Call Your Mother (restaurant)

History

Andrew Dana, a Washington native who had always been fascinated by bagels, first worked with Chris Brady and Daniela Moreira to launch Timber Pizza’s first permanent shop in Petworth in 2016. Over the next two years, Dana and Moreira created their own bagel recipe and a concept they called a “Jew-ish deli,” drawing from traditional Jewish delicatessens. They described their bagels as blending the sweetness of Montreal-style bagels with the fluffier texture of New York-style bagels, and they are boiled before being baked in a wood-fired oven.

Among the passive investors was Jeff Zients, a former senior official in the Obama administration who later served as Chief of Staff in the Biden administration. The first Call Your Mother location opened on Georgia Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., in October 2018. Bon Appétit named it one of America’s best new restaurants in 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the chain closed for two weeks, then reopened with a focus on pickup and delivery and did not lay off any employees.

A location opened in the lobby of Yours Truly DC in Washington’s West End in 2020. The first location outside the D.C. area opened in Denver in May 2023, and that same year Bon Appétit recognized it as having one of the best bagels in the United States. In 2025, Call Your Mother sold a majority stake to the private equity firm Invus.