PopUp Bagels opens in Roslyn
A plain bagel with a cream cheese schmear at PopUp Bagels in Roslyn. Credit: Newsday/Marie Elena Martinez
"Not famous but known" — that’s the tagline for PopUp Bagels, a Connecticut-based, carb-and-schmear sensation that took off during the pandemic. After spending the last few summers as a pop-up shop in the Hamptons, the brand now has its first brick-and-mortar shop, in Roslyn.
Owner Adam Goldberg started making bagels at home three or four years ago during the COVID pandemic. "I was bored of the sourdough trend, so I tried my hand at a bagel recipe," he said. A quick hit with friends and family, he eventually started selling bagels from a pop-up window in his backyard. "It was, really, this wild thing — people started lining up for them and I was selling out."
PopUp Bagels has taken on a life of its own, offering a limited menu of smaller, more compact orbs than the many Long Island bagel shops. More dense, with a chewy center and crispy exterior, PopUp Bagels are served warm alongside requisite cream cheese made for "ripping and dipping." Bagels come in poppy, sesame, plain, salt and everything varieties. Cream cheese flavors change weekly and are often collaborations — like the current Grillo’s Pickle de Gallo. There is also a weekly specialty butter, like the recent shallot version.
PopUp's original store models required ordering ahead, with a minimum of a dozen bagels. The new Roslyn location offers bagels in increments of three ($13, including one schmear), six (plus one schmear, $21) and 12 (plus two schmears, $42). Orders can be made ahead of time starting Nov. 20. Extra schmears are $7 and a vegan version is $10. Besides bagels and schmears, smoked fish — salmon ($42 a pound), whitefish salad ($20) and trout roe ($24) — are also available.
The chain has five locations in Connecticut and three in Manhattan. One of his business partners hails from Roslyn, which Goldberg said was "the ideal location" to grow.
PopUp Bagels, 1388 Old Northern Blvd., Roslyn, 203-297-8819, popupbagels.com; Open Monday through Sunday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
A global freelancer who has checked her suitcase to raise her young daughter on her native Long Island, Marie Elena will always make time for good mezcal, even better tacos and killer conversation. Preferably, in a corner bar seat. She can be found on Instagram at @mariesworldeats.
