479° Popcorn

I'm always on a popcorn kick. 

It all started when I visited my parents one summer, and attended the local farmer's market with my mom.  The market was tiny compared to the Ferry Building farmer's market that I'm used to in San Francisco, but, it still left a strong impression.  The produce was fine, but nothing spectacular.  Overall, it seemed pretty forgettable.  And then my mom mentioned that she needed to get her "treat": a lemonade and a bag of popcorn.  She led me to a stand where they were making fresh kettle corn.  It smelt great, but it was just popcorn, how exciting would it really be?  While we waited for her lemonade to be freshly squeezed, I idly took a handful of the fresh popcorn.  It was salty.  It was sweet.  It was totally and completely addicting.  I couldn't stop eating it.

I haven't found kettle corn as good as that stuff anywhere else.  I've tried tons of popcorns, from packaged ones, to microwave ones, to fancy ones sold at the farmer's markets in SF.  None even come close to that popcorn.  The good news is, it freezes wonderfully.  I think I might even prefer it frozen, as it gets a little crunchier.  I may or may not have filled every remaining space in my luggage on my last return trip with popcorn.  And I may have mocked my mom when she overnight mailed me a giant bag of it as a surprise, telling her how ridiculous it was to spend that much money on shipping popcorn.  But secretly, I was thrilled.  If you are wondering, that is Howl'n Good Speciality Popcorn, and you can only find it in the Lebanon, NH area.

Anyway, this review isn't about that popcorn.  This is about 479°, a San Francisco based gourmet popcorn maker.  They are local, but sell it packaged in regular retail locations.  They have some savory and some sweet varieties, with fairly interesting flavors.

I almost liked all of their popcorns, but at the end of the day, they all leave me wanting something more.  Specifically, the popcorn from that tiny farmer's market in New Hampshire ...

Chipotle Caramel + Almonds.

“Rich, dark caramel spiked with chipotle chili + toasted almonds”.

This was sweet and ok, but not all that standout.  My notes said, "Just kinda there. Sweet, slightly spicy aftertaste, but really nothing special.  I really don’t get the chipotle spice at all.  Just kinda sweet popcorn, slight caramel flavor on finish.  There was only one almond in the entire bag.  Eh.  **+.

Vanilla Bean Caramel.

"Light, crunchy caramel popcorn infused with Madagascar vanilla. An indulgent snack with only 110 calories! Gluten Free, Non-GMO, Whole Grain, always air-popped, never fried."

On a recent flight with Virgin America, I saw 479° popcorn offered, skimmed it, and kept on reading my other options as I hadn't loved the 479° popcorn I'd tried before.  But then I backtracked.  Wait, it said "Vanilla Bean Caramel".  That was not the Sea Salt Caramel flavor I had before.  Do they make a second caramel corn now?

The answer?  Yes, they do, but it is an exclusive flavor to Virgin America.  Well, now I had to try it!

It was better than the sea salt caramel.  I could taste the vanilla bean clearly, which added a bit of oomph to the flavor.  The caramel was still very sweet, which I know is what you want with caramel corn, but without the salt to balance it, the result was even sweeter than the Sea Salt Caramel flavor.

The kernels were well coated, and the popcorn light and fresh enough, but overall, it didn't wow me.  Of course, like most popcorn, I immediately wondered how it would be frozen ... ***.

[ Others ]

