Second Schmears: Revisiting Ben & Esther's Vegan Jewish Deli
Did the vegan deli deliver the second time around?
Welcome to It’s A Shanda, one Northeastern Jew’s quest to find a decent bagel in Seattle (and beyond). If you’re interested in taking this journey with me, make sure you subscribe so you never miss a review. If you want to make sure I review any specific bagels (or want to let me know why I’m wrong), you can email me at seanmatthewkeeley@gmail.com.
In my initial review of Ben & Esther’s on Capitol Hill, I had very high hopes for the vegan deli. While Seattle obviously caters to vegetarians and vegans, compared to other like-minded cities like Los Angeles, New York, and Portland, we don’t have a ton of truly great veg-focused options (I welcome your suggestions, of course).
In both the bagels and the overall offerings, I came away somewhere in the middle. I found some things I liked and some things not as much. In subsequent visits, that sentiment has remained. And hey, for the reason stated above, I’ll take it.
At the time, I made the guess that they were getting their bagels from Alki Bakery, though I have to admit that’s completely unconfirmed. During my visit with The Cholent’s Emily Alhadeff in August, she discovered that they were sourcing their bagels from Zylberschtein's. That intriguing piece of information necessitated a Second Schmears review posthaste.
So here we are.
And if you want to know how I define a good bagel, you can find that here.
WHAT I ORDERED
Everything bagel with scallion cream cheese.
Everything bagel as-is.
As with all previous Second Schmear reviews, we keep things relatively simple this time around. I’ll review this version of the visit and compare it to the first trip to find out what might have changed.
There were a few similarities between the prior plain bagel and this one. Both were on the dark brown side, both were a bit oblong and unbalanced, with one side bigger than the other, and both were on the smaller side. In both cases, the top was firm to the touch and sturdy with a slight crispiness.
That said, they definitely seemed to have some differences as well, with the new one being very blistered and crackly while the old one was shinier and more uniform.
The bottom of the newer bagel was golden brown and had some nice crevices, but it was far from the “Death Star trenches” I noticed in the previous version.
Tearing into the plain bagel, I was met with a strong sourdough smell and a crisp bite with some decent texture. The interior was doughy but not fluffy and actually ate a little dry like bread. That said it was a tough bite in a good way and had some nice textural differences. I just wish I tasted more like a bagel. A lot of these thoughts mirrored what I said in the initial review.
The everything bagel was also on the smaller side but much softer than the plain. Due to a quirk in the dough, there was a unique ribbon running across the top that seemed to imply texture but didn’t lead to much.
They had a heavy seed hand that was strong on the onion and garlic, a stark difference from the previous version, which highlighted sesame and poppy seeds. There were also a lot of empty spots in the coverage. The bottom of the bagel didn’t have a lot of seeding, which was also very different from the initial one. Like last time I did not detect salt in the mix.
The bagel was bulky due to the non-dairy cream cheese and it was very soft and texture-less on the bite. I was able to get scallion cream cheese this time, which was a solid upgrade. I got some decent flavor out of it though the schmear was very messy and glooped outward with each bite. Like last time, the overall flavor of the bite wasn’t memorable and I found that I ran out of interest to keep eating after three bites.
WHAT I SAID LAST TIME
“This was a rare occasion where the plain bagel was much more enjoyable than the everything bagel. There was a lot going on with the everything, especially when you factor in the cream cheese, but it just didn’t do much of anything for me. I don’t know if that plain bagel’s crunchy bottom is normal or was an anomaly, but it was the reason why I ended up eating the whole thing.”
WHAT I THOUGHT THIS TIME
I’m leaning towards Zylberschtein’s having been their bagel provider on both occasions because many of the changes between the two visits are similar to the changes I noticed in my second Zylberschtein’s visit as well (For what it’s worth, I have Zylberschtein’s and Ben & Esther’s right next to one another in my rankings, which makes even more sense now).
Even with the changes, the outcome was about the same. I much preferred the plain bagel to the everything bagel. Overall it did feel like a slight improvement, though not enough for a rankings boost. Although I’m probably not going to go out of my way to get another bagel there anytime soon, I’d be fine grabbing a plain and a Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda one day when I’m in the area.
MY SEATTLE BAGEL RANKINGS SO FAR (10/2/23)
OUTSIDE SEATTLE BAGEL RANKINGS
The Bagelry (Bellingham)
Howdy Bagel (Tacoma)
Coquette Bake Shop (Bainbridge Island)
Good Bagels Cafe (Anacortes)
Otherside Bagel Co. (Bellingham)
Whidbey Island Bagel Factory (Mt. Vernon, Whidbey Island)
Thanks for actually reading this far. If you enjoyed my Seattle bagel review and want to read more of them, make sure you’re subscribed to It’s A Shanda. Know someone in the Greater Seattle Area (or beyond) who would appreciate way-too-detailed reviews of local bagels? Forward the link their way.
Death Star trenches - lol. I recall them saying they bake their bagels at Zylberschtein’s with their own recipe. Is it the recipe or the oven and style of baking that matters more?