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According to Statista, Americans are projected to eat around 204 million bagels this year.
I’m doing my best to push that number up but, clearly, I don’t need to try that hard to sell people on the idea that bagels are great. In fact, the more I ingratiate myself into the Seattle bagel scene, the more I realize that we haven’t even come close to meeting the demand that exists.
I’m starting to lose count of how many times I’ve had to wait in line just for the chance to buy a bagel. The number of times a place has sold out on a weekend morning before I’ve had a chance to get mine is, quite honestly, staggering. Some of that seems to be about driving hype and Instagram mentions, but sometimes it’s literally an inability to keep up with our ravenous interest in a well-made bread circle.
I recently took a day trip to Bainbridge Island and, as I am wont to do, I looked into the local bagel scene. While a few places sold bagels, only Coquette Bake Shop seemed to rise to the level of consideration. They only made bagels on specific days and, perhaps in part because of that, they sell out quickly. In fact, when I stopped by at a reasonable time (11:30 a.m.) to see if I could sample their wares, they were already sold out.
They had my attention.
A week later I returned, making sure I was there early enough to ensure victory. However, I was presented with an entirely new dilemma. I’m saving the specifics for my next bagel review, but suffice it to say I was in a truly perplexing situation.
Their bagel did not appear to actually be a bagel.
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