By DCist Contributor Josh Kramer

Who needs a cellphone camera when you have a pen and paper? Drawn to Flavor highlights local dishes and drinks in vivid watercolor. In these posts, Illustrator and journalist Josh Kramer tries to honor all the energy and creativity that goes into making food beautiful and delicious.

Food can be so subjective. For instance, I know that I really enjoy the pretzels at The Pretzel Bakery near Eastern Market (340 15th Street SE, though the shop will be relocating down the street later this month). But is that because these are some of the best pretzels I’ve ever had, or more that I just really love pretzels? Little of column A, little of column B, etc.

What’s more, these are my favorite kind of pretzels. They’re “Philly-style,” resembling pretzels made by the Pennsylvania Dutch or Amish. Lightly buttery and roll-like, Pretzel Bakery pretzels are better than frozen grocery store soft pretzels by several orders of magnitude. (Although, full disclosure, I have a jumbo bag of those in my freezer right now. Did I mention I love pretzels?) Making these in small batches by hand really seems to make the difference.

The three main kinds are salted, sweet (with a cinnamon glaze), and everything (poppy, sesame, garlic, onion, and salt). You can buy different to-go toppings from caramel mustard to cream cheese. They’ve also got breakfast rolls in the morning and Nutella-filled pretzel “bombs.”

This dutch-door mini storefront is perfect to visit when the weather’s nice or when you’re even remotely in the area. Sit and eat on the patio (the new location will have more space to eat in) or take a bag to go. There’s something so appealing about a place that only does one thing and does it perfectly and for a reasonable price.