Ashley “Ash” Patino did not want to have a hard opening for her newest project, a bagel shop in Brookland Park named after her father: Julio’s Bagels. She says she wanted to avoid having the new business — a diminutive space with only 1,000-square-feet, which she notes is about 75% kitchen space — inundated by a massive crowd.

It’s not presumptuous of her to have that foresight.

Pizza Bones, Patino’s beloved pizza shop in Church Hill which opened in 2021, currently has a fan base of about 14,700 on Instagram, and Julio’s, which held only a quiet soft opening last month, already has more than 4,600 followers. But when you talk with Patino about the business of bread, it’s clear that her approach is a measured one (no pun intended) that won’t be rushed by public admiration or anticipation.

Richmond is a bagel-hungry city, and is only getting hungrier.

Before Nate’s Bagels opened in 2018 and Cupertino’s before that in 2007, the city’s longest-standing haven for the bread is Perly’s, in operation since 1961. Today’s Richmond is different (so say the elders, who emphasize that back in their day, they had to walk five miles in the snow for a bacon, egg and cheese). Julio’s is the newest addition to a noticeable sprinkling of bagel concepts including shops like Chewy’s and Baltik’s Bagel and pop-up Sunday Bagel.

Like some others on that list, Julio’s began as a pop-up project in 2022, gradually gaining a fan base as it refined its product. But even before the pop-ups came to life, Patino’s bagel journey began as a way to satisfy a personal craving: She wanted her own version of a perfect bagel — and since she couldn’t find one, she set out to make one.

“I started making bagels a long time ago… similar to pizza, I just make whatever I want to eat,” she says, joking that she seems drawn to some of the most polarizing dishes. “Sometimes I think, ‘Am I cursed?’ because I feel like pizza and bagels are two things that people have strong opinions about.”

Her final product is a whole grain sourdough bagel with simple flavor profiles that let the quality of the bread shine — its balance, the texture, the nuances of its taste.

That ethos extends across her extensive baking history. Patino first entered the world of baking as a student at Virginia Commonwealth University, bouncing between Richmond locales before moving to San Francisco in 2015. There, she worked at noteworthy establishments like Tartine Bakery and Del Popolo, and continued to stage across the United States, honing her craft. Her focus increasingly turned to baking breads stripped of gimmicks and flourishes — she aimed to reduce each loaf to its bare essentials, refining it so thoroughly that the skill behind her execution was unmistakable.

“I like to keep things very simple and streamlined, as someone who gets overwhelmed very easily,” she notes. “I want it to be so simple that you go, ‘I don’t even know why it tastes so good.’”

The choice to go brick-and-mortar brought Patino into partnership with Noah Bowman, a born-and-raised Brooklynite who previously worked as a contractor for her. Today, he manages day-to-day operations so Patino can focus on the product.

“I’ve already been overwhelmed as it is with Pizza Bones, so I put out a call on Instagram that basically asked if anyone wanted to open some sort of bakery-coffee shop,” Patino shares. “Noah was very persistent and eager, but also not trying to take over.”

The two officially agreed to become business partners. Where Patino is the baking brains, Bowman is both the architect and anchor. She credits him with getting Julio’s off the ground, not just for his building prowess, but for providing a needed counterbalance to her new-business nerves. “He has built the entire space—I can’t hang a shelf,” she says. “He built the walls; he tiled everything. I think we both try to prove our value to each other all the time … and it’s nice to have someone who can share their opinion when I can’t decide.”

A brief aside: As the daughter of a native New Yorker father and a first-generation immigrant mother whose family settled in New Jersey, this writer feels compelled to share a bit of cultural wisdom—one’s personality is often reflected in their bagel order. The type of bagel, the schmear, and whether they have room in their heart for smoked fish all say something. (For the record, Patino’s go-to is a salt bagel with spicy cream cheese and cucumber).

The Julio’s menu offers a concise selection that allows for a personality assessment closer to the Big Five than Myers-Briggs. Bagels come in plain, sesame, everything and salt. Cream cheese is categorized by flavor: plain, herby, spicy and sweet. Jam and butter are also available. You’ll find classics like a lox bagel with the works and an egg and cheese, and a pizza bagel is listed as “coming soon.”

Patino is, in essence, a kind of bread laser. She first turned her beam on pizza in 2021 when she returned to Richmond. Today, everything’s coming up bagels.

Tomorrow — and Patino confirms there is indeed likely to be a tomorrow in terms of future businesses — remains just beyond the horizon. But the goal is the same: Never just to hawk a product, but to offer something she would want to see as both a customer and an employer. Her proudest accomplishment is that about five of her employees have been able to buy a home on their food service salary alone, she notes.

“I think I get most of the joy in my life from the connections I have with friends and family, from people I meet,” she says. “I’m not a great businessperson; I joke about it all the time. I would like to open another business after this, although it’s admittedly very stressful and expensive. But without community, what else do we have?”

Julio’s Bagels is located at 114 Brookland Park Blvd. and is open Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.