The Place:

Bagel Oasis (2112 N.E. 65th, 526-0525) RAVENNA.The Hole: Poppy-seed bagel, toasted, with scallion schmear.The Shit: Thanks to synagogue Congregation Beth Shalom sitting at the Northeast edge of Ravenna, this ‘hood is about as close as Seattle gets to a Jewish enclave. So I started hunting for the most beloved bagelry in the area.Like anyone living in the Internet age, I launched my search with Google. Into the search box I put the words Seattle, Ravenna, bagel. Bagel Oasis immediately popped up.Normally I try to avoid preconceived notions of culinary excellence, preferring to try a place before I see what people are saying about it in the vicious arena of anonymous Internet commenting.But in this case, I decided to check out the buzz ahead of time. Seattleites love ragging on the city’s dearth of good bagels, and I was hoping the Oasis would turn out to be a place where the rounds of boiled dough are considered a cut above by the online masses.The verdict seemed to be: decent-to-good bagels, mediocre-to-poor service, and waaaaay too many kids running around.So I steeled myself for an onslaught of rugrats and headed through the doors. It turns out Bagel Oasis has an enormous space. The dreaded children are running around, but in this much room, it’s not as though you’re tripping over them. The staff was perfectly kind, referred to other regular customers by name, and loaded my bagel with enough scallion schmear to turn my “light” breakfast into a hefty, gut-expanding meal.If this is the closest you can get to an East Coast bagel experience, I suggest you just get over your fear of small children. Bagel Oasis has a lot of space; surely you can share.Follow Voracious on Twitter and Facebook.