{"id":449384,"date":"2025-12-15T20:35:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T20:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/449384\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T20:35:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T20:35:25","slug":"chicagos-most-exciting-pop-ups-happen-before-10-a-m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/449384\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago\u2019s Most Exciting Pop-Ups Happen Before 10 a.m."},"content":{"rendered":"

If you encountered Drip Collective<\/a><\/strong> anytime between July 2024 to March 2025, chances are you witnessed out-the-door lines. The crowds coincided with the Chubby Boys<\/a> pop-up, which had a wildly popular run at the West Loop cafe thanks to a much-loved breakfast sandwich.<\/p>\n

Chubby Boys seemingly struck gold with the sandwich, crafted with a sizzling steamed egg patty and bacon jam. \u201cIt took about three months to perfect the steamed egg, finding the right balance of heat, steam time, and ingredients,\u201d Oscar Zargoza says. The popularity of the sandwich was all the more surprising because Chubby Boys wasn\u2019t even a breakfast pop-up in the first place. Founded in 2021 by Zaragoza and Cesar Ordaz, Chubby Boys specializes in burgers. But lightning struck with the invention of the Chubby Boys breakfast sandwich. \u201cMost places use standard breakfast proteins, but we wanted to do something different. The bacon jam was originally created for our signature smash burger, but when we added it to the breakfast sandwich, it became something truly special.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Customers lined up around the corner for the Chubby Boys breakfast sandwich during a residency at Side Practice. Kristen Mendiola\/Chubby Boys<\/p>\n

Chubby Boys isn\u2019t alone. The pop-up is part of a full-fledged Chicago breakfast bonanza, fueled by a flurry of new bakeries<\/a> and high-profile bagel joints<\/a> and the longtail leadership of trend-setters like two-Michelin-starred Kasama<\/a>, where diners still wait in hour-long lines every weekend for a taste of its now-iconic Filipino breakfast sandwich. Now, a new wave is leading the charge: These days, if you want to find the best breakfast in the city, you\u2019ll have to catch it at a pop-up. Vagabond businesses like Chubby Boys (which launched a residency at Spilt Milk<\/a> in March) and Morning Jay\u2019s<\/a> are finding success by focusing on the most important meal of the day.<\/p>\n

Chubby Boy\u2019s breakfast sandwich was a collaborative innovation. Drip Collective\u2019s owners initially asked Zargoza and Ordaz to develop a breakfast item for a one-time event. However, \u201cafter they tried the dishes we planned for that pop-up, they asked if we\u2019d be open to doing a longer residency at their location,\u201d Zargoza says.<\/p>\n

Satisfied customers flooded social media with raves that helped Chubby Boys gain a loyal following. The eight-month residency proved that the hype surrounding a pop-up can be just as influential \u2014 and in some cases, even more so \u2014 in mobilizing people to visit than the food itself. \u201cDrip Collective played a huge role in the growth of Chubby Boys,\u201d Zaragoza says. \u201cIt gave us a space to really define who we are, both from a branding and culinary standpoint. It also challenged us to see how well we could handle pressure and adapt to unexpected situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a need for better breakfast right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the breakfast buzz also spilled over to Drip Collective. \u201cChubby Boys had a big influence on Drip\u2019s business,\u201d says Francis Almeda, Drip Collective\u2019s co-owner. \u201cTheir menu was on point and exactly what our customers wanted, and people missed them (including myself and the staff),\u201d after the residency ended, Almeda adds.<\/p>\n

For Nate Crawford and Justen Lambar, co-founders of breakfast pop-up series Morning Jay\u2019s<\/a>, virality is also embedded in their success story. \u201cSocial media has played a huge role,\u201d says Lambar. \u201cBut if our food wasn\u2019t good, people wouldn\u2019t want to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

And they sure do come back. Since launching Morning Jay\u2019s in mid-2024, the business has gone from an at-home pop-up to a well-known brand with more than 12,000 Instagram followers. \u201cWe asked ourselves, \u2018How do we do this in a non-traditional way?\u2019\u201d Lambar says. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to open a brick-and-mortar, so we thought that because we have friends over all the time to test our recipes, why don\u2019t we just invite people that we know online who we haven\u2019t met in person yet?\u201d<\/p>\n

The project took off. Morning Jay\u2019s typically sells out its at-home pop-ups, dubbed cozy cafes, before they\u2019re even announced to the public. Crawford and Lambar\u2019s Substack subscribers<\/a> get early access to tickets, as well as new menu previews and behind-the-scenes content.<\/p>\n

\u201cBreakfast food lends itself to a lot of innovation,\u201d Lambar says. \u201cRight now, it\u2019s stuck in this era of just adding egg to a dish and calling it breakfast. I think there\u2019s a need for better breakfast right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oftentimes, a restaurant is the goal for fledgling pop-ups, but that\u2019s not necessarily the case for Morning Jay\u2019s. \u201cWe don\u2019t write off the idea of being a brick and mortar,\u201d says Lambar. However, by nature, the Morning Jay\u2019s identity as an online-born, at-home, and nomadic pop-up, at a certain point, is diametrically opposed to a permanent restaurant space. A Morning Jay\u2019s experience starts well before you bite into one of the ube pancakes or loaded tater tots. For most, it starts with an Instagram follow.<\/p>\n

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Morning Jay\u2019s is basically a private breakfast party. Morning Jay\u2019s<\/p>\n

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Morning Jay\u2019s offers early access to pop-up tickets through its Substack. Morning Jay\u2019s<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re making inferences to see how it could become a full-time thing,\u201d Lambar says. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of potential for us right now, especially with our following, but we don\u2019t want this to ever feel like a job. We still want this to be a passion project.\u201d<\/p>\n

The popularity of these pop-ups signals diners\u2019 increasing desire for a comfortable, less buttoned-up experience \u2014 a trend that has reached far beyond the pop-up space. Industry heavyweights are getting in on the action with expanded breakfast menus, coffee-driven beverage programs and investments in daytime cafe concepts.<\/p>\n

Metric Coffee\u2019s new all-day cafe, Milli, made a splashy debut<\/a> in September, Top Chef alum Joe Flamm just opened an all-day concept<\/a> in the West Loop early next year, and Lincoln Square bakery Del Sur has dominated<\/a> daytime with its Filipino-influenced pastries.<\/p>\n

\u201cChicago\u2019s pop-up space is very inclusive,\u201d Lambar says. \u201cIt\u2019s made up of people who love serving food and building community, and who don\u2019t see other pop-ups as competition but instead as collaborators and people who are helping each other out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Case in point: Chubby Boys and Morning Jay\u2019s both called out the other as their favorite Chicago pop-up, in addition to Alexis Rice\u2019s virtual restaurant Funeral Potatoes<\/a> at Moonflower and Jam\u2019s Market & Deli<\/a> (formerly Zelda\u2019s Sandwich Joint), which recently hosted breakfast pop-ups at Reprise Coffee Roasters.<\/p>\n

\u201cPop-ups are great because they circumnavigate a lot of the bureaucratic bullcrap and pitfalls of the restaurant industry,\u201d Lambar adds. \u201cIt\u2019s not only fun to participate in, but it\u2019s also a way of questioning the current power structure of dining.\u201d<\/p>\n