Ticket To Dining: Soft Pretzel Mania Hits Abington

Soft pretzels always made it feel like endless summer, no matter what time of the year we got to enjoy their crispy-and-salty-on-the-outside, warm-and-doughy-on-the inside flavor. They were like the food of the gods to kids - and to adults who never lost the essential kid inside! So it's no surprise to hear Dan Engler wax eloquent on the subject of pretzels. "I'm from Langhorne," says Engler, "and when I was growing up, it wasn't easy to get pretzels where we lived. So whenever you saw them, your eyes lit up. And it was always the best at Phillies games. All my friends and I would indulge in pretzels." No doubt about it - for many, soft pretzels (held on a par with Philly cheese steaks) are Philadelphia's unique take on comfort food.

Ask any local who has traveled around the country just how good those makeshift Philly pretzels and cheese steaks are in L.A., Orlando or San Antone and they'll tell you, in no uncertain terms, just how disappointing those poor imitations are! Maybe it has something to do with the local water supply. Who knows? But the fact remains that the whole tri-state area has the jones for Philly-style soft pretzels - not their short, squat Bavarian-style counterparts and progenitors, but the long, ribbon-like, salt-topped variety that still warm the most frigid of winter days.

Dan Engler happens to be the manager of the latest Philly Soft Pretzel Factory franchise in Montgomery County. Located on Old York Road in Abington, it's already begun turning sophisticated suburbanites (as well as South Philly transplants like me) into believers. Open since the middle of January, Abington's take on the Philly pretzel experience is already a resounding success.

According to Engler, whose 14-hour days have already been rewarded with long lines of satisfied customers, "We can bake up to 350 pretzels every seven minutes. On the average day, we bake a thousand- to two-thousand pretzels, and during Super Bowl weekend, we doubled that number.

"I think the secret to our success is that we bake pretzels and pretzel products all day long, not just in the morning, so our pretzels are fresh and crisp and warm all day," he said. "My favorite time is in the morning, though. When people come in and buy a whole bunch of pretzels to bring in to work, they're like heroes for the rest of the day! That makes me feel good." Not hard to understand.

The Philly Soft Pretzel Factory originated in 1998 in the Mayfair section of Northeast Philadelphia. According to a statement by co-founders Dan DiZio and Ken Lehman on the company's Web site: "The concept was to bake Philadelphia Soft Pretzels all day so that everyone could enjoy a hot freshly baked Soft Pretzel as they walked through the door. This was a much better idea to those who were so used to buying the sweaty hard pretzels from convenient stores and street corners. Since then, we have opened 80 stores around Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley." In Ticket's basic coverage area, Philly Pretzel Factory stores can also be found in Bryn Mawr, Lansdale, Horsham, Chalfont, Phoenixville, Collegeville and Norristown, with outlets about to open in Conshohocken, Plymouth Meeting and Pottstown. Not bad for a couple of guys who used to stand on the corners of Roosevelt Boulevard as preteens selling pretzels and dreaming of one day opening a store where the general public could just drop in and buy one of their favorite daily treats.

The same can be said of Dan Engler, whose dream came true when, after having had his fill of delivering pretzels as a boy and desiring to open his own pretzel store, discovered the Philly Soft Pretzel Factory plan and became an independent franchisee. "I'm a salt kind of guy. That's one of my weaknesses. I could make a meal of three soft pretzels." Not that Engler will eat only Philly's favorite comfort food each day. But he is proud of the flavor and the consistency of his company's product. The recipe, understandably, is a closely guarded secret. But everyone within tasting distance seems to be enjoying the fruits of that secret.

Engler said that the company is also committed to working with the community, doing charity events for local schools and chambers of commerce. Already, the regular clients at the Abington store range from Abington Memorial Hospital, Abington High School and Bloomingdale's in Willow Grove Park to local wrestling teams, schools and churches - not to mention the "heroes" who come in every week day to brighten their co-workers' mornings.

"And they're so inexpensive," says Engler. True enough. You can buy three soft pretzels for a dollar, 10 for $3, and 50 for $11. A hundred pretzels will cost you only 20 bucks. And the popular minis cost $1.25 for five.

Also available are Pretzel Dogs for $1.50 apiece, Spicy Pretzel Sausage sandwiches for $2 each, and flavorful, long Twists, topped with salt, garlic, poppy seeds, sesame seeds (or all of the above!) for a dollar apiece. Toppings include mustard cups (25 cents) or melted cheese cups (50 cents). Party trays cost $25. Each store also carries sodas, iced tea, juice and water to wash down the salty treat.

Even with my grandmother's (and mother's) great cooking to look forward to each day, soft pretzels were always a highlight of this young boy's mornings. We should count ourselves lucky today to have so many Philly Soft Pretzel outlets right in our own suburban neighborhoods.

Hey, Dan - there's even one in Langhorne! Advertisement Click Here! Philly Soft Pretzel Factory, 1836 Old York Road, Abington, PA 19001 215-657-8077 or www.phillysoftpretzelfactory.com HOURS: Monday - Friday, 6 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Saturday, 7 a.m. - 5 p.m.; & Sunday, 7 a.m. - 4 p.m.

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