• Fluer de Sel Caramel: "Sweet, crunchy caramel sprinkled with delicate flakes of sea salt".  Tasting notes:  Almost too sweet?  Not quite awesome.  Not quite a caramel corn, salt not really there enough. [ Way too sweet ]  [ Not actually good, but almost good, so you keep eating it trying to make it be good.  Almost too sweet, too much caramel.]  [ Really too sweet, I want to like this more than I do. ] **+.
• White Cheddar and Black Truffle: "Aged white cheddar drizzled with aromatic black truffle oil."  Tasting notes: Truffle is very subtle, don't really taste it.  Mostly just standard white cheddar popcorn with a bit of earthiness.  Not very good, cheddar very mild, meh. [ Update review: Cheddar too mild, not much truffle, meh ]. **+.
• Ginger Sesame Caramel:  "Ginger-infused crunchy caramel tossed with toasted black sesame seeds".  Tasting notes: sweet and ok, but not all that interesting.  Just like the fleur de sel, almost good but not really.  Lots of caramel, but not very good ginger or sesame flavors.  **+.
• Pimentòn de La Vera: "Smoky Spanish paprika with bursts of ripe organic tomato + onion." Tasting notes: Nice and spicy, liked.  Unique and flavorful.  ***+.
• Vietnamesse Cinnamon Sugar: "Vietnamese cinnamon dusted with crunchy light sugar".  Tasting notes:  flavor too subtle, not very cinnamony or sugary. **+.

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Westernco Donut

Another work trip to the Seattle area, another chance to indulge in local donuts (er, I mean, another great business opportunity to bond with my co-workers ...).  Last time, we had well known Top Pot donuts for our large event.  This time, I had a few other places at the top of my list to try, but alas, none delivered to our office, nor were near enough where the locals lived to stop to pick them up.  One of said locals went to a place they'd never been before either, Westernco Donut.

"Westernco Donut has been in the business of making the finest donuts for over 30 years and counting. We make our donuts the old-fashioned way. We don't try to offer the largest variety of donuts nor do we try to keep up with the latest trends from around the world. Instead, we focus on quality."

Some donut shops are all about their toppings, their innovative wacky flavor combinations, their  accolades.  Westernco Donut is definitely not that.  No bougie donuts here.  Just, simple donuts, done well.   And for the most part, they won me over.  I wouldn't go out of my way for these donuts, but, I enjoyed them.

Assorted Dozen.

Our first box was a lovely assortment of donuts, all fairly interesting, no plain or even simple glazed here.  There was puffy twists and bear claws, very glazed old fashioned (chocolate or vanilla), a filled raised circle (which turned out to have lemon filling), two cake donuts with icing and toppings (white with cocolate, chocolate with sprinkles), and my usual favorites, the apple fritter and cinnamon roll.  Normally, my first grab would be said fritter or cinnamon roll, but the top left two, the stuffed buttermilk bars, drew me in instantly.  They were oozing so much goodness!

Stuffed Glazed Buttermilk Bars. $2.50.

I immediately took half of each of them, one with jelly, one with pudding.  I was thrilled to find that they tasted as good as they looked.  Nicely crispy outside, moist inside, great crunch to the exterior.  Good base flavor.  Plenty of glaze.  The jelly one was goo style jelly, but that totally works in a jelly donut, and it was sweet, fruity, and enjoyable. ****.

The pudding filled buttermilk bar was the same excellent donut base, with vanilla pudding coming out.  Definitely "Snack Pack" style pudding, not a fresh custard, but, again, that works here, just like in a Boston Cream.  You don't need fancy custard. ****.

Vanilla and Chocolate Frosted Old Fashioned. $1.75.

Of course I also tried the ring shaped old fashioneds, after the success of the bar style, both the vanilla and chocolate varieties.  Again, good donut base, lots of glaze.  The chocolate was deep and rich. Both above average, although the coatings were so substantial it made these pretty sweet.  ***+.

The also make these in plain, chocolate based, and maple frosted varieties.

Assorted (baker's) dozen.

Our next box was nearly as interesting.  Here we had maple glazed raised bars, rasied glazed, vanilla sprinkled, and peanut coated rings, a chocolate covered circle one that I assume was filled, and some repeats: another twist and bear claw, another each of the glazed old fashioned (vanilla and chocolate), and another fritter.  This box also had two non-donuts, a chocolate croissant, and, hiding under the top right donut, was some kind of supersized palmier.

I tried a few from here too, once the others had gotten their picks, and many still remained.

They also make french crullers, regular cake or chocolate cake donuts with a variety of toppings, and donut holes, but our assortment didn't have any of those.

