. neighborhood spot before expanding to nearby Maryland and Virginia. Then it scaled across the country, opening locations in Colorado and Illinois.
Philly was next because Dana’s mom is from Mount Airy. The city also offered dense, walkable neighborhoods that are perfect for attracting patrons to the pink branding and the sweet, fluffy bagels.
The founder is also planning Rittenhouse Square and Washington Square West locations.
“We are pretty busy. It’s really cool to see,” said Cam Mason, the general manager of the Fishtown spot.
jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com
