By Emma Barhydt
I must confess, when I walked into PopUp Bagels, I wasn’t expecting anything remarkable. I’ve had bagels before, and while they’re alright, they’re not my preferred bread product. So, when I took a bite of a salt bagel with Dill Pickle cream cheese, I definitely wasn’t anticipating a life-changing experience.
But that’s exactly what it was; I’ve never had a better bagel.
PopUp Bagels is a small shop in Glenville, nestled next to the Sunoco. The shop is as unassuming as the product it sells, but it packs a powerful punch. There are no seats available; you simply grab your bag of deliciousness from the window and continue on with your day. If you’re looking for coffee or a smoothie, you’ll need to go elsewhere. At PopUp Bagels, it’s just bagels by the dozen and schmears.
While their hours might seem inconvenient at first, believe me when I say it’s worth it. Each dozen feels like a carefully crafted gift, and while it may require some advance planning, their schedule ensures that each customer gets the freshest bagels possible, hot out of the oven.
What began as a backyard pickup window now has five locations between Connecticut and New York. How fortunate Greenwich is that they’ve picked our town for their next location.
“Our goal is simple: to make you the best, freshest bagels,” proclaims their website, and they certainly deliver. Open from 7am to 11:30am Thursday through Sunday and sold exclusively by the dozen, PopUp Bagels redefined my idea of how good a bagel could be.
They consistently serve up delightful sesame, plain, everything, poppy, and salt bagels, accompanied by plain and scallion cream cheese and butter. plain and scallion cream cheese and butter.
As frequent readers of my reviews know, I love a good seasonal option on the menu so I was quite pleased to hear they always have both a seasonal butter and a seasonal cream cheese. At the time of my visit last month, those flavors were Ramp and Dill Pickle respectively. Currently, they feature Mike’s Hot Honey butter and veggie cream cheese.
While they couldn’t disclose their full process and recipe for obvious reasons, I did learn that PopUp Bagels allows their bagels to rest overnight before baking them in the morning. Although this might not initially strike you as a significant revelation, it’s important to note that breadmaking is a fermentation process. So letting the bagels rest overnight creates higher levels of fermentation which produces a much stronger depth of flavor and a fluffier texture.
Safe to say, the enticing aroma of freshly baked bread combined with the discussion on bagel fermentation had me brimming with excitement.
My first bite was of their salt bagel with the seasonal dill pickle cream cheese. I’m not ashamed to say I was giddy. Dill pickle cream cheese was never something I would have thought of but wow was it incredible. The cream cheese had small pieces of pickle and dill in it, and it was scrumptious. It was the perfect blend of acidic and creamy, the small bits of pickle gave it a surprising bit of crunch which perfectly complimented the softness of the bagel.
The next thing I tried was their everything bagel with the seasonal ramp butter. Ramps are a type of wild onion with a milder taste, it grows in abundance across New England and is an ingredient that I believe should be used more often. The butter had a subtle onion flavor that paired well with their custom blend of everything bagel seasoning.
But you all want to know about the bagels.
To my surprise, what truly impressed me was their plain bagel. Now, you might wonder, how can a plain bagel be anything special? At PopUp Bagels, it is. The crust is golden and slightly crackly, giving way to a slightly sweet, wonderfully chewy interior that truly captures the essence of bagel perfection. This bagel doesn’t need any fancy toppings. Its simplicity is its strength, allowing the full flavor of the well-fermented dough to shine through.
And so, dear readers, it is with delight and a pleasantly full stomach that I must admit I was wrong. Bagels, in the hands of skilled craftsmen at PopUp Bagels, can indeed be life-changing. A visit to PopUp Bagels is more than just a quick breakfast stop; it’s a journey into a world where the simple bagel is transformed into something extraordinary.
