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There are four things that make Matthew Segal’s bagels special: wild yeast, high gluten flour, fermentation and a sodium hydroxide lye boil. Other places have some of the elements, sure, Segal said, but the combination of all four is why Loxsmith Bagels sold out on the first day it started selling its creations from a daytime popup inside E Olive Way bar Montana,

“I’m the bagel guy. I do everything. I roll ‘em. I cure all the salmon. I cut all the veggies. I make all the bagels,” Segal said. “There’s really nowhere to get a bagel like what I make.”

Slated for a month of Saturdays at Montana, Loxsmith returns for its limited pop-up series this weekend:

LOXSMITH BAGEL AND BAR MITZVAH POPUP CAFE BRUNCH and Seattle Bagel Club

It’s bagel time on Capitol Hill. The highly anticipated Dingfelder’s Delicatessen hasn’t quite made as much progress as originally hoped building out its new space at 14th and Pine but the kitchen has been busy all summer and the deli says it is nearly ready to begin walk-up business. CHS first reported here on the “Old World” deli with plans for stacked-high corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, kosher hot dogs, knishes, smoked fish, and, yes, bagels. Meanwhile, Westman’s Bagels and Coffee from Monica Dimas and Molly Westman opened in January and continues to draw lines on E Madison and Eltana opened in late 2010 and sold more than 2,000 bagels per day in its first year before expansion. Bagel chain Einstein Bros. shuttered on Broadway in 2016 while the much loved Bagel Deli closed its doors on 15th Ave E in late 2013.

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Loxsmith adds yet another approach to the classic Jewish specialty. Raised in Miami, Segal moved to Seattle and taught himself how to make bagels while operating the Lo-Fi gallery in Eastlake and the Ground Control sandwich joint in Georgetown. He began by making bagels for his family but soon felt the urge to make a business out of it. Now he sells his creations from Montana, a bar owned by his girlfriend Kate Opatz who, fortunately for him, doesn’t charge him rent.

Segal said his bagels are “a much more artisanal, gourmet-approach, bread nerd version” of what people are eating these days. He affectionately refers to other bagels as “bread circles.”

“I don’t want to come across as a hater,” he said. “But I do like to at least acknowledge the fact that nobody is doing what I’m doing, so that’s why I’m doing it.”

In addition to the pop-ups, Loxsmith runs a subscription service called the Seattle Bagel Club, where customers can pay ahead of time and pick up half a dozen bagels of their choice every week, each week for four weeks.

After the end of the month, even though his pop-up might end, Segal is looking for ways to continue his business. “There’s a lot of interest in it and a lot of people are excited,” he said. “If the right situation presents itself, I would jump on it.”

You can learn more and keep track of Loxsmith at instagram.com/loxsmithbagels.

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