A grown up twist on lunch

In high school – my high school at least – most students’ lunch of choice was a soft pretzel… In high school – my high school at least – most students’ lunch of choice was a soft pretzel and a soft drink. If my parents knew that my daily lunch money was going to a soft pretzel and a bottle of water – carbonation wasn’t my thing – they wouldn’t have been happy with me. I can hear my dad asking, “How are you going to function at softball/cheerleading/gymnastics practice after school with just a pretzel in your stomach?” Or my mom, who isn’t a poster mom for nutritionally balanced meals, saying, “I would rather pack you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

But the pretzel is back, and it’s not such a bad lunch after all.

Ironically, when you walk into the small South Side Pretzel Shop, it isn’t the smell of fresh-baked pretzels that overwhelms your senses; it’s the smell of freshly baked cookies and pastries. The case to the right of the door contains cookies, blueberry muffins, brownies and other sweets perfect for dessert or a midday snack.

A sliced pretzel serves as the bread for sandwiches, including ham and cheese, turkey and cheese, pastrami, and sausage. These and other daily selections can be heated if you prefer. The turkey and cheese was excellent, despite its only ingredients being turkey, cheese and a pretzel. I normally prefer lettuce and onion on my deli sandwiches, for extra flavor. It didn’t matter here, though. I could tell that my turkey and cheese was made when the pretzels first came out of the oven, even though it was served cold. The cheese had melted and oozed through the holes in the pretzel, solidifying in little, cheesy orbs on the bottom of the sandwich. The flavor of the soft pretzel came through, and perhaps it was that flavor that made me forget about my lack of lettuce and onion.

Also on the frugal menu are pizzas, where, you guessed it, a sliced pretzel serves as the crust. Traditional pizza – marinara, cheese and pepperoni – is served hot. The veggie pizza is served cold, and worth every penny of the 100 that it costs. Start with a pretzel base, add a cream cheese ranch spread, then top it off with green peppers, red onion, carrots, broccoli, black olives and cheddar cheese. What was pleasant about this pizza was that the broccoli wasn’t served in larger chunks with the stalk and all. Rather, the broccoli, like the carrots, peppers, cheese and onions, was shredded. The olives weren’t shredded, but sliced, and, for this picky eater, that was just fine, because the bites that contained olives weren’t inundated with salty, olive flavor.

And you simply must grab a regular soft pretzel. They come in small, medium and large, and either salted and unsalted. Choose from nacho cheese, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, honey mustard and ranch, for dipping. I couldn’t make up my mind, so I opted for both honey mustard and cheddar cheese. One bite of the golden-brown, baked dough dipped in honey mustard conjured up a problem – it was so good that I didn’t want to stray. After forcing myself to, I realized there wasn’t a problem, after all, since the cheddar cheese dip was cold and bland.

This is the perfect place for a Pitt student to grab a quick lunch or snack. It’s just on the other side of the Birmingham Bridge and, even with the purchase of a drink, you will have a hard time spending more than four dollars.