A long line to buy bagels in New York City is not a sight to behold. That’s when the bagels came from Connecticut, though.
On a recent Sunday, dozens of New Yorkers crammed inside the west side of Manhattan Daily Ruleseagerly snagged the bubbling, golden porcelain of Popupbagels, a bakery in Redding, Conn., has been hosting pop-ups around Manhattan since last year.
Is this the best new bagels in New York? It depends on what you like. Whereas New York bagels today are typically large, with a dense crust and distinct chewy taste, Popup’s are smaller, airier, and crunchier. The texture is a bit like that of a bread.
Having something remarkable to say about New York bagels is a feat; the city is full special version – from rounded, hand-rolled specimens at Ess-a-Bagel for thinner people Montreal style round at Black seed bread.
But Popupbagels’ owner, Adam Goldberg, says there’s been little recent innovation to bagels in New York, and the range on offer now falls short of the standards it used to be. “I don’t think there’s infinite room for the big bagel shops in any town in America, including in New York City,” he said.
After less than two years in business, Popupbagels already has a dedicated customer base in the city, about 60 miles from where the dough is made. At last year’s pop-ups inside restaurants in Manhattan and the Hamptons, the bagels – which had to be ordered in advance – sold out in just a minute. In October, they won the People’s Choice Award at Brooklyn BagelFestbeat out more popular local bakeries like Tompkins square bagels.
“People often think of New Yorkers as traditionalists in their own right and use these organizations frequently,” said Sam Silverman, founder of Brooklyn BagelFest. “We’re really open-minded.”
Mr. Goldberg, 47, doesn’t consider himself an expert on bagels. He was one of the many who started to bake bread during the pandemic to pass the time. One summer day in 2020, he and his cousin Jeff Lewis decided that they were tired of sourdough bread and wanted to try something different. Why not bagels?
They searched a few recipes online to understand ingredient ratios and techniques, then came up with the idea for their dream bagel: compact, with a well-defined crust. and the seed layer is widely covered.
New York Times Cooking: Learn how to make bagels with Claire Saffitz.
Initially, Mr. Goldberg gave the bagels to friends and relatives, and within a few months enough people offered to pay for them so he decided to start a business. (Mr. Lewis still helps make bagels from time to time.)
Now, in addition to his New York pop-up, Mr. Goldberg also runs a registered bagel business with three pickup locations in Connecticut: Redding, Westport and Greenwich. The bagels sell for $38 and come with creative flavors of cream cheese, like grilled leeks and dill pickles. Even though the business is profitable, he still works full-time selling flood mitigation systems.
Last fall, with $250,000 from investors, Mr. Goldberg rented a test kitchen in downtown Redding. On the Sunday of a recent New York pop-up, the lights came on at 5 a.m., when he and three employees – Kaylynn Gunzy, a student at Parsons School of Design, and two high school students, Amelia Shankle and Hannah Giardina – boiled and seeded 60 dozen bagels, poppy seeds, sesame, salt and everything.
The previous afternoon, Mr. Goldberg had mixed nearly 200 pounds of flour and tested it twice. (He says that double-treating adds flavor and makes the insides softer and the crust firmer.) Then he shapes the bagels and refrigerates them overnight.
“I see energy in this dough,” he said as he took a test batch out of the oven. “The hole is not too big. There is life here. ”
While traditional bagels are usually boiled in a kettle and baked in a fireplace, bagels are boiled in a large stock pot and baked in a convection oven. Not because he thinks this method produces better results — it’s just more convenient for a mobile business that frequently relies on other people’s ovens, he says.
At 7 a.m., Mr. Goldberg drove boiled but unbaked bagels into the city in a refrigerated catering truck. The customer places an order online and chooses a 15-minute timeframe; The bagels are baked about an hour before each groove, so they are still warm when taken.
This is the third time Pallavi Nanda has driven from Jersey City to buy bagels. “Once you eat these, you realize what you missed,” she says.
Another fan is New York restaurateur Danny Meyer, who Union Square Hospitality Group owns The Daily Regulations and is the one who invited Mr. Goldberg to perform the pop-up there. “I wouldn’t say this is the best version I’ve ever had in my life,” Mr. Meyer said. “But he’s definitely the top three.”
Bagel makers aren’t as enamored. “Once you start changing it up too much, it’s not a bagel anymore, it’s a bagel,” says Melanie Frost, owner of Ess-a-Bagel. “It’s great for sandwiches, but bagels? I do not know.”
Still, she wished her new opponent good luck: “Good for them. People love fashion.”
Popupbagels, 8 Main Street, Redding, Conn.; 971 Post Road East, Westport, Conn.; 158 East Putnam Avenue, Cos Cob, Conn. (Hand baggage must be reserved in advance.) For pop-up locations: popupbagels.com
