Can I find a good Seattle bagel at... Rubinstein Bagels
A lot of Seattle bagel places have big plans, this one is actually doing them.
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.
We’re far enough along in this journey that I feel comfortable circling back (get it? circling? Because bagels ar- oh forget it) towards Rubinstein Bagels. I say that because before I ever started doing this newsletter I was already a longtime customer of theirs. Aside from the dearly departed Mt. Bagel, theirs was the first brick-and-mortar bagel I ate in Seattle where I thought “okay, I can work with this.”
I’d been abstaining for a while because I wanted to make the rounds, exploring all of the hyped (and, frankly, overhyped) bagel spots, so that by the time I reviewed Rubinstein, I had a bit more context to work with. And nine reviews in, I feel like we’re there.
When Andrew Rubinstein burst onto the Seattle bagel scene in 2019, he did not mince words about the state of things. The Milwaukee native and Sammamish resident told the Seattle Times that “I think there are people who are doing some OK things” but “I’m super underwhelmed by the bagels.” His big beef was with the notion that no one was “developing the structure of the dough,” though he damned the city’s bagel scene with the faintest of praise, saying “they’re better than Einstein.” Ouch.
Like so many bagelers before him, he took it upon himself to right the wrongs of Seattle’s bagel diaspora. While his background was more in art and business, he dove headfirst into baking, eventually crafting a bagel that he felt was “truly a delight.”
“A bagel that has a crust. A bagel that has a chew. A bagel that the dough tastes like something,” he told the Times. Without claiming these bagels were “New York-style,” he said that “I’m just making a bagel, one you want to keep coming back for.”
That seemed to be the case when he started making and selling bagels through pop-up opportunities at Citizen, Moonshot Coffee, and eventually Ethan Stowell’s Cortina Cafe. Seattle food icon Stowell is on the record saying “He makes a good bagel. There’s no doubt about that.”
That went well enough that he eventually opened the first Rubinstein Bagels in the lobby of the Via6 building at Sixth and Lenora. With a built-in clientele living upstairs and the Amazon hordes lurking outside, it was a pretty ideal spot to unleash his plans of regional dominating.
“My goal is that people are always delighted by these bagels,” Rubinstein told Eater Seattle in 2019, “and eventually they can’t be without them.”
COVID-19 put a damper on his grand plans as the opening was delayed a year during the pandemic, but in late December 2020, it finally opened.
Suffice it to say, the reviews were good. Along with Stowell, Rubinstein found a champion in food writer and chef J. Kenji López-Alt and the bagels quickly made their way onto all the requisite “best bagels in Seattle” lists.
As Rubinstein’s reputation and demand grew, he announced a second location in Capitol Hill on 15th Avenue, which opened in October 2021. While the initial location provides more of a deli counter experience, this one would be their first true bagel shop.
“We’re very excited about this location,” Rubinstein said, via Capitol Hill Seattle. “It’s truly an enclosed environment, more of what I dreamt of when I was putting together this bagel dream.”
Not coincidentally, the Capitol Hill location shares a see-through wall with Stowell’s Rione XIII, continuing their collaborative relationship. That relationship appears ready to expand even further as Rubinstein recently announced plans for a third location, this one in Redmond, in a space adjacent to the newest of Stowell’s Tavolàta outposts.
So while many Seattle bagel entrepreneurs (bagelpreneurs?) have talked about their plans for expansion and market domination, Rubinstein is the one who is actually following through. That’s all great news from a business perspective, but it doesn’t answer the fundamental question at the heart of all this… is the bagel actually good?
Let’s find out.
And if you want to know how I define a good bagel, you can find that here.
WHAT I ORDERED
Untoasted everything bagel with fried onion & chive cream cheese.
Untoasted plain bagel as-is.
THE EXPERIENCE
I went to the Capitol Hill location, though I’ve been to the South Lake Union spot a handful of times as well. The thing about Rubinstein is that, from the outside, it looks chain-y, which can dampen expectations. Walking in, I was greeted by loud pop music, which only heightened that. But putting that aside, the interior of the 15th Ave. store is bright, warm, and sterile in the best way. You’re not going to confuse it with a New York deli but it also makes it clear from the onset that it’s not trying to be that either.
As with most times that I’ve visited, the staff is pleasant and cheery. I will admit that I’ve visited very early in the morning and that cheeriness can be a bit off-putting to a Northeasterner like myself. I don’t want to be asked “How’s your day going so far?” at 8:05 a.m. on a Tuesday. But I can also appreciate the effort.
Rubinstein makes it clear in those interviews linked up top that he’s not trying to serve a “New York bagel” and he’s not trying to give customers the same-old, same-old. That’s perhaps in part why there’s no scallion cream cheese on the menu. The fried onion & chive was the closest approximation and is an intriguing flavor combo regardless, so I subbed that in.
