Dallas' raging affair with bagels continues, with a new shop opening in a high-profile spot in East Dallas: Called Lubbies Bagels, it's an indie concept from sisters Andrea Lubkin and Jennifer Lubkin, which opened softly on August 2 at 1160 Peavy Rd.

UPDATE 8-6-2023: Lubbies is temporarily closing until August 16. "The response has been quite literally overwhelming, so much so, we're closing for a few days to regroup, purchase additional equipment so we're able to meet the demand. We expect to be up and running again by mid-to-end of next week," says Andrea Lubkin in an email.

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The shop already has a bit of a cult following because #1 bagels and #2, it took over the space previously occupied by the revered 20 Foot Seafood Joint, in the same shopping center at the corner of Garland Road as Goodfriend and Hello Dumpling. (20 Foot closed during the pandemic in March 2020, never to reopen, and East Dallas people have still not really gotten over it.)

#3 The sisters also built up good word of mouth online by doing random offerings of free bagels to their followers on social media.

The shop is now open, but with a limited menu and hours. "Heads-up, we're starting with a very soft opening, bagels and schmears only, please be gentle!" they say.

Lubbies has been in the works for more than a year, when Andrea started getting into sourdough baking; she uses a sourdough starter to make the bagels.

But the current timing of the opening is fortuitous, since shops like Starship Bagels and Sclafani's have begun to build a local bagel buzz.

Andrea was previously a chef who worked at the Second Floor at the Westin Galleria Hotel, Sugarbacon, and Hotel ZaZa — in fact, we nominated her for Chef of the Year in CultureMap's Tastemaker Awards in 2015 — before she switched to work for gourmet foods supplier D'Artagnan.

Jennifer had corporate experience, but fun fact: She sold me a fancy oven which sits in my house today. (You'd think all of this would have given CultureMap Dallas special access, but no deal!)

Flavors include plain, sundried tomato, cinnamon raisin, whole wheat, sesame seed, poppyseed, pumpernickel, garlic, onion, and salt.

One point of distinction is that they're using Gina Marie cream cheese, made with three ingredients — cultured milk, cream, and salt. They also have cream cheese flavors such as jalapeno cheddar and blueberry swirl.

The interior is a sophisticated pretty, with floral wallpaper and accents of aqua and sky blue. Tables are butcher-block-style rounds with a deliberately-casual mix of white basket-weave chairs, while the floors are pebble-colored terrazo tiles. Despite the shop's pleas to go easy, there was a line on Wednesday morning.

Their residency in that location fits the original vision for the space. Back when the center was first concepted by chef and restaurateur Jeana Johnson (Good2Go Taco), the storefront was intended to be a pie shop/bakery, to better mesh with parking needs, since it would be open during daytime only, and therefore not compete with Goodfriend and other potential restaurants open at night. The vision is now fulfilled.