Can I find a good Seattle bagel at... Eltana (Wallingford)

I'm nothing if not a completist.

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.

I don’t get sick very often. Or, I suppose, I should say that I don’t let myself get sick very often.

Over the years, I’ve developed a reputation for never coming down with a cold or getting injured (knock on all the wood). I credit my Eastern European stock. However, I think there’s probably some truth to the fact that I actually do get sick as often as most people but I am very good at powering through and masking it.

Somewhere along the way, I developed an overarching need to avoid “wasting time” as much as possible. Presumably, it came from when I was a young writer who felt like every moment I wasn’t putting words on a page was a moment thrown away. I began to abhor anything that might cost me precious time with a pen and paper (or at least procrastinating about doing so). Hangovers, headaches, and illness became things I avoided whenever possible. And if I couldn’t avoid them, I powered through as if they weren’t there.

I’m a little bit older and, in theory, wiser, and I’m only just beginning to accept the value of downtime and rest. It doesn’t come easy. My body seems to want to be in perpetual motion. But now, when I get sick, like I did this past weekend, I’ve come to allow for, and appreciate, “wasting time” again.

So much so that I almost didn’t do a review this week. Once unthinkable, I came to terms with it and would have been okay to let everyone know I was under the weather and would get back to eating too many bagels next week. However, all of that rest seemed to pay off. And now, a day later than usual, I felt like I had the energy to rejoin society.

Since I was cutting things so close, my options were a bit limited. I have a list of bagel places I haven’t visited yet but most of them are a solid drive outside of Seattle. I have a couple of Second Schmear options, but most require a weekend farmer’s market jaunt.

That left me with an obvious option. Since I opened the door to reviewing various locations in Seattle, I remembered that I had yet to visit the Eltana in Wallingford. After my last visit to the Capitol Hill spot, I said I was swearing their diminutive bagels off, but I always knew I would have to complete the set one day.

And so here we are.

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

WHAT I ORDERED

• Plain bagel ($2.25)

• Everything bagel with zaatar scallion cream cheese ($5.25)

THE EXPERIENCE

Credit: Warren C./Yelp

If you’re a new reader, let me give you a brief TL;DR on Eltana. I have long been confused by the appeal of Montreal-style bagels and have yet to eat a good one. While Eltana goes out of its way to avoid saying they are Montreal-style, they use a lot of the same techniques that one would associate with it. Based on their logo and marketing, I initially presumed Eltana was some kind of corporate brand and got really mad when they were propped up as one of the reasons Seattle bagels are better than New York’s. When I eventually reviewed the bagels in their Capitol Hill shop, I was shocked by the tiny size and didn’t enjoy them. I went back a year later and came away feeling the same.

Whereas the Capitol Hill spot is in the midst of that neighborhood’s center of activity, the Wallingford spot is tucked on the edge of a mixed-use complex on Stone Way. It’s quieter, but still gets a solid amount of foot traffic from the massive residential neighborhood surrounding it.

I visited on Monday morning but still saw quite a few customers come and go while there and noticed that a handful of people set up shop with their laptops to do some work.

UPON FIRST GLANCE

Both locations feature an industrial-meets-rustic vibe, combining open spaces full of pipes and cement walls with wood furniture and materials meant to invoke the wood-fired style they use for the bagels. The setup lends itself a little better in Wallingford where you can see where the bagels are made immediately as you enter. The shop then forms an L-shape that gives the seating area its own space, separate from the ordering counter.

The bagels were as I remember them. Small. It had been a while so I forgot they have a pretty strong seed hand. I noticed that, rainbow bagels aside, the coloring on many of the bagels looked solid. I wondered if I was in store for a shocking upset. Had Eltana upgraded things to keep up with the ever-burgeoning Seattle bagel scene? Hope springs eternal.

TOP

The plain bagel was indeed small and featured a medium-sized center. The top was very firm to the touch. Although there were a couple of nubs and crisp spots, and plenty of craggy areas, it was mostly soft. The entire bagel was also extremely shiny.

Admittedly, it was a little hard to figure out which side of the everything bagel was the top and which was the bottom. Eltana serves its schmeared bagels open-face, so I did my best to read the context clues and combined the two sides for the above photo. Thanks to an extremely heavy seed hand, I wasn’t able to note much about the top (or bottom) of the bagel. The top was very sesame seed-forward and the crust of seasoning helped make it a bit firmer, though the bagel itself still felt soft.

BOTTOM

The bottom of the plain bagel did not feature any Cornmeal Ring of Doom (CRoD), presumably because of the honey-water-boiled nature of how they’re made. It did feature these distinct crevices and texture points, though once again while it was firm to the touch it was also very soft.

