COMING ATTRACTIONS

Viral rip-and-dip bagel chain to open first San Antonio shop

PopUp Bagels is coming to San Antonio.

Photo courtesy of PopUp Bagels

A buzzy Connecticut bakery is setting its sights on a new state. PopUp Bagels, one of TikTok’s favorite obsessions, has signed a deal with local operator Lone Star Bagels to bring at least 12 shops to Texas, including San Antonio.

Like many Americans, founder Adam Goldberg started baking to fill the long lockdown hours during the COVID-19 pandemic. At first, he gave away the bagels to his friends and family, but word of mouth spread rapidly. He began selling the bagels as a preorder pop-up (get it?) before launching a subscription service.

Soon, the bagels became a viral hit due to their unconventional presentation. PopUp doesn’t make sandwiches, nor does it bother with toasting or slicing. Instead, diners are encouraged to rip the whole bagels and dunk them into a variety of schmears.

The menu itself is fairly simple. PopUp offers only five bagel varieties — plain, everything, salt, poppy seed, and sesame — in bags of three, six, 12, and 30. Schmears include cream cheese, salted butter, and weekly specials like pimento cream cheese and brown sugar cinnamon butter. Guests can also order a container of smoked salmon, though that may be harder to dip.

A release offered no timeline for the San Antonio expansion, and the company is still in the process of scouting locations. However, it did say that San Antonians ready to break bread will have to wait a little longer than Dallas and Houston, which will both get locations in the spring.

“Texas represents a significant opportunity for PopUp Bagels as we continue to scale the brand,” said PopUp Bagels CEO Tory Bartlett. “We’re approaching this growth with the same discipline and focus on quality that have defined PopUp Bagels from the beginning.”

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CRUSHING IT

Boerne winery wins top honors in prestigious California wine contest

Missick Cellars/ Facebook

The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition named Missick Cellars best in class.

Boerne winemaker Missick Cellars hasn’t opened its tasting room yet, but it’s already racking up acclaim. The label has won Best in Class honors at the prestigious 2026 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

The contest is the largest wine competition in North America, drawing in more than 5,500 competitors. Winemakers vie in several specific categories, organized by type of grape, price point, or even the amount of residual sugar. It’s all very nerdy, but for the uninitiated, recognition means that the vintages deserve a spot on their countertop wine rack.

Missick won for its 2024 Texas High Plains Viognier in the $31-plus bracket. It was the only San Antonio-area winemaker to earn a Best in Class nod in a list that was dominated by California regions like Napa Valley, Sonoma, and Paso Robles. Lubbock’s Llano Estacado, Wimberley’s Jaclyn Renee Wines, and Fredericksburg’s Augusta Vin and Hilmy Cellars were the only other Texas brands to ace their class.

Owner Chris Missick became interested in winemaking after serving in the military and pursuing a law career. He first threw himself into the craft by buying a winery in Dundee, New York. While there, he won acclaim from Wine & Spirits Magazine, and launched a podcast, VITI+CULTURE, dedicated to interviewing makers.

In 2023, Missick, his wife Laure, and his family moved to Boerne, where they established a homestead with chickens and bees. He soon got to work planting grapes on the property, eager to explore Texas terroir and support local farmers.

"We moved to Texas because of its great beauty, the myriad of wonderful growers and producers, the vast economic potential of the state, and the cultural alignment our family found here," explains Missick in a release. "What I was focused on was bringing the breadth of my extensive experience in premium white and sparkling wine production to a new terroir."

This is the second San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition win for the fledgling Texas winery, but first Best in Class. The winery's 2023 Texas Dry Riesling earned Double Gold in 2025 — an award recognizing unanimous Gold medal scores from every judge on the panel.

Area locals will soon have the chance to compare notes with the judges. Missick Cellars is preparing to open a tasting room at 941 N. School St. in Boerne this spring that will feature both its Finger Lakes and Texas High Plains wines.

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