Can I find a good Seattle bagel at... Dingfelder's Delicatessen
Is a Jewish deli allowed to have a bagel this bad?
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.
The Capitol Hill Seattle blog has dubbed this the golden age of Capitol Hill bagels, thanks to the abundance of bagel shops to be found here. Rubenstein’s, Westman’s, Eltana, and Dingfelder (and sometimes Loxsmith) call the Hill home.
There’s something interesting about Dingfelder’s, however, that has always made me wary. Even as we’ve come to learn that most of those “best bagels in Seattle” lists don’t know what they’re talking about, they all seem to have one thing in common. None of them include Dingfelder’s. Not a one.
How does a self-proclaimed “authentic NY Jewish Delicatessen” fail to meet the minimum requirements to get on the Eater Seattle, Seattle Met, and J. Kenji López-Alt rankings?
I assumed I knew the answer but I intended to find out nonetheless.
According to their website, Dingfelder’s opened its doors in 2018 “at the ask of family, friends, and the sheer lack of foods of our heritage.” Their stated goal was to “recreate the experiences of old New York on the Lower East Side.”
While it debuted as a walk-up window on 14th and Pine, it expanded to add indoor seating in 2019. They carried a lot of hype and generated plenty of curiosity over their $18 pastrami and corned beef sandwiches.
“It’s worth it,” co-owner Vance Dingfelder told the Seattle Times in 2018. “Especially if you look at the amount you’re getting.” His $18 sandwiches are piled high, in the style of a real-deal New York Jewish deli — take a ruler to one, and you’ll measure two inches of meat. Each is overstuffed with 9 or 10 ounces of pastrami or corned beef.”
At the time, Dingfelder and co-owner and wife Stephanie Hemsworth had big ideas for the business. He told the Seattle Times he wanted to redo the interior of the delicatessen and eventually create “a Katz’s-type deli” and later told Seattle Refined that they eyed an Eataly-esque expansion eventually.
"[We're going to] build a line that has the meat cutters cutting meat. We're going to have an appetizing counter that has smoked fish, cream cheese schmears. We're going to do our own custom smoked salmon, whitefish, sable that we're going to do in-house. And then you're going to have...a bakery...as well as a knishery," Vance said in 2019.
Dingfelder’s also seems to have gone all-in on the catering business, as they’ve dedicated a large chunk of their signage and website space to that.
With such big ideas, there was one missing ingredient on the way to Jewish deli domination…bagels. And so, Dingfelder’s made the natural expansion into the bagel game in 2020. Per an interview with Capitol Hill Seattle, they said they bought their bagel dough from local chain Blazing Bagels but prepared them in-house.
The pandemic likely put a kibosh on their expansion plans for the time being. As of right now, Dingfelder’s is back to being a walk-up window establishment. But while Capitol Hill waits to see if the deli can make good on its lofty goals, the question remains about whether or not their bagel can stand on its own.
Let’s find out.
And if you want to know how I define a good bagel, you can find that here.
WHAT I ORDERED
Toasted* everything bagel with scallion cream cheese.
Untoasted plain bagel as-is.
THE EXPERIENCE
You can see the potential in Dingfelder’s when you arrive, with their location inside an old commercial kitchen building. With some renovations, permanent signage, and thoughtful design accents, it could really be an anchor destination for the neighborhoods. However, they’re sticking to the walk-up window, for now, so you place your order and then meet the staff at the takeout window to pick it up.
Clearly, the meat is the star here. And there seems to be some care put into classic Jewish deli dishes like the knish, kugel, borscht, and brisket. However, the order was strictly about bagels and that appears to be like going to McDonald’s and basing your review on the salads.
UPON FIRST GLANCE
One look at the plain bagel and I knew I was in trouble. With a uniform light-brown color and cornmeal-dusted bottom, it had all the classic markings of a bad bagel or storebought bagel. The everything bagel didn’t do much to ease those concerns as it felt very flimsy and the seasoning appeared to be very uneven.
TOP
The plain bagel had a pretty uniform look. No bubbles or cracks. Very smooth. Very one-note in color. The light brown was definitely lighter than you’d ideally want to see. The bagel was also very soft to the touch, a 🚩 if ever there was one.
On the bite, something just seemed…off. There was a strange flavor and texture at play, as if the entire bagel was too soft for its own good. Certainly no crunch or crispiness on the bite.
The everything bagel was toasted automatically without my asking, which is a 🚩 in and of itself. I would have requested the bagel untoasted if asked. The everything seasoning was wildly uneven, with most of my poppyseed on one side and a lack of any salt that I could detect (Seattle’s salt-less everything bagels will be the death of me).
On the bite, again, no crunch or crispiness from the top.
INSIDE
The experience of eating the everything bagel was truly unpleasant. The interior of the bagel is so soft that the entire bite collapsed in my mouth as soon as I bit into it. It was as if the bagel consisted of a soft exterior crust and that’s it. The bagel disappeared in my mouth as I chewed like it was cotton candy.
Despite the ample bits of scallion in there, the scallion cream cheese offered a little bit of scallion flavor. The cream cheese itself felt and tasted low quality. If you told me it was Philadelphia Cream Cheese, I would believe you.
BOTTOM
The bagel bottom featured the cornmeal dust of doom and that was par for the course with the taste and feel. No crispiness or crunchiness to be found.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Look, Dingfelder’s might make a mean pastrami sandwich and might have a strong hold on the Seattle knish market, but this bagel is pretty bad. I made a note for myself that reads, simply, “grocery store bagel” and that is the level I would put them at.
Between Dingfelder’s, Eltana, and Westman’s, this might be the “golden age of Capitol Hill bagels,” but that’s based solely on the number of places that serve bagels, not the quality.
Honestly, if it’s still true that they get their dough from Blazing Bagels, I’m terrified to try that place (though I eventually will because I love my readers…).
Is It Good Enough For The Goys?
Honestly? Not really. I know I’m not exactly a champion of many bagel places in Seattle but there are plenty of other spots where you can get something better than this. I’d even say you should consider Eltana or Westman’s before you settle for this, which is saying something. It’s a shame because of what Dingfelder’s represents and what they’re trying to bring to Seattle. But I would prefer that goys don’t eat this and think it’s what an authentic bagel is supposed to taste like.
Is It Good Enough For Northeastern Jews?
MY SEATTLE BAGEL RANKINGS SO FAR
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.
First, no whipped cream cheese or cream cheese with stuff in it. That’s what makes Philly Cream Cheese great. And give up on the everything bagel — that’s what tourists think they’re supposed to eat. Oh how I long for a crusty salt bagel with plain cream cheese from Greenvale Bagels on a rainy Sunday morning in Long Island. Even my Dutch Long Island wife, who knows her stroopwafels and bagels, thinks so. But avoids the carbs.