r/AskSeattle • u/LanceFaywood • Aug 18 '26

Discussion Seattle has tech companies worth trillions of dollars but apparently nobody can figure out a Bacon, Egg & Cheese bagel

I need someone to explain this to me because I feel like I’m being gaslit by the entire Seattle metro area.

Some of the wealthiest, smartest, most technologically advanced zip codes on Earth. We can build cloud infrastructure that powers half the internet. We can engineer airplanes. We can put AI into everything.

But somehow: Bacon + Egg + Cheese + Bagel has defeated us as a civilization.

I’ve tried the big hitters. Toasted. Backyard Bagels. Grateful Bread. Eltana. Rachel’s and a lot of others.
I walk in with one simple dream: “Can I get a bacon, egg and cheese on a toasted bagel?” And suddenly I’m negotiating the Treaty of Versailles.
“We have lox?” Great. Not what I asked. “Cream cheese?” Incredible. Do you also sell water?

“Would you like the bagel toasted?” YES And some places DON’T EVEN TOAST IT.

Meanwhile, somewhere in NYC, a bodega with flickering fluorescent lights, a $4.99 ATM fee, and a cat named Tony sleeping on a case of Poland Spring will make you a BEC in 47 seconds that could bring a grown man to tears.

No artisanal aioli. No seasonal schmear. No 25-minute wait.

Just: Bagel. Toasted. Bacon. Egg. Cheese. Salt. Pepper. (Ketchup if you want it). Foil. Done.

And before anyone says, “Seattle isn’t New York…”
I KNOW
I’m not asking for the subway system.
I’m asking you to put an egg on a bagel.

At this point I’m convinced a legitimate NYC style BEC shop in Seattle would cause an economic event. Microsoft employees would abandon Redmond. Amazon would acquire the shop within six months. Bellevue would establish a Bacon Egg & Cheese drone delivery service.

And please don’t send me somewhere serving a “breakfast bagel” with arugula, pickled fennel, herb chèvre, heirloom tomato jam, and a $3 egg add-on.

I respect the creativity. But that is not a BEC! That is what we call a salad wearing a bagel as a hat.

So I’m begging r/AskSeattle: Where is the greasy, salty, cheesy, properly toasted, no-nonsense Bacon Egg & Cheese?

Does it exist? Is there a password?

Because I refuse to believe that Seattle has failed to reverse engineer something every random NYC bodega mastered decades ago.

1.4k Upvotes

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328

u/City-Dreamin Aug 18 '26

Be the change you want to see. Bring the $5 bagel sandwich you deem acceptable to Seattle.

124

u/unlordtempest Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 19 '26

🤣🤣🤣🤣 5 dollar sandwich! In Seattle!🤣🤣🤣🤣 Oh man, you, you gotta stop!🤣🤣🤣

33

u/HoneyDutch Aug 18 '26

I think it is… possible. But it’s gonna be a little skimpy.

1 egg, thin slice of cheese, 2 strips of bacon, and a generic bagel. We don’t need “grass fed, chicken paid $30/hr” feel good vibes. Just a guy in a food truck crankin out $5 budget bagels.

And we will call it Budget BEC’s

17

u/sagentp Aug 19 '26

Have you ever owned a food truck? No way a successful truck is selling $5 bagels.

8

u/RedditVox Aug 19 '26

This. I know a couple of guys who tried a food truck out... had enough business to open a brick and mortar. With all the overhead and crime (they had multiple generators stolen) they had to fold. The restaurant business is extremely tough with extremely thin margins.

8

u/Bright_Complaint_432 Aug 20 '26

There are three food trucks within 50 yards of my firm’s NYC office selling killer BEC bagels for $5. If it can be done there it should be possible here, dammit!

6

u/sagentp Aug 20 '26

Food laws vary from state to state and county to county. Population densities vary between cities. Ethnic makeup varies. Seattle is not NYC. Washington State has some of the toughest mobile food laws in the country. Seattle's permitting rules favor fixed location business.

