Seattle and New York are both cities known for their amazing food scene. While we have the Seattle dog, New York has bagels and schmears*. Instead of catching a 6 hour plane ride, The Messenger headed out to determine the best local bagel spots. Collectively, we ate 12 bagels (solely for research and for no other personal reason). If you’re looking for a quick and simple bite, here are a few trustworthy local spots to hit:
*Schmears= fancy cream cheese spreads but you sound more like a New Yorker if you say this.
Hey Bagel:
The newest and hottest bagel place in Seattle is located in U-Village. Hey Bagel consistently boasts a line around the block. It’s owned by Andrew Rubinstein, a name Seattle bagel-eaters might recognize. He was the founder and owner of Rubinstein Bagels, a Capitol Hill bagel and sandwich shop, until he left the company. Restaurateur Ethan Stowell now owns and operates the shops, but Rubinstein took his ‘near-perfect’ bagel recipe elsewhere. Near-perfect is a great way to describe the heavenly bagels that he serves at Hey Bagel. They’re big, tall, perfectly golden brown and covered in seeds and salt. The crust is crunchy and the inside perfectly soft and fluffy. The bagels are so fresh that they don’t even need to be toasted. They also have a great selection of interesting schmears: Lox, Spicy Scallion, Chili Crisp, Raspberry Curry & Hot Honey, and Biscoff Chocolate & Espresso Bean. They sell out of both bagels and schmears quickly though, so beware. This place is well worth visiting if you can stomach the long wait.
Mt. Bagel:
A couple blocks from Garfield in the Madison Valley neighborhood, a walk-up shop on the corner of Valley and 26 sells New York/Jersey style bagels started by New Yorker, Roan Hartzog. Be sure to show up early if you want to have a better selection of bagels because at 12 PM, they were already sold out of Sesame, Poppy, Garlic, Everything, and Onion. All that was left was Salt and Plain. The only minor downside to Mt. Bagel is that they don’t sell schmears for just one serving of bagel; they instead make eight ounce cream cheeses of plain and spicy/non-spicy scallion. This place definitely takes first place in “best logo design” with a black and white goat drunkenly walking.
Eltana:
Opened in 2011, another Capitol Hill classic bagel and coffee shop. It has a calm ambiance and is a great place to do anything from chowing down on bagels to studying or hanging out with your friends. While the rest of the bagel places we visited make a classic New York style of bagel, Eltana makes a Montreal style. Montreal style bagels are smaller, sweeter, and denser than New York style bagels, with a larger hole. They’re also typically baked in a wood-fired oven, something Eltana is proud to possess. The bagels we ate were noticeably smaller, and definitely had a larger hole. Still extremely good, but way too much cream cheese ended up in the hole instead of on the bagel….
Westman’s:
This Latinx-owned hole-in-the-wall business has been selling fresh bagels since 2018. Getting a bagel without having to step off the street is truly unique. Of the two locations, U-District and Capitol Hill, we went to the latter. This shop serves fresh bagels with light and creamy schmears. The variety consists of Plain, Maldon Salt, Sesame, Everything, Cinnamon + Currant, Pumpernickel (Rye), Pumperthing, Poppyseed, and Jalapeno Cheddar bagels and Plain, Dill & Black Pepper, Scallion, Smoked Lox, and Vegan plain schmears. Their seasonal spreads are Caramelized Onion and Strawberry. Shout out to the schmear guy for piling on that good stuff.
