Second Schmears: Revisiting Salmonberry Goods
The farm-to-bagel now comes with a farm-to-bialy.
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I’ve been thinking a lot about the taxonomy of Seattle bagels.
We’ve got enough options now that you can start to see how certain bagel places overlap or differ from one another. You’ve got your spots for when you just want a bagel with cream cheese. You’ve got your spots where you’re willing to wait in line for something more. You’ve got your spots where it’s all about the bagel. You’ve got your spots where it’s all about the toppings. You’ve got those emulating New York style and those trying to forge a PNW style.
That’s a post for another day and there will definitely be a category specific to the purveyors offering an artisan bagel experience. When I think of who might be in that group, Salmonberry Goods is the first one that comes to mind.
What started as a farm-to-table bakery in 2015 has since become a lot more for Alex Johnstone and David Rothstein. The duo expanded to CSAs during the pandemic, became a fixture at Seattle farmers markets, started a bagel pop-pup, and put themselves on the map with a cookie “that might be the best snickerdoodle ever.”
The next step comes soon as the duo recently raised enough money to buy and refurbish Sunset Hill Green Market. They’re currently turning it into a bakery and grocery. Their vision is “a place where freshly baked sourdough arrives just in time for dinner, where neighborhood kids can indulge in cookies while learning about local farms, and where anyone can find the ingredients for a memorable meal or discover something new and exciting to cook.”
That sounds wonderful but, as we all know, we’re here for the bagels. I was a fan last time and the guys commented on that review, saying they’ve “identified some areas we’re actively trying to improve on.” Let’s find out how that went.
And if you want to know how I define a good bagel, you can find that here.
As with all previous Second Schmear reviews, we keep things relatively simple this time. I’ll compare this visit to the first trip to determine what might have changed.
It was a particularly warm Sunday at the Ballard Farker Market so people were out in droves. That was true specifically at Salmonberry Goods as they had a sizable line when I arrived. Rather than wait, I decided to walk around and made my way up to Old Salt where I got a bagel with plain cream cheese because what’s a better appetizer for some bagels than another bagel?
We’ll come back to that visit later.
I returned to the booth to find the line a lot shorter. However, they’d already sold out of their “black & white” half-poppyseed, half-sesame seed bagels. I thought about bailing on the review for a second but realized I could still make it work, especially when I noticed a bialy amongst their array of bread and pastries.
WHAT I ORDERED
Sourdough flake salt bagel as-is
Sourdough flake salt bagel with labneh cream cheese
Onion bialy
Something I really liked was that when I opened the (compostable) sleeve of four bagels, I got hit in the face with a delightfully strong bagely and salty smell. I noted that while the four bagels were similar, they were all a little different. Some were slightly bigger and some more oblong. I found the lack of uniformity charming.
The sourdough flake salt bagel was a dark caramel brown. A medium size with an oblong shape and skinny center, the bagel boasted big chunks of salt scattered all over. The top was super crispy and blistery. It crinkled and crunched anywhere across the top where I pressed down.
The bottom was firm but soft, an inverse of how a lot of bagels usually cook. I noted some cornmeal but not enough to warrant a Cornmeal Ring of Doom (CRoD).
The bagel offered a very tough and crispy rip. Little bits of the crust flew all over as I tore a piece off. I thought it offered a really nice chew thanks to the balance between the crunchy top and doughy but fluffy interior. The bagel offered a medium rebound after the bite. The salt flakes ensured that every bite had a nice flavor to it. The interior of the bagel was very sourdough-y but not dry like you get sometimes.
Most of this seemed to match what I said in my first review. I did not have that same soggy center issue that I had last time. I previously said the sourdoughiness of the bagel became a little much but I didn’t have an issue with that this time. Obviously, my preference is always for a traditional bagel, but this was so much better than your run-of-the-mill sourdough bagel.
The bagel with cream cheese featured the same deep brown coloring and blistering. This one was a little bigger than the previous one but also featured that oblong shaping. The top was crispy in most spots but had a few firm but soft spots as well. The flecks of salt were present as well.
The bottom was also soft but firm and featured a little bit of cornmeal.