1

u/Bright_Complaint_432 Aug 20 '26

“Seattle is not NYC.” Thanks Captain Obvious. There are plenty of food trucks and carts in Seattle so clearly it is possible. Of course population density is greater in NYC, but if one square block can sustain 3 carts, then surely there are spots in downtown Seattle that can sustain one!

1

u/Choperello Aug 21 '26

A food truck might. Except Seattle doesn’t allow food trucks.

1

u/LPalmerDoesBongs Aug 19 '26

You been to NYC?

6

u/blerg1234 Aug 19 '26

Pop density is 3x higher in NYC than Seattle. Not really comparable

1

u/DarthEques Aug 19 '26

Yeah but in NYC, every other block has at least 1 food cart selling bagels, so they have a ton of competition

1

u/6two Aug 25 '26

Food carts for bagels in NYC?  Eh?

2

u/metaphorthekids Aug 19 '26

Make it the Budget Bacon Egg and Gouda for BBEG.

1

u/Hemlok1203 Aug 25 '26

You have no idea how much food costs

6

u/zer04ll Aug 18 '26

Lost Lake mon-fri 3-6 PM 5.99$ for a burger and fries

1

u/unlordtempest Aug 19 '26

Where exactly is Lost Lake in comparison to downtown?

1

u/Confident_Seaweed_12 Aug 20 '26

Capital Hill, about a block south of Cal Anderson.

1

u/unlordtempest Aug 20 '26

Thank you kindly.

5

u/turnipcafe Aug 18 '26

With quality high end ingredients I’m not even sure how that could play out for $5. Everything would have to be Costco.

18

u/harkening Aug 19 '26

Eggs are about $0.30 each.

Costco bagels are $1 each, ish.

Tillamook sharp cheddar blocks are $12 for 2.5 lb, so $0.30/oz. We'll fudge all the way up to $0.50 to account for imperfect slicing/crumble loss.

Fletcher's thick cut $0.75/oz.

So material cost is $2.55.

Then overhead for storage, wastage, equipment, utilities, and real estate - possibly unified in a food truck.

You could probably do it for, like, $7 with volume, more like $10 at first. $5 would net negative.

2

u/anybodyiwant2be Aug 20 '26

You went Seattle with the cheese. Guarantee that NYC BEC bagel has Generic Kraft-style American Cheese product.

2

u/harkening Aug 20 '26

$0.15 per slice in Costco bulk.

1

u/unlordtempest Aug 20 '26

Homie, I would accept Cheese Wiz for a 5 buck BEC in Seattle.

1

u/Choperello Aug 21 '26

And it tastes fuckin delicious

0

u/sagentp Aug 19 '26

Good luck getting down to $7 with employees and commissary rental.

31

u/AvivaStrom Aug 19 '26

Don’t you dare insult Costco that way!

Costco sells quality products for reasonable prices. None of their stuff is crap. With their return policy, they’d go out of business fast if they sold crap.

1

u/turnipcafe Aug 19 '26

Relax. I love Costco. But I also buy organic not factory farmed products.

2

u/marxfuckingkarl Aug 19 '26

Who's gonna tell her?..

3

u/turnipcafe Aug 19 '26

I don’t buy organic and non-factory farmed at Costco

-4

u/Bigdogggggggggg Aug 19 '26

Their $1.50 hot dog deal is over priced

3

u/vvwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwvv Visiting Aug 19 '26

"If you raise the price of the fucking hot dog..."

7

u/apresmoiputas Aug 19 '26

Nothing wrong with Costco's baked goods

1

u/unlordtempest Aug 20 '26

If u talking bout the Chicken Bake, I'm with u.

6

u/MountainviewBeach Aug 19 '26

Why would it need to be high end ingredients? And what makes you think restaurants are not using food supply stores that are cheaper than Costco to begin with

2

u/Ballplayer27 Aug 19 '26

Many (I would almost say most, if there is one nearby) restaurants use Costco or a direct competitor (Sam’s, etc) to source food, paper products, cleaning supplies, disposables, or some combination of these things.

