Imagine walking to your neighborhood bagel shop or taking a quick ride on the 75 for a hot bagel fresh out of the oven. Cold-fermented, boiled, and baked, so fresh you can eat it untoasted.
No, this isn’t New York—if the bagels at Pipsqueak Bagels live up to the hype, then baked dough rings of this caliber will soon grace Southeast Portland. On April 11, Pipsqueak Bagels will open its doors at 3844 SE Gladstone, churning out hot bagels five days a week along with housemade cream cheese, bagel sandwiches, and drip coffee. But expect a crowd. The business already has a strong following in Portland and beyond, building its fan base since starting as a pop-up in 2024 at the Milwaukie Farmers Market and Puff Coffee.
“I’ve had New Yorkers be like, ‘This is better than bagels I’ve had in New York,’” says owner and bagel baker Madilyn Gibbons.
Pipsqueak Bagels will have around six types of bagels on offer, including plain, rosemary sea salt, everything, poppy seed, and jalapeño cheddar; a sweet bagel is also in the works. Cream cheese options will include plain, lox, scallion, and a rotating flavor, like jalapeño popper. Look for a classic lox bagel sandwich—Gibbons likes hers on an untoasted sesame bagel with red onion, caper, dill, and lemon—plus more options to come, like an Italian grinder sandwich or a classic bacon-and-egg. Drip coffee will be flowing, a custom roast from Puff Coffee called the Bagel Blend.
For Gibbons, a longtime baker who has worked in various facets of the food industry from serving to working as a cheesemonger, the shop’s opening is the product of a years-long bagel fixation.
“Bagels chose me,” Gibbons says. “They’re one of my favorite foods, and when I shared them with people, they really loved what I was doing.”
Gibbons takes pride in her bagel-making process, which involves 24 to 48 hours of cold fermentation followed by hand-rolling. Lesser bagels are simply rolled into a ball and hole-punched into the middle—but Gibbons uses the rope-rolling method, in which the dough is rolled into a long snake, wrapped around one hand, then torn away. After a resting period, they’re briefly boiled in a 20-gallon kettle before getting their final bake.
“One of the most important things for me about bagel making is honoring tradition—and that’s absolutely what we do with our bagels,” says Gibbons.
Pipsqueak Bagels, opening April 11, 3844 SE Gladstone, Thurs-Mon 7 am-2 pm, pipsqueakbagels.com, @pipsqueakbagels