Pretzels are taking over the world. Sonic has a pretzel bun for hot dogs. Dunkin Donuts has a pretzel roll for a sandwich.
I’m waiting for:
Pretzel bites in salad
Pretzel chips for chili
Pretzel shells for tacos
What else can we come up with?
(Note to Mods, Admins, and the NSA - I guess this could live in IMHO as well. I put it here because, well, food.)
Don’t forget Wendy’s with their bacon cheeseburger in a pretzel bun.
Interesting to see these hitting the chains–they’ve been around for awhile (pretty sure Costco’s been selling them for a couple of years at least, and they’ve been at burger places here for I’m guessing at least 10 years), but I wonder why it’s only now they’re finally hitting the chains.
I knew there was another one I was forgetting. Thanks.
How about a Strawberry Shortpretzel?
There *are *pretzel chips, and they’re quite good.
I for one welcome our new pretzel overlords.
Now that my ice cream place has pretzel cones, I’ve been going there way more. Too good.
This is a pretzel town, pretty boy.
Better than potato chips I think.
Word on the street is that Wendy’s pretzel bun is selling incredibly well. This will lead to many other chains following suit, and as noted already has.
When I was a kid—this would have been sometime in the mid-90s—Mom liked to go to Bennigan’s for drinks, and she’d bring me along. My preferred Bennigan’s meal was the kid’s cheeseburger, which was served on a pretzel bun. It was quite good. Not sure why that idea took twenty years to be adopted elsewhere.
Also: These pretzels are making me thirsty.
You mean you haven’t gotten the patriotic pretzels, which are shaped like the flag and the liberty bell? Why do you hate America?
Ah. I knew I had seen these somewhere before the 2000s.
To combine the last food fad to take over with the new one, I give you:
Because pretzel breads are the new avocado, which was the new bacon, which was the new chipotle.
OK, there’s probably a few steps on the chain there that I’ve omitted, but it’s clear that once a supplier has a product, it pimps it to all the chains at once. Probably there’s a supply and demand thing going on whereby it’s not affordable until everyone’s trying it at once.
So someone just got a sweet bonus for signing multiple accounts to pretzel products.
I ain’t gonna whine.
It’d be fun to play guess the next fast food chain trend. Pretzel rolls were quasi-ubiquitous in the mid-late 2000s, but didn’t really hit the chains until now. What’s the next craze? I’m surprised Sriracha hasn’t made it yet. That would have been my bet for the last five years or so, but, while popular, it hasn’t really the national fast food chains (unless I missed something.) But maybe we’ve done the hot pepper thing with chipotle and it’ll take awhile to cycle back to peppers to being the mass popular ingredient du jour.
While not a huge chain, Brueggers Bagels which has over 300 locations from Boston to LA has a Sriracha bagel sandwich on their menu. I have one for breakfast about once a week. I agree that this does seem to be a good candidate as the next big thing to hit at one of the bigger national chains.
There was even a mention in an episode of “Orange is the New Black” where a prisoner was petitioning the warden for “that rooster sauce.”
I’ve been seeing pretzel bits in salads for decades now. Or at least on salad bars; I haven’t yet seen any pre-made salads with them. They’re usually over on the end near the croutons, bacon bits, crunchy noodles, and sunflower seeds.
When did this pretzel bread fad start?
They have Hot Pockets with pretzel bread, and have been seeing the ads for the other products listed above.
Not that they are horrible, but they sort of remind me of European snack shops that had chewy breads when trying to make an American style hamburger.
On my one and only visit to Hawaii, thanks to a tip here on the SDMB, I went to Teddy’s Bigger Burgers - a fantastic burger chain there!
They used the Hawaiian bread - somewhat sweeter than normal bread with a slightly chewier texture that was PERFECT for those burgers. Wonder when the Hawaiian bread fad will start…
It’s too sweet for my tastes, but I know I’ve seen King’s Hawaiian on some fast food sandwich. Let me see if I can dig it up. I might be thinking of Arby’s.
I think my favorite overall bun is a Martin’s potato roll (although those also tend a little sweet) or just a plain ol’ cheapie white bread bun.
Ben & Jerry’s has been selling “Chubby Hubby” ice cream, which contains pretzels, for a few years now.
Pretzel crisps are pretty good with hummus.