Tacoma’s bagel scene is growing. New shop will have NY-style bagels, sandwiches
Not long ago, Tacoma and surrounds were basically a bagel-free zone.
Chris Hetterly noticed that oddity when he and his wife started visiting her family, who moved to the city around 2018. By 2019, he had a job that also brought him here often. They began splitting their time between Northern California and South Puget Sound, but Tacoma has become home base.
“You couldn’t find a decent bagel — you couldn’t find a bagel at all,” Hetterly recalled in a March phone call. “We don’t even discuss grocery store bagels!”
Before Howdy Bagel (a Proctor Farmers Market sensation turned South Tacoma destination) and B’s Bagels & Butters (a chef-owned shop in Gig Harbor) hit the scene, I, too, would joke that the best bagels in the area could be found at Whole Foods — which wasn’t saying much.
Along with his wife and two kids, now in their 20s, Hetterly said he “started scheming right away.” If they couldn’t find bagels — at least not without driving to Seattle, which had a few shops around that time and recently experienced a serious bagel boom — they could make their own. A true community service.
Bagel’s Bagels will open at 2805 6th Ave., hopefully later this year, in what was Locust Cider and next to the only Pierce County location of Katsu Burger.
The Bagel in the shop’s name is possessive because it is, indeed, a name — of Hetterly’s younger daughter’s cat. His older daughter is an art student at University of Puget Sound and designed the logo, picturing the cute kitty at the center of the bagel. From day-to-day operations to social media and marketing, he anticipates the business being “a family affair,” he said.
They searched for the right commercial space with more rigor in the past couple of years, but amid limited inventory, it was a “Golidlocks thing,” continued Hetterly. Some were too big or too small, or improving the infrastructure was cost-prohibitive. The former Locust Cider space felt just right, and Sixth Ave was “where I sort of envisioned us being all along,” he said.
They recently applied for building permits and anticipate starting construction later this spring. The kitchen will consume much of the space, while the front will offer bench seating, a few cafe tables and counter stools at the roll-up, garage-style window overlooking the Ave.
As for the bagels: Hetterly enlisted the expertise of a friend in California who has opened many bagel shops over the last 25 years with a company that has a centralized production facility that feeds more than a dozen locations. It’s one of the biggest such names producing some of the best bagels in the area, according to Hetterly, “and I’ve tried bagels from a million different bagel shops.”
Bagel’s Bagels will “do our best to recreate that recipe,” he said, describing it as “definitely a New York-style bagel” with a “crunchy outside, light but chewy inside.”
The business partner was raised in New York, and Hetterly also grew up in the tri-state area, namely off the Metro-North train line into Connecticut. Bagels are core to existence in that part of the country. He has lived on the West Coast since the late ‘80s, though, and immediately felt at home; now he loves the Pacific Northwest, too. Maybe the only thing missing is better bagels and more of them.
“I literally remember the very first bagel I ever had,” said Hetterly, recounting a childhood memory. “I remember taking a bite into it… ‘Wow, I’ve never had anything like this in my whole life!’ It just changed my whole world. What is this thing? It’s amazing.”
Bagel’s Bagels will start with classic flavors, including the incredible salt that is often misunderstood ‘round these parts, and schmear but grow from there. The shop also intends to sell sandwiches, both breakfast-y and lunch-y, and coffee from a Tacoma roaster.
Bagel’s Bagels Tacoma
- 2805 6th Ave., Tacoma, instagram.com/bagelsbagelstacoma
- Details: New York-style bagel shop coming to Sixth Ave; opening TBD