Apple Fritter. $2.50.

This was a fine fritter.  Good glaze, nice crags, moist inside, light cinnamon spicing, small bits of apple.  Fairly average, but good average.  ***.

Chocolate croissant. $3.
The chocolate croissant looked a bit lackluster, which I think is why it remained after everyone had their fill, so I gave it a try. It was much better than it looked, fairly flaky, and loaded with really nice chocolate. ***+.

Giant Palmier-thing.

I really don't know what this one was.  Their website doesn't mention anything like it, nor do any reviews I saw.  And I failed to get a close up photo of it.  But it looked much like a palmier, just, huge, in all dimensions, and drizzled with icing.  

It was the only real dud of the bunch.  It was dry, it was messy, and the pastry didn't have any buttery nor redeeming qualities to it.  Just, boring all around and not very fresh tasting.  I gave up on it quickly.  It could perhaps be layered with some cream like a napoleon successfully, but, the others were so much better, and we had so many left over, it wasn't worth the effort to "save" this. **.

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Kiwami Sushi Bar & Sake House

During my recent business trip to the Seattle area, I found myself browsing random places on Door Dash, and one kept catching my eye.  Kiwami Sushi Bar & Sake house, a sushi restaurant, obviously, and one with good ratings.  It wasn't actually the sushi that drew me in however, it was one of their appetizers.  It sounded like a dish from my long ago favorite sushi place in San Francisco (sushi zone), and I couldn't stop thinking about it.

So one night, when I didn't feel like going out, I just got delivery from there.  I only actually ended up ordering one type of nigiri, and otherwise got hot appetizers, as I wasn't really craving sushi itself.  I haven't visited the business myself in person, so I can't comment on that.  They are known for their sake selection, which wasn't available for delivery, so I wasn't able to partake of that either.

In addition to a slew of regular sushi items (rolls, nigiri, sashimi, etc), Kiwami has an extensive cooked food menu, with items like chicken, salmon, or tofu teriyaki, pork or chicken katsu, and ribs for mains.  They also offer udon, poke bowls, yakisoba noodles, and other bowl style dishes.  It was the appetizers though that drew me in, with classics like agadashi tofu, chicken karaage, panko or tempura shrimp, tempura veggies, gyoza, edamame, blistered shisitos,  takoyaki, and more.

I ordered delivery on DoorDash, and had no issues with the delivery.  The food was completely hit or miss however, and I don't think I'd return.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

Sautéed Mushroom. $15.60.

"Shiitake, enoki, oyster mushroom, asparagus sautéed in butter & shoyu. With green leaf lettuce, arugula, ponzu, wonton chips."

Ok, now this is an odd dish, and an odd order on my part (who orders from a sushi restaurant and gets the veggie side?), but, it was actually really good, and the highlight of my meal.

The mushrooms were very well cooked, and a nice mix of "exotic" mushrooms.  Tender, not mushy, no woodsy stems.  Very well prepared.  Flavorful.  The asparagus was also good, but was a pretty minimal element.  The veggies were all cooked in a shoyu and butter sauce, which definitely infused them with all sorts of extra flavor.  Simply put, I'd be happy with just a side of the sauteed veggies, but this dish had a bit more going on.

It was all served over fresh crisp lettuce, sorta like a salad, although the veggies were lightly warm.  There was a lemon slice to drizzle over and add a hit of acidity, and I guess ponzu in the mix too.  It was enjoyable as a salad, or just as a scoop of warm veggies as a side.  It came with 2 wonton chips that were sadly fairly soggy by the time it reached me, due to being packaged with the rest of the dish, so they basically got steamed.  I love wonton chips, and I think these nice big ones would be great to scoop up the mushroom mix, but, alas, delivery definitely detracted here. I did try to add a note to package them separately, but they didn't accept any custom notes.

Overall still a very tasty dish, unexpected, and I'm glad I randomly tossed on to my order.  I nearly didn't order this because it was fairly pricey at $15.60, but, I'd get it again with no hesitation.  ****.

