Popup bagels, which originated in Westport, Connecticut in 2020, quickly gained a reputation for serving exceptional, warm bagels, and over the course of 6 years, has spread across the East Coast and now into Chicago.

PopUp Bagels has a simple menu that houses 5 different types of bagels: plain, salt, sesame, poppy seed and everything. They offer 3 different varieties of “schmears” which include plain, scallion and truffle butter, along with the weekly specials of spicy scallion cream cheese and sabatino truffle butter.

The plain bagel had a fluffy texture with a soft, warm crust on the outside. Paired with the truffle butter, it tasted savory, which had you wanting to dip for some more.

Since the truffle butter is a lot denser than the opposing schmears, it was a little bit difficult to dip the bagel into, but once you were able to get a good spread on the bread, you constantly wanted to go back for another bite.

The salted bagel had the perfect amount of salt that made it not too overpowering and not too underwhelming. This bagel also stayed consistent with the texture of airiness paired with the light crust of the outside. Paired with the scallion schmear, which had a French onion dip taste to it, they worked together to create that savory, salty taste that lingered on your taste buds for long after you were done.

The poppy-seed bagel had an abundance of poppy seeds covering the surface of the bread. It was also light and airy in the middle, which made it easy to bite into and enjoy. Paired with the plain schmear, which had a basic, plain and cheesy taste with a smooth texture, it sprouted fireworks of woody and a surprisingly good bitter taste on your tongue.

The sesame seed bagel, which was littered with more than enough seeds, was quite plain and had a strange texture that I’m not sure would be enjoyable regularly. It was exceptionally close to the taste of the plain bagel, except just with more texture to it. The bagel was light and airy with a slight roughness to it on the outside that could possibly be from cooking it a tad too long.

Last but not least, the everything bagel was garnished with sesame seeds, poppy seeds and a slight onion taste. It’s salty, oniony and the bitterness of the bagel complements the savory taste of the scallion schmear well. This bagel was cooked to perfection and the soft crunch when bitten into was very satisfying.

4 out of 5 of these bagels were enjoyable; seeing a sweet bagel on the menu would take it to the next level. Instead of only serving savory bagels, they could add a blueberry bagel to really top off their exceptional menu.

The menu offers 3 bagels plus 1 schmear priced at $15, 6 bagels plus one schmear priced at $24 and 12 bagels plus 2 schmears priced at $48. You order by the bag, which means that the minimum that you can order would be 3 bagels with one schmear.

The line stretched out long outside the door upon first arrival, but it went pretty quickly because of the efficiency of the workers within the store. Stepping foot inside the restaurant, there was a fun atmosphere that was filled with good energy and liveliness that one couldn’t have not smiled at.

Ordering the food was easy, quick and the cashier even let us pick out 2 extra bagels and 1 extra schmear to add to our order free of charge. The bagels came out exceptionally fast, which was a pleasant surprise given that the lineup of people before us was so long. They DO accept Apple Pay for those who have their card uploaded onto their phone.

The space within the store was limited with only 2 high-top tables in the corner, but this wasn’t much of a problem because of the location of the store being at the center of easily accessible sitting arrangements spread throughout the area.

Overall, the taste, atmosphere and service are things that make PopUp Bagels live up to the hype. It is located in Lincoln Park, Chicago, at 2321 N Lincoln Ave, where it is open from 7 a.m- 4 p.m.

PopUp Bagels is a 9.2/10