Mt. Bagel
Bagel shop · Capitol Hill ·
Fluffy, chewy bagels with spicy scallion cream cheese
Fluffy, chewy bagels with spicy scallion cream cheese
"We’re not ashamed to admit that Seattle is far from a bagel town—but Mt. Bagel in Madison Valley is the boiled-and-baked exception. The malty suckers at this shop are the ones to beat, with a fluffy middle and crackly coated shell that’s just as springy ripped fresh from a seed-filled bag as it is two months later fighting off freezer burn in the toaster. Tangy swaths of cayenne-stained scallion cream cheese are like an artist’s final paint swipes—necessary to appreciate its worth. But the beauty of Mt. Bagel’s carbs is not that they’re the best in Seattle—it’s that they’re the ones we still daydream about when in line at a New York deli." - aimee rizzo, kayla sager riley
"We’re not surprised that the folks behind the best bagels in town also produce a phenomenal chocolate chip cookie. The sole sweet pastry option at Mt. Bagel is almost a carbon copy of Otis Spunkmeyer’s. In other words, it’s the platonic ideal of a chocolate chip cookie, with a center that’s equally as cakey as it is gooey, and melty semi-sweet chips that do their job adequately without making it all about them (those selfish divas)." - aimee rizzo, kayla sager riley
"Who knew that we would live in a world where in exactly 60 seconds, a batch of bagels could sell out like a highly anticipated sneaker release? These bagels are not only Seattle's finest, but they have ruined basically all others. A spoonful of the spicy scallion cream cheese is phenomenal on its own, but when smeared on a coveted everything bagel that has a dark outside and soft, malty inside, all becomes well—flowers begin to bloom, the sun shines, and butterflies start landing on you like in a Disney movie. If you can get your hands on some fresh Mt. Bagel beauties from their Madison Valley kitchen, freeze a few to trade as currency for when the apocalypse comes. They'll probably be worth more than the newest Air Jordans." - kayla sager riley, aimee rizzo, gabe guarente
"While New York and Los Angeles can duke it out over who has the better boiled-and-baked dough circles, this Madison Valley operation should eliminate any semblance of bagel-related FOMO. Throw on some cayenne-stained spicy scallion cream cheese and we don’t care if we never have a New York (or California) bagel ever again. The only downside? They don’t open until 9am, which translates to 1pm in bagel time." - aimee rizzo
"Seattle is no longer a city with a lackluster bagel showing. There's a multitude of decent options now, and you don’t need to resort to sad, circle-shaped sponges at Einstein Bros. But we’re here to report that among the great boiled-and-baked bread rings in this town, there’s one that towers above the rest. That's Mt. Bagel—a shop in Madison Valley that serves unsliced bagels and tubs of schmear to-go. The anatomy of this bagel is phenomenal—malty, chewy, fluffy, and slightly sweet on the inside, it's just as great fresh from the bag as it is frozen and subsequently popped in the toaster. Our only gripe is that the crust can vary in its crackle, but the flavor is still so stupendous that it's easy to forgive a little lack of crunch now and then. Topping-wise, the options are pretty standard but reliably great, from a perfectly salted garlicky everything to sesame. Also not to be missed is the spicy scallion schmear. With green onion and lots of cayenne heat, it's our die-hard favorite (and conducive to dipping a torn bagel chunk). Getting your hands on some requires strategy. You must place a pickup order on their website when they open up sales every Friday at 9am sharp. And we'll admit, it's a stress-fest. They sell out in under a minute, leaving only the speediest mouse-maneuverers victorious. We recommend making a profile on their website, having your credit card information programmed to auto-fill, and setting an alarm for 8:59am. It sounds like a lot, but if you really want these bagels, you're gonna have to try a little. We've had a 100% success rate in securing an order when we follow these steps, and as you can probably tell, we've placed a lot of orders. And if ordering bagels as you would Taylor Swift tickets doesn't make sense, Mt. Bagel takes walk-ins. Stop by at your own risk, though—lines start to form at 8:45, and bagels sell out around or before 11am every day. Food Rundown The Bagels Excellence with a hole in the middle. photo credit: Erin Roberts Spicy Scallion Cream Cheese Stained orange from cayenne and loaded with fresh scallions, this cream cheese is so good that we’d frost a birthday cake with the stuff. If you're feeling impatient on the journey home, no reasons exist not to rip open a bagel from the bag and take a swipe. Chocolate Chip Cookie This is Mt. Bagel's sole sweet thing for sale, and the thing's beautiful. Cakey-gooey in the middle and brittle on the edges, it's like an Otis Spunkmeyer cafeteria cookie, only bigger and better." - Aimee Rizzo