Baked Mussels. $14.40.

"5-piece mussels topped with mayo, garlic, tobiko. Baked, green onion."

Ok, these baked mussels pretty much broke my heart.  I wanted them to be like the ones from Sushi Zone (in SF) that I adored, and I was so so happy to see baked mussels on the menu that sounded similar, but, alas, these were nothing like them.

To start, the mussels themselves just weren't very good.  One had a substantial amount of grit in it.  Two were very, very chewy.  Several had a pretty pungent taste, which made me wonder how fresh they were.  One had a very chipped shell. So, the base mussels, not very impressive.

The topping also wasn't great.  A little creamy, but not much flavor.  The Sushi Zone ones have spicy mayo, and this was just regular mayo and garlic, which I knew, but even so, the mayo somehow didn't really improve these.

Uh, the shredded cabbage they were on was fine?  I really didn't enjoy these at all, and they were pretty pricey for what seemed like not the freshest mussels.  *.

Unagi. $9.60.

"Freshwater Eel."

I opted for just one kind of nigiri, unagi, because I was sorta craving it, and wanted to have some kind of hedge against the mussels, and some decent protein.  It was reasonable unagi, not particularly good nor bad.  Generous size pieces.  Slathered in a bit too much sweet sauce.  The sushi rice held together fine, wasn't dried out.

It came with ginger and wasabi, and soy sauce packets on the side.

Absolutely fine, but nothing special.  Price was reasonable.  ***.

Spicy Mayo, Sweet Sauce. $0.30 each.

I also added a few sauces to my order, just because I could.  They offered a huge lineup of sauces for a totally reasonable $0.30!

The sweet soy was thick, sweet, and pretty standard for sweet soy sauce.  Not needed for the stuff I ordered, but I drizzled it over a crispy shrimp cake the next day and enjoyed it.  ***.

The spicy mayo wasn't particularly spicy, but was creamy, and nice to have for other leftovers as well.  ***.

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The Club, SEA (Concourse A)

What do you do when you are delayed at the Seattle airport?  Particularly if you don't have any status with an airline to get nice lounge access, and are just flying domestic?  If you are me, first you mope around a little, lament your life choices, and then eventually, suck it up and figure out how to pass the time.

If you have Priority Pass, you are in luck, as they have one lounge accessible, dubbed "The Club", in Concourse A, which just happened to be where my flight would eventually take off from.

"The Club SEA lounge offers alive with warm, natural lighting, soft flowing interior lines, inviting social spaces and a range of food and drinks."  

Access is $50 per visit if you don't have Priority Pass or access some other way, and I can't imagine paying that.  Let's just say, this is a pretty lackluster lounge.  The space is drab, the bathrooms were less clean than those in the main terminal, and everyone inside was as grumpy as myself.  That said, it at least entertained me for a few minutes.

Uninspired Seating.

The description of the space refers to "warm, natural lighting" and "inviting social spaces", but what I actually found was a narrow, fairly dark, and very drab space.  It was considerably less pleasant to spend time in than the main terminal actually, and felt rather depressing.  It reminded me more of a doctor's office waiting room than an airport lounge.

There were no power outlets anywhere near the seats.

Lackluster Soda.

The non-water drink options were a coffee maker that actually made decent coffee, and a cooler with Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite.  Very minimal line up.  On the counter was a dispenser with regular water.

I wanted sparkling water, which I could get from the bar "club soda", but the bar was not self service, and was never actually attended by a staff member.  They had a buzzer you could ring to get service, which was ignored more often than not, and it generally took at least 5 minutes just to get someone to fetch me a club soda from behind the bar area.  I believe they also had a few wines and beer, and maybe even spirits, but, again, never attended, and they certainly were not encouraging you to order beverages from them.

Salad Bar. 

