An unofficial review of Boichik Bagels, or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Seattle bagel scene

So... I think Seattle's bagels might be even better than I thought.

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Credit: L.C./Yelp

Of the many bagels around the country I’ve wanted to try, the Bay Area’s Boichik Bagels has long been near the top.

There are several reasons for this.

One, I went to school with the owner. Founder Emily Winston and I grew up in Old Bridge, NJ, and went to high school together. One of the smartest people I knew, Emily went to Cornell (ever heard of it?) and got her master’s degree at UC-Davis. She opened the first Boichik in Berkeley in November 2019 and it quickly became the talk of the West Coast bagel scene. I haven’t kept in touch with Emily but it’s somewhat random that we both ended up in “the bageled arts” (as random as that can be for two Jews).

Two, the originating thesis of this entire newsletter was the claim that “CITY/STATE has better bagels than New York” and there was no bigger clarion call than the New York Times's “The Best Bagels Are in California (Sorry, New York)” article in 2021. In it, Emily is front and center, serving up Boichik Bagels, which are described as “some of the finest New York-style bagels I’ve ever tasted.” I’ve been wondering about them ever since.

Three, longtime readers may remember the time a San Francisco writer shipped in a bunch of frozen Ess-a-Bagel bagels, toasted them, and then claimed Boichik’s were better and how much that sent me into a tailspin. Since then, I’ve had Ess-a-Bagel, so I know where that bar is. While it’s impossible to do a truly authentic comparison between the two, I wanted to see for myself how Boichik measured up.

I finally got the chance. Mostly.

My producer a.k.a. girlfriend recently took a trip to the Bay Area and, because bagels have become an all-encompassing aspect of both our lives, she went out of her way to procure some Boichik Bagels goodies and bring them back to Seattle. What a mensch.

Now, let’s be clear. This can’t be an official review because the bagels and bialy were purchased in the morning, stuffed in a suitcase, traveled via airplane to Seattle, and then arrived in my kitchen that evening. Hardly the kind of conditions I would accept from anyone else trying to claim they were doing a pure evaluation, so I won’t try either.

However, I can say that the bagels and bialy were in solid condition and still fresh enough to warrant consideration. So I considered, and in doing so, learned a lot about where the Seattle bagel scene is at.

WHAT I ORDERED

• Plain bagel ($3.00)

• Everything bagel ($3.00)

• Bialy ($3.00)

Let’s begin with the best part of the whole experience: The bialy. First of all, just an absolute beauty. This bialy was the real deal, not those “depressed bagels” that you see a lot of places try to pass off as bialys these days. The crust was the perfect level of doughiness without being dry. The substantial onion bits in the middle packed a lot of flavor and even gave a little kick. I was very impressed and would absolutely get one all the time if there were a Boichik nearby.

The plain bagel was a good size and featured a medium-large center. The coloring was golden brown and the bagel was very shiny. While there were some textural ridges, it was overall uniform in feel. The top was soft but crinkly to the touch. The bottom was firm but soft and featured wisps of cornmeal (but no CRoD).

It offered an easy rip and I noted that the feel of the bagel was a little rubbery. I detected a bagel-ish smell as well as a slight maltiness in the bite. It was chewy thanks to a dense but fluffy interior. I did not detect any crunch or crispiness while eating, though the bagel had a solid rebound after the bite.

Taking the everything bagel out of the bag, the seasoning smacked me in the face, in a good way. I often opine for everything bagels that you can actually smell and taste, so that boded well. The bagel was a good size, albeit a hair bigger than average, and featured a medium-large center. There was a solid seed hand here with a really nice mix and lots of onion and garlic bits. The bagel itself was soft to the touch. The top was golden brown on one side and light brown on the other. The bottom was firm but soft.

The bagel offered an easy, soft rip. As expected, there was a lot of great flavor from the everything seasoning, which included salt, AS GOD INTENDED. The bagel itself was a tough chew and I detected that maltiness again. I didn’t have the opportunity to try the bagel with a schmear. As it was, it ate a little dry and clammy, which the long wait could have contributed to.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This is an unofficial review because, as noted, there are a lot of caveats to consider. So keeping in mind that these bagels spent the day traveling from San Francisco to Seattle inside luggage, were eaten roughly 12 hours after being procured, and didn’t include schmears…

…I wasn’t overly impressed.

The bialy was fantastic. Possibly one of the best I’ve ever eaten. And the fact that it held up all day before I ate it speaks to how good it was. Strangely, the bialy being so good helps me feel better about saying the bagels were so-so. Because even though this opinion comes with a slew of previously mentioned caveats, the fact that the bialy was still world-class tells me I’m not too far off about the bagels.

I will say I had a feeling Boichik would underwhelm given the focus they have right now on supermarkets stocking their bagels and selling merch. I don’t know if this is another case of sacrificing quality for quantity and growth, but I would not be surprised to find that the current bagels aren’t the same as the ones they build their reputation on. (FWIW, my girlfriend/producer noted that despite being the day's first customer, the bagels did not seem hot out of the oven).

My biggest takeaway, however, has nothing to do with what this says about
Boichik or the California bagel scene. It has way more to do with the bagels right here in the Seattle area.

Specifically, I think the Seattle bagel scene might be way better than I even realized.

If you’re going to tell me this bagel is good enough to be featured in the New York Times as an example of how California’s bagels are better than NYC’s, then there’s absolutely no reason the next NYT’s bagel expose isn’t about Seattle. Because I can honestly say that, keeping in mind the stated caveats, there are currently at least seven, maybe eight bagels better than that. There’s no doubt in my mind.

It feels odd to come to that conclusion when I started this newsletter in part to prove that no city’s or state’s bagels are truly better than New York’s. I still think there’s truth to that, but it’s fair to admit that Seattle’s bagel scene has reached elite status. Especially if you’re telling me this is one of the Great New American Bagels.

Returning to Boichik for a moment, I will give them a legitimate review one of these days when I’m back in California. They’re opening their first Los Angeles location soon and I’d love to be able to couple a review of them with Courage Bagels along with some others. Maybe I’ll come away with a better sense of just how good the Cali bagel scene is. No scooped bagels, though.

For now, I’m going to keep waiting for the New York Times and others to start looking northwest the next time they want to write about great bagels outside of NYC. They’ve got to notice us sooner or later.

Thanks for actually reading this far. If you enjoyed my 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? Please forward the link their way.