Auntie Anne's

In a word: I mean, it's no Hot Sam.

The specs: #00786  
9 West Towne Mall, Madison 53719
Official web site, Facebook, Twitter

JM ate the #3 combo: a pretzel dog with cheese sauce and a cherry limeade Icee.
Nichole ate the sesame pretzel.
We split some pretzel bites.
The bill was $12, or $6/person, plus tip.
JM gave Auntie Anne's a C; Nichole gave Auntie Anne's a C+ (see our grading rubric).

Auntie Anne's is a mall pretzel chain, and as such, does a good job reeling in the snack seekers. They serve up Brezeln that are better than SuperPretzels, which combine overtanned crusts with mealy crumbs to make a big fat gut guilt bomb. Auntie's offerings are crisper & saltier than that, plus there are some tasty variations like pepperoni and cheese and stuff.

We got a sesame pretzel, a pretzel dog, and some pretzel bites. The sesame pretzel had some salt mixed in with solid coat of seeds. The pretzel dog was a hearty weenie wrapped in pretzel dough, and the pretzel bites were the butteriest of the bunch. The cherry limeade Icee was indeed great as great as advertised.

We gotta confess that the highlight of the meal was the championship mustards that we brought in ourselves. The Maille Honey Dijon and 2012's International Champion, 3 Monkeys Sweet & Hot, made the snack into a meal. That said, Auntie Anne's was short on certain items at what could only be called dinner rush. Maybe their dinner rush is when Madison Memorial students congregate after school to drop fives and tens on calorie-laden sweet and salty snacks rather than say, meal time.  Indeed, Auntie Anne's isn't even in the food court.

Aside: their logo features angelic haloed pretzels which begs the question: "Are these pretzels dead?"

Comments

[Jeff]

To be fair, Auntie Anne's aren't in food courts because they are autonomous units for mid-mall snacking. /Mallrats

I'm a fan of Auntie Anne's because I stick with what they do well, namely lemonade and their classic pretzel. Pretzel dogs have never appealed to me, despite combining two things that I love.

[Tom Lappin]

PRETZELS? MALL PRETZELS? IS THIS THE BEST YOU CAN DO? THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A FOOD BLOG RIGHT? AND THE BEST YOU CAN DO IS TALK ABOUT MALL FOOD? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF.

[MonkeyKing]

I agree - Hot Sam was more satisfying. I think Auntie annies are not using a lye dip, and perhaps the fat is butter, not lard?
They don`t hold up to real brezeln, but the tons of salt and area 51 butter dip ( a relative of the pappa jon`s garlic butter?) reel them in.

[Rob Fontella]

Hey, Food Court or not, mall or not, wherever it happens good cooking can be found. A friend of mine it cracking the code, right now, on how to make these pretzels at home and he tipped me to your review. Thanks!