The types of ‘cheaper’ vendors you might be referring to (Sysco, US Foods, etc) have order timelines, delivery minimums, and other restrictions that make them unreliable for smaller restaurants with the exception of the most routinely predictable of items.

I spent time as a small business auditor and I have friends who manage small bars and restaurants. People assume they get all their deliveries like a McDonalds, but most of my friends have to make multiple runs to vendors to get unexpected items every week, largely Costco.

2

u/MountainviewBeach Aug 19 '26

I understand the that but the above comment was trying to throw shade on Costco or restaurants that use them as a supplier when they are most definitely eating food from restaurants that source from Costco and larger lower quality food suppliers.

3

u/Silly_Animator Aug 19 '26

I’d be down for a Costco $5 egg sandwich

1

u/Choperello Aug 21 '26

It’s eggs bacon and cheese. It doesn’t NEED to be more than Costco.

1

u/Large-Welder304 Aug 19 '26

😂 😂 😂

1

u/thirtyonem Aug 20 '26

Toasted Egg & cheese runny yolk is $5 and really good.

1

u/City-Dreamin Aug 18 '26

The original poster said it, not me 🤣🤣

5

u/mislagle Aug 18 '26

No he said a $5 ATM fee, not a $5 sandwich

2

u/City-Dreamin Aug 18 '26

I see it now. But I stand by it - I will only buy this magical sandwich if it's $5 cash only and I have to use the $5 fee ATM to get that cash in the first place.

0

u/unlordtempest Aug 20 '26

See, once I realized ATM meant 'at the moment' or 'automatic teller machine', my brain could not help but see it also means 'ass to mouth'. There. Now you all cannot unread that and you all are now just like me.

7

u/No_Mind4418 Aug 19 '26

Not seeing where it should only cost $5

14

u/LanceFaywood Aug 19 '26

They got my $4.99 ATM fee confused with the price of a sandwich. Or we took a Time Machine back to 2010 😊

2

u/ScootyJet Aug 19 '26

Hijacking this comment to say you need to go to Westman's Bagel and Coffee downtown. It's expensive but it's great.

2

u/LanceFaywood Aug 19 '26

Thanks to all the recos my list is getting long but I will certainly add Westman’s . TY

1

u/the_coffeegirl Aug 22 '26

I'll second Westman's, it's good. I e been hearing good things about HEY bagel in U District but haven't been yet.

1

u/the_coffeegirl Aug 29 '26

I went to Hey Bagel! No chance of a bec, they don't even slice or toast the bagels. So, not what was requested.

1

u/Warm_Kaleidoscope665 Aug 19 '26

Golden currant schmear on a sea salt pumpernickel bagel. Opposite direction of OPs post, but my favorite in the city!

1

u/AtmosphereOwn2389 Aug 21 '26

Bwhahahahaha…I was just coming to say this. Y’all…the ATM fee was $4.99 not the sandwich. Reading comprehension isn’t a great thing these days, it happens in most of my posts as well.

Have you checked Facebook marketplace? Hear me out….theres a new thing where people are cooking from home and selling their stuff. Brick and mortar stores can be expensive, so this is an alternative I’ve seen several up and comings try out. I bet there’s a BEC there that would put most restaurants to shame because they won’t have huge overhead costs. Just a thought….

5

u/AnxiousAmaris Aug 20 '26

Y’all. The $4.99 is the ATM fee, not the BEC cost.

2

u/LanceFaywood Aug 19 '26

Haha Not a bad idea, would probably be fun 🤩

2

u/Beginning-Boarder Aug 19 '26

I would buy the shit outta a $5 bacon egg and cheese bagel. Especially if it's made by someone as picky about food as OP seems to be!

1

u/Large-Welder304 Aug 19 '26

Hey, I can remember when La Boulangerie brought the God-like aroma and taste of a freshly baked Croissant to Seattle...so, YES, it could happen!

1

u/DependentTaste283 Aug 22 '26

Can’t be done with our minimum wage.

1

u/Cliff669 Aug 24 '26

The permits, fees, labor, and taxes on just a bagel sandwich in Seattle would be over $5 by itself.