Once again, the bagel offered a very crunchy bite with a medium rebound. The labneh (Middle Eastern cheese made from strained yogurt) flavor definitely came through strong but was balanced by the sourdough flavor of the bagel. I enjoyed the chewiness of the experience. I will say that after a few bites, the flavor of the schmear started to become too much for me, though I think that was more of a personal preference than an issue with the cream cheese.
All of this seemed to jibe with my initial review of the bagel with cream cheese. In the prior review, I got a bagel with cheese and chive cream cheese and also felt like the flavor got to be a little overpowering. They change up their schmears often and I’ll probably look for a different flavor profile next time, though I will say that the quality of the cream cheese felt very high.
As a bonus, I grabbed an onion bialy because I’m required by law to get a bialy whenever it’s available. This one falls under the category of the “depressed bagel” version of the bialy rather than the traditional version, but when the bagel is good who am I to complain?
The exterior was hard and crispy on top while firm and crispy on the bottom. I noted that it had been brushed with some oil to give it some sheen. The bialy edges were pretty large. So much so that I had to chomp them down to get to the oniony center. I would have loved to have been able to get more bites that combine all of the textures. That said, the onion mix in the middle had a really nice flavor. The exterior edges tasted focaccia-esque to me.
WHAT I SAID LAST TIME
“If you told me Salmonberry Goods was engineered in a lab to appeal to Pacific Northwest farmers market shoppers and pop-up customers, I would believe you… As for the bagels themselves, I’m a big fan of the crispiness and the eatability (though the soggy centers need a fix)… As for the cream cheese, I appreciate the bold takes but I don’t think those flavors are quite my tempo. Still, one of the better bagels in town for sure.”
WHAT I THOUGHT THIS TIME
So remember when I said I went to Old Salt beforehand? I enjoyed that bagel. But I gotta be honest, I enjoyed the Salmonberry Goods ones even more. Also, with the loss of Little Market (R.I.P.), I think these guys might have staked the claim to Seattle’s crispiest bagel. They also understand how to weaponize salt and appear to have solved the soggy center issue.
I don’t think I’m the target demo for their cream cheese strategy, though I admire the boldness. I’d love to see what they could do with a good, old-fashioned scallion cream cheese. But even if the flavor isn’t my tempo, the quality is there.
Bagels are a small part of what Salmonberry Goods does, but if they put the same care into everything else they do, I think they’ve got something special going on here. In my previous review, I wrote about how traditionalists might scoff at what they’re doing bagel-wise. I certainly come into these reviews with a traditionalist mentality but I think there’s a difference between breaking tradition for the sake of it and doing so to elevate what you’re making. I feel like they are firmly the latter.
MY SEATTLE BAGEL RANKINGS SO FAR (6/23/24)
Hey Bagel - 1st visit
Salmonberry Goods - 1st visit ⬆️
Bloom Bistro - 1st visit
Loxsmith Bagels (West Seattle) - 1st visit
Sully Eats - 1st visit
Rachel's Bagels & Burritos - 1st visit, 2nd visit, 3rd visit
Macrina Bakery - 1st visit
Eltana (Wallingford) - 1st visit
Westman’s (U District) - 1st visit
Blazing Bagels (Ravenna) - 1st visit
Einstein Bros. Bagels (U Village) - 1st visit
Dingfelder’s - 1st visit
Kelly’s Cannoli - 1st visit
Bagelbop - 1st visit
OUTSIDE SEATTLE BAGEL RANKINGS (6/3/24)
The Bagelry (Bellingham)
Howdy Bagel (Tacoma)
The Cottage Bakery (Edmonds)
Shawn’s Cafe & Bakery (Mercer Island)
Coquette Bake Shop (Bainbridge Island)
Caffe Vino Olio (Vashon Island)
Rubinstein Bagels (Redmond)
Good Bagels Cafe (Anacortes)
Mustard Seed Baking Co. (Stanwood)
Blazing Bagels (Redmond)
Otherside Bagel Co. (Bellingham)
Whidbey Island Bagel Factory (Mt. Vernon)
Woodinville Bagel Bakery (Woodinville)
Big Apple Bagels (Bellevue)
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