Love + Comfort + Community
That’s what Ethel’s is all about. Our family is passionate about offering our community organic bagels, breads, pastries, schmears, and more prepared with high-quality, locally sourced ingredients and the freshest Northern California produce.
Our Ethel’s story began before the pandemic, inspired by Nicolas’ grandmother and the role of great food in their family dynamic. Growing up bi-coastally (NYC & Los Angeles), Nick had reminisced about his childhood and family gatherings at Grandma Ethel’s. Visiting on weekends would yield a table piled high with bagels, lox, schmear, rye bread, pickled herring, and the like.
The idea of recreating this feeling of community, family, and comfort had a strong resonance once the pandemic began, so we decided as a family that the time felt right. With our schedules freed-up during lockdown, each family member put in a helping hand to sprout the business from the ground. We first kicked off a home delivery model, connecting with our local community via freshly baked bagels and schmears delivered to the doorstep.
Today, production has expanded in volume and variety. We sell wholesale, attend farmers markets, and we’re so happy to welcome all of you into our Petaluma Delicatessen. Our mission remains to create the delicious, Jewish-inspired comfort food that grandparents Lew and Ethel Ritter would have been proud to serve in their own kitchen.
Grandma Ethel
The company’s namesake and a woman who loved her family unconditionally, held a good eater in high regard, and taught young Nicolas that when it comes to food, freshness and high quality ingredients are how you show your family and friends your love. In a complicated world, a simple yet enduring idea brought to life.
Growing up, countless meals were shared across families with grandparents Lew and Ethel, Brooklyn transplants who moved to Los Angeles with their three children (Roslyn + Lehua + Joni) in 1955. Their family would often gather around Ethels’ smorgasbord of traditional Jewish delights that never failed to nurture the aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends in attendance.
Ethel’s may have been born during the pandemic, but it is the culmination of a lifelong, personal dream to offer food to nosh and natter over, simple and delicious, just like Nicolas grew up eating in Ethel’s home and in famous Jewish delis the likes of Canter’s, Nate & Al’s, Langer’s and Factor’s Famous, Russ & Daughters, and Katz’s. Ethel’s captures a time when a family meal was so filled with love and laughter that you knew, even if you couldn’t put it into words, something special was happening. Ethel always believed—that food was the glue, and that love of family and community were the foundation for a good life well lived.
Our bagels are made with an enlivened sourdough starter and organic flour procured from local sources. They are rested for 30 hours and boiled in our unique blend of water, Lagunitas beer, and organic malt syrup.
The result: an organic, wholesome, balanced, and flavorful Ethel's bagel.
