New restaurants have recently opened in West Lafayette, all of which sell snack foods. Like most, Salt and Pepa are avid snackers, and we took it upon ourselves to check out these new eateries.

Ben’s Pretzel’s on the Levy fails to impress. Photo by Paige Jackson

Ben’s Pretzels, next to Game Stop on the Levy, is a new commodity. We have not had any pretzel stores here, as memory serves. Sadly, the store fails to impress even without any competition to compare it with. One jumbo pretzel is $3.29, and is flaky with a sparing egg wash (egg mixture painted on a bread or pastry to provide a gloss and crunch.)

Anyone who has had even the worst of soft pretzels (a.k.a. anyone who has bought one from the school concession stand) knows that good pretzels are fully eggwashed and have a soft, breadlike texture, not pastry-like.

While the hours are nice (they open at 8 and stay open until 9 or 10 pm), they are overpriced and underwhelming.

Baked! is a new cookie shop on campus close to Von’s and the wide variety of restaurants already on Chauncey Hill. This gives it a perfect location, being close to campus and other meal-based restaurants. Who doesn’t want a couple of warm cookies after a delicious meal?

At Baked!, customers are given complete freedom with the contents of their cookies.

“I liked that it gives you so many options to choose from,” said Victoria Glotzbach ’14.

Baked! next to Mad Mushroom Pizza is originally from Bloomington. Photo by Paige Jackson

Customers can choose between seven different flavors of cookie dough including sugar, chocolate, oatmeal, peanut butter, and vegan and gluten free.

Next, they can choose “fixins,” which include M&Ms, Reese’s Pieces, Oreos, Pretzels, peanuts, mint thins, and many others. Of these, customers can add as many as wanted, but it is only recommended that five be added to a singular batch.

Last, “afterbakes” are added on top of the cookie. These include caramel, chocolate and vanilla frosting, and honey.

Prices can be a bit high for the average cookie, but the freedom to customize your order is worth it. For three cookies, it costs $5.75, and for 6 cookies, it costs $7.75.  They also offer “orphan cookies” for $1, which are the leftover cookies from previous orders.

“The cookies were really fresh. They made them right in front of me,” said Glotzbach. “Also, the decor was all takeout boxes that had been colored on by the customers. It was funny and kind of cool so see all the different kinds of people who have eaten there.”

Keep on your toes, West Side students. With Purdue around the corner, there is always new and novel eateries that are popping up close to home, so make sure you keep your eyes peeled for any hip new restaurants that might have recently opened.