UPON FIRST GLANCE
After looking at both of the bagels, I wrote a note that read simply: “Robust.” These are robust bagels. They’re like Charlie’s brother in So I Married An Axe Murderer. “Look at the size of that bagel …that’s a virtual planetoid, has its own weather system …I'm not kidding, that bagel is like Sputnik; spherical but quite pointy at parts!”
For what it’s worth I noted the price ($2.80 per bagel) and compared it to tiny Eltana ones ($2.00 per bagel) and I’m pretty sure that extra 80 cents get you two Eltana bagels in one, if you’re looking for the best bagel value in Capitol Hill.
Along with being bulky, both bagels were uniquely shaped and very non-linear. My everything bagel even had a little nub. A nub! There’s definitely a bit of an artisan quality to the way the bagels are formed, with less concern for making them look uniform.
They’re also very lightweight, especially for their size. That could be a troubling sign but I wasn’t ready to make a judgment on that until I took a bite.
TOP
Both bagels had a solid golden brown color, especially on top, which was nice to see. I didn’t detect much in the way of bubbles. There were some cracks, seemingly from the way the dough had been rolled into a tight ball, leaving little or no room in the middle for a hole. The texture across the entire top of the bagel was uniform, which was concerning but not disqualifying by any means.
I was pleasantly surprised to see flecks of salt in the everything mix. It was definitely very poppyseed-forward but not in an overwhelming way.
INSIDE
On the bite, the plain bagel did not offer any crunch, which was slightly disappointing. Still, it was a firm and hefty bite. Seriously, it’s a big bite, your mouth gets a workout here. The interior of the bagel was very fluffy but still had some give to it, which was impressive given the lightness.
I definitely detected that sourdough smell and taste that doesn’t quite say “bagel” to me. Checking their website, they do use “a sourdough culture leavening agent” but feel as though “the sour is not strong, and only serves to make better flavored, better-structured dough, and a better-for-you bagel.” I mean, I guess. We’ll agree to disagree on the flavor because it tasted like sourdough to me.
The everything bagel was definitely the more enjoyable bite. There was a slight crisp here which, coupled with the soft interior, made for a very enjoyable chew. Not sure if this bagel was cooked differently than the plain but I definitely got more of a “complete” bagel experience here.
The cream cheese really tied the room together. It’s a good ratio, though it gets messier the more you bite the bagel. However, if you don’t mind some cream cheese spillage, a wise bagel eater keeps that handy to dip a second bagel into afterward.
One thing I did notice was that while I was enjoying the flavor from the bite, I wasn’t necessarily getting any from the bagel itself. It was all coming from the cream cheese. That is, except when I got a bite with one of those flecks of salt, which enhanced all of the other everything ingredients around them WHICH IS WHY YOU PUT SALT ON AN EVERYTHING BAGEL!!!
BOTTOM
The bottom of both bagels was firm but not crisp. Fine. I will say that there was no cornmeal ring of death, which was a good sign. The most interesting aspect of the bottom was the way their cracks and curves demonstrated the oblong, artistic approach to bagel symmetry here. Those crevices also create some interesting textures that vary on each bite.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If Rubinstein is adamant about not wanting to recreate the bagels of New York City and the Northeast, they’ve definitely succeeded. However, that’s not a bad thing. There are some nits to pick and, having gone to Rubinstein a dozen times now, the experience does vary depending on the time of day and other factors. However, there’s a reason I keep coming back. It’s a solid bagel experience. It’s dependable. It’s good enough to get the job done. And given some of the other bagels I’ve tried around Seattle, I’ll take those odds.
Is It Good Enough For The Goys?
I think Rubinstein is a pretty ideal bagel for the goys. The sheer heft of the thing opens up a lot of opportunities for schmears and sandwiches. My theory is that goys don’t really like a crispy bagel and would prefer something chewy, which these big boys skew towards. The schmear options are modern and quirky, better for newbies than traditionalists. And it does the job if you’re looking for an inoffensive bagel for an office breakfast or when heading to your next meeting with Jeff Bezos to discuss how to bust unions (sorry! too political for this bagel newsletter! won’t happen again!).
Is It Good Enough For Northeastern Jews?
Is this going to be my first bagel stop when my mom comes to town? No. Would I be ashamed to bring my mom here? Absolutely not. I think that even if you thumb your nose at the non-traditional aspects of the bagel, you should be intrigued enough by what they’re doing to give them a shot. It’s probably not going to live up to your favorite NYC/NJ bagel, but then again, I don’t think they’re trying to.
MY SEATTLE BAGEL RANKINGS SO FAR
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