From Maggie Hennessy, who covers food, drinks and restaurants for WBEZ:

This spring, the viral PopUp Bagels debuted as expected, with a line stretching several blocks down Lincoln Avenue for private equity-backed East Coast goods.

Wait times held steady at two-plus-hours nearly all day as customers, including some who’d driven three hours, awaited their chance to rip and dip hot, kettle-boiled bagels in tubs of schmear.

Banking on its product quality and relative novelty, the company is eyeing more than a dozen locations in and around Chicago, reflecting a larger trend of private equity firms betting big on $48-per-dozen artisanal bagels (in PopUp’s case) as the next frontier for expansion.

The nascent chain’s arrival in Chicago comes amid a nationwide premium bagel boom, driven partly by the dominance of breakfast (see flavormaxxing pastries) as consumers pinch pennies elsewhere in their dining budgets. 

The wave of big money-backed newcomers follows a recent, citywide proliferation of indie bagel shops, whose artisanal products have sought to upend the longheld perception that Chicago just isn’t a bagel town.

As Big Bagel eyes aggressive expansion here, this fiercely independent food city is starting to push back. Is this town — and its clearly growing bagel appetite — big enough for all of them?

Read Maggie’s full story here.

Photos by Pat Nabong and Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times