Can I find a good Mercer Island bagel at... Shawn's Cafe and Bakery
Can I find a good Mercer Island bagel at... Shawn's Cafe and Bakery
A Shawn/Sean with a passion for bagels? That's unheardof...
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 think you’d be surprised to know I have a thing about the way the name “Sean” is spelled.
It was probably the first strong opinion I ever had. As soon as I found out some people spelled it “Shawn” or “Shaun,” I drew a mental line in the sand. “Sean” is correct and everyone else is wrong.
And that was long before I knew about “Chone.”
Part of that was because I took a lot of flak as a kid for “Sean.” The easiest way to bother me when I was younger was to pronounce it as “Seen.” It made me irrationally angry. Many a day at summer camp was ruined after being called “Seen.”
The logic was airtight in my mind. “Shawn” and “Shaun” are for lazy people who literally need things spelled out. “Sean” was magical. Lyrical. From days of yore back when it needed an accent (Seán). The kind of name that might have once belonged to a sprite or leprechaun. It comes from the same people who gave us Saoirse [sor-shah], Niamph [neeve], and Siobhán [shiv-awn].
I don’t have the same visceral reaction to the Sean/Shawn/Shaun discourse now, though I will still (playfully) make the above arguments when it comes up.
I often wonder if growing up Jewish was part of that frustration when I was younger. In a sea of Joshuas, Daniels, Jasons, and Adams, my name stood out in Hebrew School. I didn’t just feel the need to defend myself from mispronunciation, I also had to defend myself from presumptions that I wasn’t Jewish or “Jewish enough.” Or maybe that was all in my head.
Does it even make a difference when you’re 10 years old?
I certainly have never met another Jewish Sean and I don’t see a lot of Sean/Shawn/Shaun mentions in the bagel world. So imagine my delight when I learned that there was a place called Shawn’s Cafe and Bakery on Mercer Island slinging bagels.
Spelling aside, I appreciated the synergy.
But were the bagels worth potentially getting stuck in I-90 traffic? Let’s find out…
And if you want to know how I define a good bagel, you can find that here.
WHAT I ORDERED
Plain bagel ($2.50)
Everything bagel with plain cream cheese ($3.50)
THE EXPERIENCE
I made my way over to Mercer Island early enough on a Sunday that I didn’t have to deal with any bridge traffic, thank goodness. And it was a quiet and leisurely three-minute drive from the exit to Shawn’s Cafe.
Tucked at the edge of a tiny retail/commercial center, the unassuming little shop is clearly popular enough to attract a steady stream of customers, with the line often peaking just outside of the door. The cramped but cute cafe boasted some beautiful-looking pastries, pretzels, breads, and cookies.
The bagel baskets were tucked behind the register. I spied five flavors: Plain, everything, sesame, salt, and poppyseed. They only had plain cream cheese so I went with that. There was a real sense of urgency by the staff, which might have been in part because they didn’t want anyone standing outside in the rain.
For the record, we also ordered a coffee, hot (dark) chocolate, and a croissant. All three were very delicious.
UPON FIRST GLANCE
The most obvious thing that I noticed was that these bagels were on the smaller side. They seemed to rival Eltana for the title of smallest bagels in the Seattle area. That said, they definitely looked better and had potential.
TOP
As noted, the plain bagel was very small in diameter with a tight center. It had a real hand-rolled look and feel, with a collection of nubs, ridges, and divots. The top was a golden brown with some darker bits all around. It was soft to the touch though the darker spots implied some interesting textures.
The everything bagel was also small but much more bulbous than the plain, featuring an extremely tight center. It featured a medium seed hand that looked very poppy and sesame seed forward. I didn’t detect any salt in the mix. The top was firm but soft to the touch. There also seemed to be some kind of dusting in there with the everything seasoning and I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was.
BOTTOM
The bottom of the plain bagel was blistered in spots. No Cornmeal Ring of Doom (CRoD) was present. It was soft but firm and I noted some crispness on the touch.
The bottom of the everything bagel was soft. It was well-seeded, though this side seemed to be more onion and garlic-centric. There was more of that dusting on the bottom that might have been cornmeal or might have been a mix of that and something else.
INSIDE/BITE
The plain bagel offered a soft, tough rip and I got hit with a strong bagel-y smell from the interior. The bite was extremely chewy and there was no crunch aside from that nub on the top, which was delightful to bite. The bagel offered medium rebound on the bite. The interior was dense but fluffy, though not airy.
The amount of schmear on the everything bagel was substantial, and I will always appreciate over-schmearing to under-schmearing. That said, because of the bulbous nature of the bagel, it all made for a very large bite radius. As the cream cheese was on the softer side, it oozed out everywhere with each bite.
Despite there being all of that everything seasoning and so much cream cheese, I didn’t really get any flavor from the bagel. Some salt in the everything mix (AS GOD INTENDED) would go a long way. The schmear wasn’t bad but it also didn’t add anything, flavor-wise.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I enjoyed the plain bagel and felt like it was solid, if a little small and lacking crispiness. I wasn’t a fan of the everything bagel and plain cream cheese. So it goes. That tends to happen in a lot of places where one is enjoyable and the other one is not. I’d be interested to go back and try the other bagel flavors and I would absolutely stop here before heading out to the mountains for a pre-hike fix.
Is It Good Enough For The Goys?
This place is really cute and the staff was really awesome, so I’m not surprised it had a solid customer base when I was there. It seems like the go-to local spot for coffee and some baked goods. The bagels might not have wowed me but I’m giving them a big thumbs up overall.
Is It Good Enough For Northeastern Jews?
I wouldn’t bring my mom here just for the bagels, but I might bring my mom there for the coffee and a cookie. So I guess the answer is no, but, also yes in a way.
MY SEATTLE BAGEL RANKINGS SO FAR (6/3/24)
Old Salt (Fremont]
Old Salt (Ballard)
Bloom Bistro (formerly Bean’s Bagels)
Loxsmith (West Seattle)
Loxsmith (Beacon Hill)
Westman’s (Capitol Hill)
Westman’s (U District)
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)
MY NEW YORK AREA BAGEL RANKINGS (12/11/23)
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