The bottom of the everything bagel featured some of the same landscape as the plain, which is how I figured out this was the bottom. Interestingly, this side was very poppy seed-forward.

INSIDE/BITE

The plain bagel offered a very soft rip. I noted that the bite was extremely doughy and there was no texture to be found. The interior was very dense and it rebounded only slightly after each bite. The bagel was untoasted, which I don’t think is their preferred way for you to eat them, and there’s probably a good reason for that. As-is, it makes for a bulky chew devoid of much flavor. I did detect a hint of sweetness, presumably from the honey. I’m never a fan of any sweetness in a bagel, so I could have done without it.

Since they served the everything bagel with za’atar scallion cream cheese open-faced, I ate it that way. The good thing about the open-face presentation is that you get a substantial amount of schmear. Some might say too much, but I was a fan. As noted, the seed hand is strong here and that helps provide some texture on the bite. I get the sense this bagel was warmed or toasted. At the very least, I did enjoy the flavor of the toasted sesame seeds coming through every so often. However, that toasting, coupled with a block of cold schmear, means the interior of the bagel got mushy.

You could probably remove the scallion from the cream cheese and it wouldn’t make a difference. This is essentially just za’atar cream cheese, which is fine. Even then, I could have used a little more kick. When that schmear flavor fades, the interior mushiness, coupled with the exterior’s lack of texture and the emergence of the sweetness from the honey, all make for a very pulpy bite.

Ultimately, the bagel disappears and this becomes a cream cheese delivery system.

FINAL THOUGHTS

eltanabagels

A post shared by @eltanabagels

By no means was this visit the Stygian nightmare I feared it might be, but it was a good reminder as to why Eltana is just not my tempo. The taste of the bagels doesn’t work for me. While I appreciate some of the ingredient options, their strong schmearing, and their heavy seed hand, there should be more flavor in the eating experience.

Is It Good Enough For The Goys?

As noted in my initial review, Eltana has a pretty devoted following in Seattle. It’s one of the perks of being an early arrival on the bagel scene. Even as so many new places set up shop around town, I get the sense they’re doing just fine. Godspeed.

Is It Good Enough For Northeastern Jews?

I think at this point there are plenty of better options around town. Specifically, Old Salt is just a few blocks down along Stone Way (and Backyard Bagel coming soon in Fremont).

MY SEATTLE BAGEL RANKINGS SO FAR (6/10/24)

1. Hey Bagel

2. Bagel Oasis

3. Little Market

4. Old Salt (Fremont]

5. Mt.Bagel

6. Backyard Bagel (formerly Aaron’s Bagels)

7. Old Salt (Ballard)

8. Bloom Bistro (formerly Bean’s Bagels)

9. Salmonberry Goods

10. Oxbow

11. Bean & Bagel

12. Loxsmith (West Seattle)

13. Rubinstein

14. Loxsmith (Beacon Hill)

15. Zylberschtein’s

16. Sully Eats

17. Rachel’s

18. Macrina

19. Eltana (Wallingford)

20. Westman’s (Capitol Hill)

21. Grateful Bread

22. Eltana (Capitol Hill)

23. Westman’s (U District)

24. Blazing Bagels

25. Einstein Bros. Bagels

26. Dingfelder’s

27. Kelly’s Cannoli

28. Bagelbop

OUTSIDE SEATTLE BAGEL RANKINGS (6/3/24)

1. The Bagelry (Bellingham)

2. Howdy Bagel (Tacoma)

3. The Cottage Bakery (Edmonds)

4. Shawn’s Cafe & Bakery (Mercer Island)

5. Coquette Bake Shop (Bainbridge Island)

6. Caffe Vino Olio (Vashon Island)

7. Rubinstein Bagels (Redmond)

8. Good Bagels Cafe (Anacortes)

9. Mustard Seed Baking Co. (Stanwood)

10. Blazing Bagels (Redmond)

11. Otherside Bagel Co. (Bellingham)

12. Whidbey Island Bagel Factory (Mt. Vernon)

13. Woodinville Bagel Bakery (Woodinville)

14. B’s Bagels & Butters (Gig Harbor)

15. Big Apple Bagels (Bellevue)

16. Bruchelle’s Bagel Bistro (Covington)

MY NEW YORK AREA BAGEL RANKINGS (12/11/23)

1. BO’s Bagels

2. Ess-a-Bagel

3. O’Bagel (Hoboken)

4. Murray’s Bagels

5. Russ & Daughters

6. H&H Bagels

7. Black Seed Bagels

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? Forward this link their way.