The main section of the buffet is a salad bar of sorts.  It had the basics: not very fresh lettuce, mealy tomatoes, broccoli, black olives from a can, minced red onion and peppers, way over dressed cous cous salad (Italian dressing), and additional ranch and Italian dressing and cheese.  I was fairly underwhelmed with all of it.

What I really had my eyes on, and honestly, why I was excited to visit the lounge, was the macaroni salad, which I knew would be on offer.  I adore macaroni salad, cheap deli kinds are often my favorites.  This one certainly looked the part: very dressed, little to no seasoning, not really much to it other than a few small bits of red pepper and maybe some celery.  

I made a base of wilty, limp, and somewhat brown romaine, topped it with the macaroni salad and tomatoes (which I quickly discarded), and sat down to enjoy.  Oh, I added copious amounts of black pepper first, which they did have in packets.  It was ... fine.  Honestly, it didn't taste like much, but at least the pasta wasn't too mushy.

** for most of the lineup, **+ macaroni salad. 

Veggies Re-Stocked.

The big gaping hole in the salad bar turned out to be for veggie sticks, carrots, celery, and bell peppers, which was restocked a bit later. The veggies were fine.  I appreciated having some carrot sticks to munch on later as a healthier alternative to more standard offerings like chips (in fact, they had no chips or pretzels or anything like that).  *** veggie sticks.

Meatballs.

The hot item of the day (and, according to my research, most days) was meatballs.  There were small Hawaiian rolls on the side to make sliders if you wished.

These seemed to be very polarizing for people.  I saw many plates with discarded meatballs on them, but I saw just as many people going back for second servings of them.  I didn't have any, but I suspect you could make a decent little bite with a Hawaiian roll, meatball and sauce, and cheese from the salad bar. 

Lobster Bisque. 

The soup of the day (and again, according to my research, most days) was lobster bisque.  It was relatively warm, and had a sorta seafood-like flavor to it, but was fairly cloying and heavy.  Also woefully under seasoned.  Meh. **. 

Chips, Pita, Salsa, Queso.

Far off on the side, not with the rest of the buffet, was a tortilla chip, salsa, and queso station, with warm cheese sauce, fairly fresh salsa, and pita chips as well.   I added some of the salsa to my salad as a replacement for fresh tomatoes, and drizzled a little queso on top, but kind of wished I hadn't, as I didn't care for the queso.  If you did like it, I suspect it would go nicely on the meatballs too?  **.

Wasabi Peas.

The only real snack item, for those who just wanted to nibble on something salty and crunchy, was wasabi peas.  They were decent, had a bit of kick to them.  Probably my favorite thing in the buffet.  ***.

Desserts.

And finally, desserts.   I was surprised to see it wasn't just cookies, but rather, brownies and carrot cake.  

The carrot cake I actually enjoyed.  The cake was light and fluffy, a bit boring as the carrot shreds were minimal and it didn't have any: pineapple for moisture, raisins for sweetness, nuts for crunch, but, the base was fine.  The frosting was sweet and reasonably cream-cheesy, very creamy.  Not a carrot cake I'd go out of my way for, but it was good enough.  ***.

The brownies were ok.  I liked the big chocolate chunks on them.  Not too dry.  But not particularly deep rich fudgey taste.  Average really.  ***.

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Wetzel's Pretzels

Update Review, June 2023 Visit

Almond Crunch. $6.49.

Meh.

The pretzel just didn't taste very fresh.  It was taken from the display case and dunked in copious almond crunch coating (which I definitely appreciated, although much of it fell off), but I suspect it had been sitting in the case quite a while.  It also seemed sightly over-baked, was fairly dry, not dough and fluffy, and was pretty dark in one area.  It wasn't very buttery.  Solidly, meh.  

The almond crunch coating was good, sweet, crunchy, but, overall, not a good showing by Wetzel's. **+.

Update Review, April 2023 Visit

Another year, another National Pretzel Day!  Of course I went to celebrate with my favorite (free) pretzel at nearby Wetzel's.  I was thrilled that there was essentially no line, and staff seemed friendly despite the "holiday" that they likely weren't especially excited to be taking part of.

