The Seattle jalapeño cheddar bagel jamboree: Little Rachel's rise

What's in the water in Lake City cause it seems to make for better bagels.

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The Seattle Jalapeño Cheddar Bagel Jamboree rages on as we add another spicy bagel snack to the rankings. You can read the previous entries here and here.

This week’s entry is interesting as we’ll focus on one jalapeño cheddar bagel (due to circumstances I’ll discuss soon) and also dig into that bagel shop in a larger context.

The plan this week was to get two JCBs to review as part of the Jamboree. I decided on Little Rachel’s and Zylberschtein's since they’re pretty close to one another. However, upon getting Zylberschtein's jalapeño bagel, I realized that not only is it not a JCB but it’s just a bagel with some jalapeño bits mixed in. I didn’t think it met the basic requirements necessary to qualify for entry (Not to mention that the jalapeño bits were essentially flavorless).

Zylberschtein's jalapeño bagel.

I was too lazy to go hunting for a replacement JCB so I decided to stick with Little Rachel’s. Curiously, when they brought my order out, the very nice counterperson said, “We gave you one of the nicest looking jalapeño cheddar bagels ever.”

Now…

Did they say that because they recognized me as the idiot traversing Seattle to eat cheese-smothered bread products? Or were they genuinely proud of how well this bagel came out and just needed me to know?

Whatever the reason, they were right.

As a reminder, while my general bagel rankings are based on whims and vibes, I’m handing out actual scores in the jalapeño cheddar rankings. Each bagel will get a score from 1-5 on Bagel Quality, Jalapeño Factor, Cheesiness, Middle, and Overall Experience, as well as an Intangibles bonus (which can add or remove points to the overall score). I’ll add all those scores up for a Total Score out of 25.

Initial Thoughts

Man, that’s a good-looking jalapeño cheddar bagel. I love the deliberate placement of the peppers and the way the cheese isn’t just cooked uniformly. The cheese on top looked downright fresh. I did note some oily residue, which I assumed was just part of the cheese-baking process.

Bagel Quality

The bagel was on the bigger side but I didn’t have an issue with that. It was very soft all the way around and inside, which is ideal for the JCB. It also had really good rebound after each bite. It never overwhelmed any flavors and didn’t distract with too much texture or firmness.

Score: 5 out of 5

Jalapeño Factor

I like a haphazard jalapeño toss just as much as anyone, but I really appreciated the deliberate placement of the peppers around the entire ring of the bagel. With eight jalapeños back-to-back all the way around, it ensured every initial bite would include some spicy goodness. Speaking of, the peppers were indeed pretty spicy. Not overwhelming, but I definitely had to pace myself a little bit. This is not a complaint.

Score: 4.5 out of 5

Cheesiness

Depending on where I bit into the bagel, I got a different aspect of cheesiness. The edges offered the classic burned cheese factor, wrapping around the length of the side.

On the top, the cheese was a bit more like the kind you’d find on a classic New York pizza slice. Just the right consistency to not overwhelm the bagel. The flavor was intense and I wondered if it was almost too high quality. The flavor of the cheese seemed slightly too pungent but that might have just been a preference issue. Because the cheese on top was cooked lightly, there was a little oily residue that I wish I’d tamped down in retrospect. But it was solid all around.

Score: 4 out of 5

Middle

Every bagel place seems to treat the middle of the JCB a bit differently. Some stuff it with peppers. Some fill it with cheese. Others just let the ingredients fall where they may. Little Rachel’s went hard on the cheese. With the peppers ringing the bagel, the middle bite was a cheesebomb. In a perfect world, there would have been a jalapeño in there for balance, but the pizza-like chewiness of the cheese kept it appealing.

Score: 4 out of 5

Overall Experience

This bagel was a meal. Thanks to the size, the robustness of the cheesy topping, and the intensity of the peppers, my mouth was working overtime. My enjoyment didn’t abate as I ate. I kept thinking each bite would be the last one but then I would want to go back for one more. Eventually, there were no more worlds to conquer and I’d eaten the whole thing.

Score: 4 out of 5

Intangibles

This JCB has already scored pretty high but I have to give them a bonus point for that jalapeño placement. There’s nothing worse than getting a jalapeño cheddar bagel with minimal peppers or having to take several bites before you get one with all of the ingredients together. This bagel had intentionality and, to use the parlance of our time, it understood the assignment.

Bonus points: 1

Final Score

I thought it would be unlikely that any Seattle bagel would be able to challenge Backyard Bagel for the crown, but clearly I’ve underestimated what Little Rachel’s was cooking up. With a total score of 22.5, we have a new clubhouse leader.

Seattle Jalapeño Cheddar Bagel Jamboree Rankings (10/28)

1. Little Rachel’s (22.5)

2. Backyard Bagel (20.5)

3. Cafe Argento/Safeway (15.5)

4. Rubinstein Bagels (14)

5. Westman’s (6.5)

While we’re here, I want to talk a bit more about Little Rachel’s. Longtime readers know that I’ve struggled to understand the appeal of Rachel’s Bagels & Burritos for a while. So much so that I avoided visiting Little Rachel’s after it opened in Lake City. However, I came away from my initial visit feeling like it was an elevated experience.

Along with the JCB, I also got another everything bagel with scallion cream cheese during my recent visit. And man, it was really good. The entire bagel was caked in flavorful seasoning. The cream cheese was solid. The bagel ate well. And I enjoyed the whole thing.

I’m making an executive decision and raising Little Rachel’s to No. 10 in my overall Seattle rankings. I still have issues with the plain bagel but I can’t deny that they’ve given me some of my most flavorful bagel experiences of the last couple of months.

I’m left scratching my head, however. Why are the offerings at Little Rachel’s so much better than the home base in Ballard? I’ve even had the jalapeño cheddar bagel at the Ballard shop and it was entirely different.

The JCB from Rachel’s in Ballard in March 2024

Are they making different bagels at each location? Do they use different techniques? Do the bagel bakers in Lake City just deserve giant raises?

I’m left with more questions than answers. The one thing that I do know is that they make a pretty fantastic jalapeño cheddar bagel up there.

You can read my full bagel rankings here.

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