At this Whidbey Island gem (now with three locations), there are over two dozen bagel flavors, including the excellent rosemary, chive, and sea salt, and a creative “bahn mi” bagel with shredded carrot, ginger, jalapeños, and fish sauce mixed into the dough for a super savory bite. The classic everything bagel has a thin, less chewy crust and iis loaded with toppings both on the outside and inside.

Pinehurst’s neighborhood bakery and deli offers many excellent bagels, which are available for takeout onsite or a wide range of delivery around the city via a bagel club. Created by master baker, Josh Grunig, these bagels have a subtle sourdough tang and chewy, but airy interior. Great on their own with whipped lox schmear, the bagels are best enjoyed loaded up with pastrami, egg, and cheddar cheese for a messy and hearty sandwich. Grunig’s bagels can now also be found in Seward Park, at Muriel’s, a new Kosher dairy restaurant and pareve bakery.

Formerly the much-loved Porkchop & Co, this Ballard shop was reborn as a bagel spot during the pandemic. These perfectly chewy bagels are excellent across the board, with offerings like bagels topped with za’atar and shichimi togarashi (a Japanese chili pepper and spice blend). There are also great bagel sandwich options, like the Nick and Nora, a riff on avocado toast with chili crisp. The shop also serves special flavors each day of the week, with pepperoni bagels offered each Wednesday.

An Italian grocer might not be the first place that comes to mind for bagels, but this Portage Bay neighborhood spot is quietly producing some of the city’s best. All the classics are available, and there’s a parmesan option, a thematic no-brainer with lots of cheese on the outside to form a delectable salty crust. 

Sea Wolf Bakers’ long-anticipated Montlake bagel shop is finally here, and though it’s only been open for two weeks, it’s already got a shout out from food writer and bagel expert J. Kenji López-Alt. The blistered, shimmering crusts on these bagels are sure to impress, and the shop is also serving a variety of spreads, quiches, pastries, and coffee to-go.

This Capitol Hill restaurant (with a Ballard outpost) offers an alternative to the  bagels at other spots in Seattle with its wood-fired, Montreal-style bagels. Thinner, slightly sweeter, and less chewy, the bagels make for perfect sandwiches, including the grilled halloumi, egg, and arugula option. They’re also fantastic served with Eltana’s cream cheese spreads, such as the spicy garlic, as well as a variety of infused butters.

This walk-up window on Capitol Hill was among the first in the Seattle to really up the city’s bagel game, with a New York-style, dense and chewy bagel served with a variety of terrific schmears or as sandwiches. The house-smoked whitefish sandwich is the hidden gem of the menu — the smoked trout on an everything bagel making a salty breakfast wonder. There’s also a vegan bagel sandwich made with carrot lox, vegan schmear, and herb caper dressing that’s far from traditional but makes for a wonderfully bright and tangy bagel sandwich.

This new kosher restaurant in Seward Park from the owner of Zylberschtein’s serves the same chewy bagels, rich with grain flavor, that he became known for at his original Pinehurst deli. Muriel’s is located, with a new location of Chuck’s Hop Shop, in Third Place Books. It has a large outdoor patio and two indoor dining areas. The restaurant is kosher dairy, so no pastrami in the sandwiches here, but the lox and whitefish are excellent.

This small bagel business started by Jake Carter and his partner Daniel Blagovich out of their home during the pandemic has expanded into a robust delivery program and pop-up on Saturdays at the Proctor Farmers Market in Tacoma which also occasionally pops up in Seattle. The bagel lineup includes all the classics (plus a za’atar bagel), served with schmears or as innovative open-faced bagel tartines. Hand-rolled, the bagels are smaller than your average, but not too dense, with a crisp crust. Keep an eye out for a forthcoming brick-and-mortar shop on South Tacoma Way.