Original w/ Butter & Salt.

"Hand rolled, baked fresh, and lightly buttered & salted. Also available in non-buttered."

I managed to score one fresh out of the oven, then promptly freshly dunked in copious amounts of butter and coated in salt to order.  It was basically as good as a generic soft pretzel of this style is going to get.  It was soft and puffy, the base pretzel had a reasonable flavor (American style soft pretzel of course though, not the malty nature of a German pretzel), and the butter was glorious.  Salt made it all pop.

When you get one of these fresh, it really is quite good.  ***+.

Update Review, May 2022 Visit

National Pretzel Day.  Always a fun day for me, as I enjoy making a journey out of claiming my free pretzel at various vendors, which this year included both Auntie Anne's and Wetzel's, co-located in the same mall, just moments away from each other.  I used this opportunity to try something totally different at Wetzel's, and went to Auntie Anne's, my preferred vendor, for my sweet pretzel (which I reviewed last week).  But at Wetzel's, I kept it simple.  Very simple.

Original Pretzel. No Butter, No Salt.

Have you ever had a plain pretzel?  Like, truly plain?  No butter, no salt, just, pretzel?

I ordered one on a day I was mildly curious what Wetzel base pretzels taste like, and when I saw the display pretzels were all really sad looking ... they looked old and dried out.  And, obviously, like their pretzels normally are, buttered.  So I did the "trick" some people do to get fresh fries at McDonald's by ordering without salt, and asked for an original pretzel, no butter.  I was told there would be a slight wait, which I anticipated, and had no problem with.

It was nice to get a pretzel hot and fresh out of the oven.  It was warm, doughy, and far less crispy/dried out as they can be from sitting under the heat lamps.  It was also, um, very boring.  I knew butter added goodness to it, but, wow, I didn't realize just how plain the base is without it.  No malty, wheaty taste, no ... anything really.  Just some warm, fluffy dough.  It needed far more than mustard to make it interesting.

I actually just brought it home, reheated it up (I know, defeating the purpose of having it fresh!), and dunked half in cheese sauce (yum!) and did the other half covered in cinnamon roll glaze I had left over, and the non-buttered base made it a perfect vehicle for both sweet and savory toppings.  If you plan to bring your pretzel home to use for something else, I recommend this no butter approach, but if you want something to enjoy on the spot, unless you are getting interesting dip, go for the buttery goodness.  Butter is a good thing.

**+.

Update Review, November/December 2021 Visits

Nearly two years in to the pandemic, and my regular mall soft pretzel place, Auntie Anne's, was still closed.  So even though I didn't love Wetzel's Pretzel's my first visit, I decided to try a few more times, this time getting more decadent coated options.

The good news is that I found one I do like, but, I like to have whipped cream to dunk it in, and I like it warm ... and Wetzel's never seem particularly warm nor fresh.

Sinful Cinnamon. $5.79.

"A whole pretzel baked fresh and tossed with cinnamon sugar. Sweet!"

Since the regular pretzel I had last time was a bit boring, I decided to go for a sweet, dessert-like pretzel.  My choices were cinnamon sugar or almond crunch.  I opted for the former, sorta craving a churro at the time.  I went for a full size pretzel, known as the "Sinful Cinammon".  When served in smaller bite form, the cinnamon sugar bites are known as "Cin-A-Bitz".

My pretzel was tossed in cinnamon sugar to order, but the pretzel itself was a plain buttered pretzel plucked from the display.  It was lukewarm, kinda hard, and I don't think was particularly fresh.  

When I tried the Original pretzel, I found it didn't have much base flavor, so this was an improvement over that, in that the sugar and cinnamon coating was generous, and it did add flavor and sweetness.  I found myself still wanting something to dunk in it, or icing, or just ... something.

So overall kinda lackluster, and at $5.79, it just felt expensive for a mediocre item (cinnamon sugar is $0.50 more than plain pretzel).

