New Wave Bagel, a pop-up concept serving North County, is opening its first permanent location this year at 312 North Coast Highway 101 in Leucadia.
After operating as a pop-up for the past year at Ironsmith Coffee in Encinitas and Michi Michi in Bankers Hill, the team, which includes Cheryl Storms and Matt Cardwell, is launching a phased buildout of their new shop, according to San Diego Magazine. The initial phase will feature a permanent pop-up outside the site, followed by temporary operations in a commissary kitchen at LuckyBolt in Sorrento Valley. The final phase will introduce full kitchen service and both indoor and outdoor seating at the Leucadia location.
The menu will focus on naturally fermented, 100% sourdough bagels and bialys, which are made from flattened bagel dough with a little dip in the middle that you can fill with anything sweet or savory. Customers can expect about a dozen bagel varieties, along with breakfast and lunch sandwiches. New Wave rotates its offerings monthly, typically featuring around seven bagel options and five or six cream cheese flavors. Bialys will also be part of the lineup, with both savory and seasonal sweet fillings.
The business plans to maintain its pop-up presence during construction and has partnered with local roaster Crossings Coffee for the new space. Expansion into North County and future franchise development are already under consideration. The new bagel shop will add to the growing bagel scene within San Diego. Concepts such as Marigold Bagels, H&H Bagels, and PopUp Bagels are getting ready to expand within the city, while Mission Bagel is about to open a food truck.
“Our philosophy and ethos are based on creating the best bagel experience we can, while only using locally harvested organic produce, eggs, meat, and fish,” according to the company’s website. “We work with local farmers to source all of the veggies, fruit, meat, and dairy that go into our bagels, schmears, and sandwiches. Our house-cured and smoked fish is always locally caught— you’ll never see salmon on our menu in San Diego, but you won’t miss it when you try our local halibut! Our cream cheese schmear is made using Gina Marie cream cheese, organic and California-made. We use Central Milling organic wheat and rye flours.”
