Vegan Jewish deli Ben and Esther’s is closing on Capitol Hill — Meanwhile, Mt. Bagel rises

(Image: Mt. Bagel)

Vegan Jewish deli Ben and Esther’s says Seattle’s labor is too expensive and Capitol Hill rent is too damn high. It is closing shop on E Pike to end 2023. Meanwhile, you can take solace that another purveyor of a Jewish staple has found a unique way to make a go of it — and draw long lines — on the eastern slope of Capitol Hill.

Ben and Esther’s announced the planned closure of its E Pike deli this week with plans to remain open through December 31st.

“Like many other restaurants, we’re at the point where we just don’t see a sustainable path forward. The writing’s on the wall, and numbers don’t lie,” the small chain’s statement said. “Rent and labor have been double what they are in our other shops, but we’re only seeing half the amount of business.” Continue reading

Sea Wolf’s new bakery will extend ‘golden age of Capitol Hill bagels’ to Montlake

(Image: Sea Wolf Bakers)

CHS reported this week on the richness of bagel offerings currently available on Capitol Hill with the opening of a Rubinstein Bagels on 15th Ave E joining Loxsmith, Westman’s, Eltana, and Dingfelder’s to keep the area well-stocked with fresh, crispy, chewy circles.

Those chewy circles, it turns out, will also be the focal point at a new, coming soon bakery project in Montlake. Continue reading

The golden age of Capitol Hill bagels

The Bagel Deli may be long gone but you are living in the gold age of Capitol Hill bagels.

The October opening of Rubinstein Bagels brought a nice little burst of new energy to 15th Ave E’s commercial offerings while also elevating the neighborhood’s chewy bagel offerings to a new epic level. Here are a few scenes CHS captured on a recent visit to check out the new shop.

Capitol Hill currently is home to five outstanding bagel bakers each offering its own special take on the Jewish baked goods: Continue reading

Rubinstein Bagels ready for grand opening on Capitol Hill’s 15th Ave E

(Image: Rubinstein Bagels)

Rubinstein Bagels is ready for its Capitol Hill debut. Andrew Rubinstein tells CHS the 15th Ave E shop is ready for business and celebrating a grand opening on Friday.

“We’re very excited about this location,” Rubenstein writes. “It’s truly an enclosed environment, more of what I dreamt of when I was putting together this bagel dream. We’ve carried through elements of the South Lake Union shop, so it will be familiar. We were able to get a great mural produced by Bow How Workshops which is just the coolest thing.”

CHS reported earlier this year on the plans for Rubinstein’s expansion to 15th Ave E to take over the space left empty by the pandemic exit of Southern bakery favorite The Wandering Goose. Continue reading

Rubinstein Bagels is coming to Capitol Hill

(Image: Rubinstein Bagels/Peter Hilgendorf)

As the neighborhood awaits the dreaded end of April closure of the commercial strip’s centerpiece QFC grocery, local business owners have spoken of a prophesied arrival — with echoes of 15th Ave E’s past — that will be part of the smaller efforts that help the street rise again.

Rubinstein Bagels is coming to 15th Ave E. The Seattle bagel maker teased the new shop over the weekend:

In our efforts to make our bagels more available throughout the city, we have found the home for our second location! Internally, we call it RB2…and guess what…the wait isn’t even that long to open. We think we’ll be up and running by early summer 2021! JUST A FEW MONTHS AWAY.

Continue reading

While Capitol Hill waits for Dingfelder’s, Loxsmith brings one-of-a-kind bagels to Montana Bar pop-up

https://www.instagram.com/p/BktE0-Ng7w6/?hl=en&taken-by=loxsmithbagels

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

Continue reading