**+.   It was much better when I brought it home, heated it up, and dunked into whipped cream.  ***.

Almond Crunch. $5.79.

"Make it nutty! A fresh baked Wetzel's Pretzel topped with our sweet and salty almond crunch."

I still have yet to find a Wetzel's pretzel that makes me as happy as I want it to, so for my next selection, I went for the most decadent of the sweet options, the almond crunch.  Much like the Soulful Cinnamon, it was coated in the crunch coat to order, but was otherwise was a plain buttered pretzel plucked from the display.

This was the best pretzel I had so far, but, it still let me down.  The pretzel was both hard and soft, was lukewarm, and clearly was not fresh.  Sigh.  The base flavor was again fairly boring, although it was heavily buttered.

The coating was good though, and very generously applied.  I was impressed with how well the coating stuck to the exterior.  That said, it in no way tasted like almond, and there were no bits of almond identifiable.  "Sugary crunch" seemed more accurate than "almond crunch".

This pretzel was sweet enough, and decadent enough, to be close to a dessert, which is what I was looking for, but it really still needed either caramel to dip into, or whipped cream, or something.  Although, at 596 calories, it didn't "need" it from that aspect ...

Like the Sinful Cinnamon, this pretzel was $0.50 more for the coating.

*** as served, but again, once I brought the other half home, heated it up, and dunked into whipped cream, it took it up a notch, ***+.

Almond Crunch. $5.79.

"Make it nutty! A fresh baked Wetzel's Pretzel topped with our sweet and salty almond crunch."

I had a free pretzel coupon to use a few months later, and since the almond crunch was the best I had so far, I went for it again.  It came out looking like a pretzel from a totally different place, way less coating on it.  I also was able to watch it being made, and saw a regular, unsalted pretzel was plucked from the case, dunked into liquid hot butter, and then put into the crunch coating.  I wonder if you can ask for one salted, or one without butter?

Anyway, this version actually had larger bits of crunch coating, and seemed crunchier than the previous one, even though that one had so much more coating on it.  I think I liked it a bit more, but I also knew what to expect at this point - warm dough, not what I think of as a pretzel, very buttery, slightly sweet coating.  It still needs a caramel or icing dip, or whipped cream and ice cream, or something to complete it for me.

*** as served, ***+ once I added my own ice cream this time.

Jalaroni Twist. $6.29.

"Fresh baked cheese pretzel topped with pepperoni slices and big, juicy slices of jalapeño."

And finally, I went savory.  And rather all out, if you are thinking of a stop at a pretzel place as a "snack".

I'm not really sure this should be considered a pretzel at this point.  Yes, I think it is the same base dough that Wetzel's uses for all their pretzels, and yes it was vaguely pretzel shaped, but ... it really didn't remind me of a pretzel in any way.

But let me back up.  In the savory, cheesy department, Wetzel's has several offerings, all dubbed "Twists", starting with the simple "Cheese Meltdown", which, the best I can tell is just cheesy bread (using their 3 cheese blend), then they have jalapeño or pepperoni versions, and this, the "Jalaroni" which has both.  All are cheesy, and, although they look like pizza, none have pizza sauce (although you can purchase marinara dip separately).  Hence, my evaluation of basically cheesy bread vaguely shaped like a pretzel, more like what you find at a pizza place, just, shaped like pretzels instead of breadsticks.

So how was it?  Well, like all my pretzels from Wetzels, not exactly hot and fresh.  Lukewarm.  Sigh.  Auntie Anne's really does a much better job with freshness.  The base dough used by Wetzels never strikes me as very pretzel-y, not like Bavarian style soft pretzels, which drives me crazy when having a plain pretzel, but works better here.  The very generic dough makes a decent enough base for cheesy bread, but, besides the shape, I wouldn't say it was any different than very generic pizza place cheesy breadsticks.  The jalapeño did add little pops of spice, and the pepperoni made it kinda taste like pizza in a traditional sense, and made it a bit greasier, but still ... just pretzel shaped cheesy bread.  

