Can I get a good Anacortes bagel at... Good Bagels Cafe
It's right there in the name.
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I’m not opposed to driving all the way to Anacortes to find a good meal. In fact, I used to do it somewhat regularly.
I lived on Whidbey Island for three years, a time I look back on fondly for many reasons. The breadth of cuisines is not one of them. As someone who appreciates Indian food to a disturbing degree (once I’m done with bagels, I’m starting a naan newsletter), I would often drive all the way from Greenbank to Anacortes just to get my vindaloo fix (it was either that or hop a ferry every time I had an aloo gobi urge).
Of course, the commute from Seattle to Anacortes is a little bit different, and unfortunately, it looks like that Indian restaurant has since closed. But the stars potentially aligned with the realization that the Skagit County city boasted an up-and-coming bagel shop. The question was, would it be worth all that I-5 traffic?
When Nick LaLonde visited his brother Alex in Anacortes in July 2020, he wondered where they might be able to get a good bagel. As you might imagine, there wasn’t a very good answer to that question. Since both of them had entrepreneurial and culinary backgrounds (Alex as an avid baker, Nick as an executive chef who has worked in award-winning kitchens), it only made sense to try and answer the question themselves.
Like so many bagelpreneurs, they started with a food truck in 2021 and pop-ups before opening their cafe in January 2023.
As the story goes, they invited a group of friends to try out their wares and kept hearing “damn, that’s a good bagel!” Hence, Good Bagels Cafe.
“We’ve come a long way since our humble beginnings of baking out of our house, delivering in the snow, buying our food truck in July 2021 to serve at the Anacortes Arts Festival and local markets,” they wrote on Instagram.
In recent months the business has evolved and now splits its day between bagels and burgers. In fact, it’s now referred to as Good Bagels & Burgers in some places on their site.
Of course, we’re just here for the bagels. So let’s find out if they’ve answered that question posed a little over three years ago.
And if you want to know how I define a good bagel, you can find that here.
WHAT I ORDERED
Plain bagel as-is
Everything bagel with onion and herb cream cheese
THE EXPERIENCE
I’ve always liked Anacortes’ sleepy seaside vibe and I felt like Good Bagels Cafe fit in really well with it. They’ve done a nice job with the branding and logo, making it feel like the community hub that they talk about wanting to be. Inside, the cafe includes a hodgepodge of curios, including artwork, board games, cookbooks, wildlife videos, and merch.
Walking up to the counter, you can’t help but head right for the bagel baskets, which were being replenished as the bakers were ready with the latest batches. It’s always a nice way to get a sense of what looks good (while I didn’t have a rosemary sea salt bagel, I liked the look of the ones I saw).
UPON FIRST GLANCE
The bagel flavor selection looked solid and there were quite a few cream cheese options. No scallion, alas, so I figured I’d go with the onion and herb as the closest candidate. Coming off my trip to New York, I’m a little sensitive about the amount of bagel places that don’t offer scallion cream cheese here in the PNW, but I’m powering through it.
The sandwiches looked interesting, with the Upper West Side (lox, capers, red onion) appealing to the Northeasterners and The Forager (mushroom veggie sausage, kale, truffle cream cheese) clearly angled towards my veg-heads. Bet you never thought you’d see kale on a bagel.
TOP
The top of the plain bagel was a light golden brown and featured plenty of bubbles and blisters. Firm up top, it didn’t feel particularly crisp and it collapsed a little on touch, though it quickly rebounded. There was a little bit of a rubbery consistency all around.
The everything bagel featured an aggressively strong seed hand. It was hard to find any space on the top or sides that didn’t have some kind of seed or topping. I also spied something extra, an additional seed in the mix. Could that be fennel? Hmm…
The top itself was very soft to the touch, presumably baked a little lighter to ensure the seeds didn’t burn.
BOTTOM
The bottom of the plain bagel had some nice color. Like the top, it was firm without crispness. As for the everything bagel, it too was covered in seeds (which I always appreciate) but also very soft. I think it was going to be fair to assume that the bagels wouldn’t have too much texture on the bite.
INSIDE/BITE
There was a whisp of crispiness on the rip of the plain bagel. The interior was somewhat pillowy and had a nice smell. Slightly sourdough-y, I believe. Biting into it, I didn’t get any crunch and it was a little rubbery on the chew. Still, it had a decent taste and I would describe it as a sturdy bite that likely holds up well for one of those sandwiches.
As for the everything bagel, it was pretty easy to confirm that, yes, that was fennel in the seed mix.
Two things:
Unfortunately, fennel tends to make me nauseous. I find the smell and taste very offputting. So it was hard for me to separate that out and provide an unbiased option. Still, I’m nothing if not a professional.
I’m not opposed to bagel places trying out new things and playing around with flavor profiles. You don’t want to get too stuck in the past. That said, I’m definitely in the camp of bagel enthusiasts who have a very specific idea of what to expect when you order an everything bagel, and fennel seeds are not on that list. My preference would always be for this to be called something else, like a “mega-everything” or “everything and then some” bagel (free marketing ideas!) in order to maintain expectations.
Between the extremely heavy seed hand, the addition of fennel, and the onion and herb cream cheese, I don’t know if I’d say this ended up having the best flavor, but it certainly had the MOST flavor.
The mix did include salt (AS GOD INTENDED), and normally I appreciate that, but in this instance, the salt was overpowering. Not sure if it was the type of salt, the amount used, or perhaps both.
As for the bagel itself, it was indeed a very soft chew. Despite looking like it might get gooey, the cream cheese held steady and stayed mostly within the bagel as I ate.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I really like a lot about what’s going on at Good Bagels Cafe. It was cool to see such a solid bagel business in a place that would otherwise be a bagel desert. Like Howdy Bagel, it’s clear that they’ve planted their flag as the go-to spot in town and it seems like they’re doing a lot to be a dedicated member of the community.
Was I wowed by the bagels? Unfortunately, no. The everything bagel took that name a little too much to heart and my personal opinion is that less would be more there. To be fair, I did eat the whole plain bagel, which I don’t always do in these reviews. So it’s not like I was offended or anything. And while I don’t think I’d necessarily make the trek again just to get a bagel fix, if I found myself in Anacortes again and was hungry, I wouldn’t be opposed to returning.
Is It Good Enough For The Goys?
I think Good Bagels Cafe is very good for the goys. It’s got all of the bagel basics covered but also all of the extra things goys love (elaborate bagel sandwiches, an accompanying burger menu, unique flavors like blueberry bagels and honey walnut schmears). It also seems like a cool small business run by people invested in the community. I would so much rather the good people of Skagit County have access to a bagel place like this than a Bruegger’s or Panera.
Is It Good Enough For Northeastern Jews?
I mean, look. I can’t sign off on this, as you probably expected. But if you find yourself in Anacortes looking to kill a few hours before your San Juan Islands ferry, you could do so much worse.
MY SEATTLE BAGEL RANKINGS SO FAR (9/18/23)
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)
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