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I just make my own at home. It's really easy and not all that time consuming. You can make them any size, any shape, and add as much or as little salt that you want. I agree the street cart food, including pretzels, have been on the decline.
This is a seriously silly, but the horribleness of NYC street pretzels was one of my biggest disappointments when I moved here. It's been over 15 years and I'm still a bit bitter.
I agree that the frozen kind are better than any you will find in the street and they cook in the microwave in seconds. So very sad.
NYC pretzels and NYC hot dogs are nothing special, and in fact never were anything special. NYC is somewhat known for these street food items only due to the QUANTITY of vendors that sell them throughout the city, specifically in Manhattan.
For pretzels, it's Philadelphia. For hot dogs - Chicago. For pizza - still NY, but my recommendation is always to go anywhere except Manhattan for good pizza.
The quality of the street pretzel has diminished so significantly, as I think they are made by one or two factories and sold frozen, in bulk.
For a refreshing pretzel, the German soft variety, check out Sigmund Pretzels at their cafe on the LES or their cart by the steps of the Met. For a good non-street pretzel, I would also try Kossar's as the pretzel offering is not bad, especially considering they are much more famous for the bialy.
For hard pretzels, I like Martin's from the Union Square Greenmarket, which do come from Pennsylvania Dutch County.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
The quality of the street pretzel has diminished so significantly, as I think they are made by one or two factories and sold frozen, in bulk.
For me, it wasn't the quality of the pretzel, but the preparation. The NYC street vendors seem to leave the pretzels on a heat source for hours. At best you get something sort of soggy on the surface and hard on the bottom or just hard as a rock throughout.
NYC pretzels and NYC hot dogs are nothing special, and in fact never were anything special. NYC is somewhat known for these street food items only due to the QUANTITY of vendors that sell them throughout the city, specifically in Manhattan.
For pretzels, it's Philadelphia. For hot dogs - Chicago. For pizza - still NY, but my recommendation is always to go anywhere except Manhattan for good pizza.
Philly soft pretzles are a staple diet to philadelphians and I've been here for more than 10 years and I still can't find anything like it.
There was a thread on the Philly forum about the disappearance of the Pretzel vendors who used to sell bags of 4-5 Pretzels for $1 along the median strips. Like you I am 2000 miles away and only recieve the occaisional care package, luckily they nuke well if you just rub a little water on the surface
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