I think with marinara sauce dip it likely could serve as a pizza replacement, but, at 600 calories per pretzel, uh, why not just get real pizza?  It really isn't a "snack" like this.

Overall, glad to try it, but, eh.

**+.

Original Review, May 2021

Mmm, soft pretzels.  Such classic mall food court food.  Or, well, I suppose the classic setting is sporting events or street vendors selling reheated Superpretzels (which, don't get me wrong, can be quite tasty!), but I'm talking about fresh soft pretzels, usually made right there in front of you, the aroma irresistible, with a bunch of fun dips to pick from.  Like my usual goto, Auntie Anne's.  

Wetzel's has been around since 1994, but I don't think I ever saw them before ... 2015 or so?  Not the common brand where I grew up, and a late comer compared to Auntie Anne's.  They have franchises all over the US, and a few internationally.

Much like Auntie Anne's, pretzels come in "original" (salted with butter), "soulful cinnamon" (cinnamon & sugar), sour cream & onion, and sweet almond crunch.

They also make a slew of pretzels with cheese baked in (some with pepperoni, jalapeno, etc too), smaller "bitz" - nope, not "bites", "bitz", and of course, crowd favorites, pretzel dogs (in several varieties).  Standard soft pretzel shop dips are offered (savory options like cheese or pizza sauce, sweet ones like caramel or icing glaze), and a few fountain drinks like classic lemonade.

Wetzel's Stand at the mall.

Whenever I've walked by Wetzel's, I've seen it as "the other" pretzel place in the mall.  Auntie Anne's was always my goto for a soft pretzel, and they had a "real" storefront, whereas Wetzel's just has a little kiosk in the middle of the hall.  Plus, Auntie Anne's was open for years before Wetzel's joined the lineup.

But Auntie Anne's closed during COVID, and didn't reopen.  Wetzel's did.  Plus, really, how do you resist the aroma of a fresh baked pretzel?  Even with my mask on, I couldn't resist the smell.

Pretzel Making.

Since the kiosk has no separate kitchen, all prep is done right in front of customers.  I felt a bit bad watching with such fascination, much like watching a pizza dough being tossed, but it was really amazing to watch the pretzel dough be rolled out, shaped into a pretzel with the flick of a wrist, and laid out.  The next one was done before I could blink.

Another staff member took the formed pretzels, dipped them in a solution, and put on baking tray.

From there, they went into the oven, where they baked until timer went off, then were rotated 180*, baked again until timer went off, then were moved down to a different rack, and a new batch put in.  One more baking, one more rotation, and they were done.

Clearly a *very* well controlled baking experience.

Bag.

I had to laugh at the message on the bag: "Moderation has a time and place. This isn't it".

<3.

Original with Butter & Salt. $4.89.

"Hand rolled, baked fresh, and lightly buttered & salted. Also available in non-buttered."

For my first pretzel from Wetzel's, I went simple: original.  But yes, of course I got butter and salt.

My pretzel was hot and fresh.  As fresh as can be, literally, we had to wait for them to come out of the oven.  And then to cool a little before they'd hand over.

I was given the option of salted or not, and clearly went for salted, the salt was applied to order, along with being dipped in fresh butter.

It was hot.  It was fresh.  It was glistening with butter.  Salted just enough to really have salt in every bite, but not excessive.  Fairly evenly applied.  All great things.

The pretzel had a lovely chew to it, a bit chewy on the outside, but very soft inside.  Really, just perfectly cooked.

But I'm not raving about it.  Every aspect of the execution was spot on.  It just didn't ... taste like much?  Butter and salt, sure.  But the base pretzel was really lacking in any depth.

I had a packet of mustard in my bag, so I dunked some in there, and it worked, but this really screamed out for something more like warm cheese dip, or even an icing.  Maybe cinnamon/sugar?

So, execution wise?  ****+, but actual satisfaction?  **+.  Overall ... ***.

The $4.89 price seemed high for a pretzel too.

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