Viral bagel sensation PopUp Bagels, known for its “rip, grip, and dip” style recently opened a location in Boston’s Seaport District.
Their official TikTok account has amassed over 20,000 followers and over 500,000 likes, their unorthodox approach to consuming bagels prompting viral videos driving the company to success. Their limited menu sets them apart from competitors and adds something new and different to the bagel options in Boston.
The shop offers everything: plain, poppy seed, salt, and sesame seed bagels, with the staple schmears—plain and scallion cream cheese—or a variety of butter types and cream cheeses that change weekly. The schmears are sold in separate tubs, encouraging customers to rip, grip, and then dip their bagels into the spread.
The company does not cut or slice their bagels and certainly does not make bagel sandwiches.he Seaport location proclaims on the glass outside, “Bagels. Not Sandwiches,” immediately deterring those looking for a bacon, egg, and cheese, and further separating their product from the typical mold.
While many call the company an “NYC bagel shop,” their roots began in Connecticut. The company’s CEO, Adam Goldberg, began selling bagels out of the window of his home during the pandemic, and has since built a bagel empire.
Brooke Holdgate, a Massachusetts native, had been to PopUp Bagels’ location in Greenwich, Connecticut before but had yet to try the new Boston location. She visited the Boston shop intending to compare the bagels to her previous experience with the brand, and believes that the bagels compare to a New York City bagel: “I think they’re really good,” she said about PopUp Bagels. “They’re so soft and chewy and if you get them at the right time they’re warm too.”
She believes Boston needs more options for bagel spots and cites freshness as a big component of that necessity. Holdgate mentioned Better Bagels, also in Seaport, as a spot with similar quality and freshness to PopUp Bagels. Though these two locations are in the same area of the city, she finds this level of quality rare in Massachusetts and difficult to find aside from the two spots.
Jack McGuire, a self-proclaimed bagel critic from Connecticut, the birthplace of PopUp Bagels, does not believe that a Massachusetts nor Connecticut bagel can compare to a New York one. Though he doesn’t think they’re bad, he asserts they’re different. McGuire calls PopUp Bagels more “artisanal” than a typical NYC bagel, and his only complaint is that they are smaller than he’d prefer.
He does, however, like to have PopUp Bagels when unable to get an NYC bagel. “A good bagel, you shouldn’t have to toast,” said McGuire. “It should be chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside,” he said, also citing freshness as a major component in what makes a good bagel.
The question of whether Massachusetts can replicate the magic of a classic New York bagel is up for debate, yet one myth persists: is it something in the water?
“I do think so,” McGuire said. “People open up pizza shops in Florida and ship water from Brooklyn, so I do think it’s true.”
