Any New Yorker worth their salt feels strongly about their preferred bagel spot (shout out to my pick, Baker’s Dozen), though most of these spots are, on a surface level, more or less the same format.
PopUp Bagels is a little different. That’s how they like it, and that’s what will be on display late this year when they open a location this December in Williamsburg. Specific details, such as the address, are not yet known at this time.
PopUp Bagels focuses on the bagels’ peak freshness. Bagels are served hot out of the oven and are meant to be dipped in a tub of cream cheese, instead of the customary spread that you get at other bagel spots (they call this the grip, rip, and dip).
They keep it simple with flavors, offering plain, poppy, sesame, salt, and everything.
Another thing that sets them apart from a typical bagel spot is that individual bagels are not available—a minimum order is three. And for that aforementioned cream cheese? The perennials are scallion and plain, with weekly rotating flavors.
The Williamsburg location will join three other New York City locations, as well as locations in Long Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, where the concept was born as a pandemic project in founder Adam Goldberg’s kitchen. PopUp first opened in New York City in 2023, to viral social media buzz.
While it’s the first Brooklyn location, the PopUp team is no stranger to the borough, recently taking the top spot in the competition at Brooklyn Bagel Fest for two years in a row. And they’ll be in good company of fellow bagel innovators, as Greenpoint’s own pop up Bagel Joint will soon open a brick-and-mortar in the fall.