State-based PopUp Bagels featured in N.Y. Times

PopUp Bagels, which started during the pandemic, has built a loyal following for its bagels and “schmears” around Fairfield County, with weekend pickup locations in Greenwich, Redding and Westport. But now the secret is out in New York.

The New York Times recently featured Adam Goldberg’s bagel bakery, which has earned a following in the city with pop-ups in Manhattan and Brooklyn (and the Hamptons) over the past two years.

Goldberg and his team have hosted events at Danny Meyer’s Daily Provisions (the celebrity restaurateur is a fan), and their bagels earned top honors at October’s Brooklyn BagelFest as the people’s choice winner.

PopUp Bagels “started as a backyard pickup window to share a newly created bagel recipe with friends,” according to its website. Goldberg told the Times he and his cousin, Jeff Lewis, were baking sourdough bread during the first months of the pandemic and grew tired of it, instead looking up bagel recipes to create their ideal product.

In the feature, Goldberg said he thinks there’s been “little recent innovation” in New York bagels. “I think there is unlimited room for great bagel shops anywhere, in any town in America, including in New York City,” he said.

The Times describes PopUp Bagels’ product as “smaller, airier and crisper” than a traditional New York bagel, with a texture similar to a baguette. Goldberg said the dough is double-proofed, which adds flavor and creates a softer interior and more robust crust.

In Connecticut, subscriptions are available for weekly or biweekly frequency. Customers also quickly snag presale time slots for weekend pickups, including a minimum of one dozen bagels and two artisan “schmears” for $38, which include rotating flavored cream cheeses and butters. Recent offerings have included ramp cream cheese, caper and red onion cream cheese, brown sugar cinnamon honey butter and chili oil butter.

Pickup locations are in Westport at 971 Post Road East, in Redding at 8 Main St., and at Fjord Fish Market in Cos Cob (on Sundays at 9 a.m. only.)

Courtesy of @PopUpBagels PopUp Bagels, which started during the pandemic, has built a loyal following for its bagels and “schmears” around Fairfield County, with weekend pickup locations in Greenwich, Redding and Westport.

Courtesy of @PopUpBagels The Times describes PopUp Bagels’ product as “smaller, airier and crisper” than a traditional New York bagel, with a texture similar to a baguette.