PopUp Bagels opening in Garden City and Huntington Station

On the heels of PopUp Bagels’ Westhampton Beach debut in June comes its next Nassau launch: Garden City on Aug. 28. Not to be outdone, the second Suffolk outpost will debut at Walt Whitman Shops in early fall.

Both the Garden City and Huntington Station shops will serve the same hot-from-the-oven bagels and rotating schmears — cream cheese and butter — that PopUp has become "Not Famous, but Known" for, as the tagline says. For the uninitiated, PopUp Bagels offers a menu of smaller, more compact bagels than many Long Island bagel shops. More dense, with a chewy center and crispy exterior, PopUp Bagels are served warm alongside requisite cream cheese cups. No sandwiches, no salads, no special orders, just bagels. Guests are encouraged to use their hands to "grip, rip and dip" the hot bagels into their chosen schmear.

"We love partnering with brands that do one thing and do one thing incredibly well, and PopUp is like a poster child for this," said Kevin Bush, the chief strategy officer of Fresh Standing Concepts, which is overseeing the growth of the PopUp Bagel expansion across Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens and the West Coast. A franchise operator with a portfolio of brands including but not limited to Auntie Anne’s, Cinnabon, Jamba Juice, as well as Nothing Bundt Cakes, Bush credits PopUp’s simplicity for its success and expansion of "about 35 stores over the next five years."

Bagels come in poppy, sesame, plain, salt and everything varieties. Cream cheese and butter flavors change weekly and are often collaborations. Past collabs have included mashups like Sabatino Truffles cream cheese and Natalie’s "Tangerine Dream Butter" a citrus-infused collaboration with Natalie's Orchid Island Juice Company. Other popular flavors have included jalapeño cheddar, lemon pepper, hot sauce, scallion and cacio e pepe. But it’s not just savory schmears. Sweet versions range from Oreo and Poppi creamsicle flavors, to a recent banana bread chocolate chip cream cheese. Weekly specialty butters like the shallot or cinnamon sugar flavors shouldn’t be missed.

For the Garden City opening, which is in The Gallery at Westbury Plaza shopping center, the opening's location-exclusive schmear will be a chocolate chip cannoli flavor.

Bagels can be purchased in-store in increments of three ($13, including one schmear), six (plus one schmear, $21) and 12 (plus two schmears, $46), 30 (plus five schmears). Extra schmears are $7, and a vegan version is $10. Besides bagels and schmears, smoked fish — lox runs $12 for 4 ounces and $22 for 8 ounces, whitefish salad ($20) and trout roe ($24) — are also available. Preorder and delivery options are also available.

The Connecticut-based carb-and-schmear sensation took off during the pandemic, when its owner, Adam Goldberg, found himself "bored of the sourdough trend," so tried his hand at a bagel recipe. A quick hit with friends and family, he eventually started selling the bagels from a pop-up window in his backyard. Its first Long Island brick-and-mortar opened in Roslyn in 2024.

PopUp Bagels, 920 Old Country Rd., Garden City, popupbagels.com; Open Monday through Sunday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

By Marie Elena Martinez

marieelena.martinez@newsday.com@mariesworlds

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.