Dayton’s tastiest, most unique pretzel creations

There’s just something about a soft pretzel— especially on days like today, April 26, National Pretzel Day.

Here are some of the best soft pretzels (some with a side of hot melty cheese or spicy mustard) to help you soak up that beer or cure your munchies.

These pretzels have something a little special and uniquely Dayton:

1. Smales

When you think of pretzels and Dayton, Smales is the first place that comes to mind.

Smales has been a Dayton tradition since 1906.

Emma Smales is now the fifth generation in her family to own the bakery famous for its simply delicious hand-twisted soft pretzels and hard pretzels.

Smales soft pretzels are available single, by the half dozen, dozen 1.5 dozen, 2 dozen or frozen. Hard pretzels come in bags of 25. View the full menu here.

About Smales

Family owned and operated for over 100 years.

The bakery began with German-born Rudie Schaaf opening Gem City Pretzel on Warren Street in 1906, not long after he arrived in Dayton as a boy in 1895. The shop’s current location at 210 Xenia Ave. dates to 1926 when his daughter, Emma, moved it there and renamed it.

Smales' history twists into the city’s at every turn. A stand operated in the old downtown Arcade for years. Armloads of pretzels were ferried to neighborhood groceries and found their way into the hands of generations of school kids.

Currently owned and operated by Emma Smales, Schaaf's great-great granddaughter.

Want to go?

210 Xenia Ave. Dayton | Facebook

2. Carillon Brewing Co.

Credit: Lisa Powell

Credit: Lisa Powell

Carillon Brewing recently unveiled some new menu items that include the Carillon Brewers Sample ($13.95). A large Bavarian-style soft pretzel is topped with a colorful array of assorted cheeses, slices of the restaurant’s wursts (sausages such as mettwurst and bratwurst), cornichons, pickled beets (roasted and pickled in-house), all served with two mustards and beer cheese ($13.95).

>> Carillon Brewing adds new menu items inspired by 19th century

Want to go?

1000 Carillon Blvd., Dayton | Website

3. Oregon Express

Credit: Photo: Amelia Robinson

Credit: Photo: Amelia Robinson

Oregon Express is probably best known for its square-cut, Dayton style pizzas. But it also has a pretzel snack with a unique twist.

OE offers tasty pretzels with baked-on Swiss cheese and honey mustard dipping sauce. The pretzels themselves are salty, chewy and have just the right amount of crunch. The baked on cheese has a Parmesan-crisp quality and adds the oil a great bar snack needs. You can have them with marinara dipping sauce if you don’t like mustard.

>> New twist on classic snack at Oregon Express

Want to go?

336 E. Fifth St., Dayton | Website | Facebook

4. Beavercreek Pizza Dive

Yes, this is another pizza joint that serves up an incredible pretzel. In this case, have your pretzel for dessert in the form of tasty cinnamon sugar pretzels.

Like their pizzas, Beavercreek Pizza Dive starts with fresh dough made in house. Each pretzel — both regular and dessert varieties — is hand made and dipped in a wash of secret ingredients before baking. The dessert pretzels are then dipped in real butter before being covered with liberal amounts of cinnamon and sugar. But it doesn’t end there, because each pretzel is accompanied with a sinfully decadent and rich cream cheese frosting.

>> Try this buttery, sugary dessert at Beavercreek pizza joint

Want to go?

4021 Dayton Xenia Rd, Beavercreek | beavercreekpizza.com | Facebook

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