Can I get a good Seattle bagel at... Bruchelle's Bagel Bistro

Is this Covington bagel worth the 45-minute drive from Seattle?

May 21, 2023

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 ensure I review any specific bagels (or want to let me know why I’m wrong), you can email me at seanmatthewkeeley@gmail.com.

“We have always loved a good bagel sandwich. We also always dreamed of taking the bagel sandwich and dining experience to the next level. In 2017, our dreams finally came true with the opening of our first Bruchelle’s Bagel Bistro,” says Bruce Dotson and Michelle Doyal, owners of the Covington, WA restaurant that combined both of their names.

Prior to Bruchelle’s the two had started the Beauty and the Beans coffee stand, where they learned how hard it can be to start a business from scratch.

“Don’t give up,” Doyal told the Covington Reporter in 2012. “That’d be my biggest thing. I wanted to give up, but I didn’t. There’s always a way to make it work.”

In 2018, they sold the coffee stand and focused their efforts on Bruchelle’s, which not only features bagels but also offers various breakfast items, sandwiches, soups, and salads.

Judging by their Instagram account, they also put a focus on their boozy beverages and live musical performances. Basically, Bruchelle’s wants to be a lot of things to a lot of people.

But how good are the bagels? There was only one way to find out and it required a road trip to Covington.

And if you want to know how I define a good bagel, you can find that here.

WHAT I ORDERED

Untoasted plain bagel as-is.
Toasted everything bagel with plain cream cheese.
Untoasted sesame bagel as-is.

THE EXPERIENCE

Bruchelle’s is located just off a roundabout, which makes a lot of sense metaphorically. A place that sells bread circles residing on a circle. Of course, that could also just be me stretching to find meaning in something that has none, which certainly sounds like something I would do.

As for the restaurant itself, it’s your classic suburban brunch spot setup, though there’s definitely a strong focus on beer, wine, and spirits. This ain’t your granddaddy’s bagel shop. Or maybe it is, I don’t know what your grandaddy was up to.

Credit due, I was pretty pleased with the prices. $1.75 for a bagel is about as close to East Coast prices as I’ve seen here out here. Compare that to Eltana ($2.25), Zylberschtein’s ($2.65), Rubinstein ($2.80), and Loxsmith ($3.50).

They didn’t have scallion cream cheese so I went with the plain. There are a lot of Seattle-area bagel places that forgo scallions for garlic or chive (or garlic and chive) and I’m definitely giving that some bombastic side-eye.

UPON FIRST GLANCE

Unfortunately, the first thing that caught my eye was how light the seasoning was on the everything bagel. It was more of a “little bit bagel.” Usually I’m upset the everything bagel lacks salt, but this one kinda lacked…everything.

While the as-is bagels were handed over directly, the everything with cream cheese was toasted, which they do automatically. So…cause for concern.

TOP

As mentioned, the seeding hand on the everything bagel was extremely light, to the point where it almost looked like a plain bagel that had briefly fallen into the everything bagel basket (all the more strange when compared to the highly seeded sesame bagel).

That aside, the top of the everything bagel was extremely soft to the touch. I didn’t get any crispness from pressing on it.

The top of the plain bagel was also soft. It did crinkle slightly upon touch but I didn’t detect a crisp exterior otherwise. It did have a good brownish coloring, at least.

BOTTOM

Both bagels were soft to the touch on the bottom and featured a slight cornmeal ring. I didn’t get any crispness from either.

INSIDE/BITE

I gave the plain bagel a rip and didn’t get that crispy sensation I would ideally want. Nor was there any crunch on the bite. While it wasn’t sourdough-y, it smelled more like bread than a bagel. The bite was pretty doughy and fairly reminiscent of the kind of texture you’d get from a freezer bagel.

The everything bagel was pretty much in the same realm. There was a very slight sense of flavor on the bite, though the bagel emitted that same bread smell. The cream cheese tasted cheap and oozed out as I bit into it, the classic toasted bagel problem. There was a hint of crispness in the bite but not enough to give it much texture.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Unfortunately, while the price point was great, you also get what you pay for. I came away presuming these were wholesale bagels not unlike the ones that Kelly’s Cannolis and Bagelbop use. Bruchelle’s seems intent on being a bit of everything for everyone but I think they’d probably benefit from putting more focus on the quality of the bagels, especially if they want to attract out-of-towners.

Is It Good Enough For The Goys?

For better or worse, I think this is the kind of bagel that a lot of people usually end up having access to, so I would imagine a lot of goys would be just fine with this. I also have way too many people emailing me to say Blazing Bagels is the best bagel in Seattle, so who knows what’s going on in the hearts and minds of Americans,

Is It Good Enough For Northeastern Jews?

Sadly no. If you’re in Seattle, save the gas and just pick up a bag of bagels from the PCC if you want something akin to this experience. But I also don’t know why you would want to do that either.

MY SEATTLE BAGEL RANKINGS SO FAR

OUTSIDE SEATTLE BAGEL RANKINGS

The Bagelry (Bellingham)
Howdy Bagel (Tacoma)
Whidbey Island Bagel Factory (Mt. Vernon, Whidbey Island)
Bruchelle’s Bagel Bistro (Covington)

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