Maria Vassett | CHOW BELLA | t Café Tying the Knot Twisted and Delicious: The Salted Knot fills a pretzel-shaped hole in metro Phoenix. BY AMY YOUNG W hile many folks were busy carving flowers into focaccia and crafting sourdough starters during the pandemic, Maria Vassett and Chad Day had other plans for their flour: hot pretzels. Their first attempt was good, Vassett says, but not perfect. “We tried one recipe, and that wasn’t it, so we tried changing some things, and we didn’t like the results as much as the first round, so we started mess- ing around with the first recipe, adding and subtracting, until we got it just right.” Once Vassett and Day finalized their secret recipe, they decided to give the pretzels out to friends and neighbors — and the response was tremendous. As people tore into the taut, crusty exteriors and reached the soft insides, they told the pair that they absolutely had to start selling the knots. The two bakers have day jobs — Vassett in the behavioral health field, and Day at the writing center at Mesa Community College, where he taught English for years. In addition, Vassett is an acclaimed concert photographer for outlets from Phoenix New Times to Rolling Stone who watched as live-music events ground to a halt. The adventurous couple, who just celebrated their fourteenth anniversary, enjoy a multi- Maria Vassett faceted life, so they jumped on the idea of a side hustle. When people suggested that she and Day sell their pretzels, they thought, “Let’s try it. What’s the worst that can happen?” They got all their licensing in place and turned their kitchen into pretzel central. They came up with a name, The Salted Knot, and used social media to let people know what they had to offer and how to order and pick up the handcrafted treats. Day became a one-person baking machine, and Vassett handled the orders, strategically scheduling baking times with pick-ups so that each customer received hot, fresh, buttered and salted pretzels right from the oven. The response was more than they could have hoped for. “People were spreading the word. We couldn’t believe how many peo- ple kept coming back and telling us how wonderful the pretzels were. It was excit- ing and motivating,” Vassett says. The menu includes hearty-sized savory knots and individual buttered and salted bites. There are sweet knots and bites, too, topped with butter, sugar, and cinnamon. And if explosions are your thing, >> p 30 Above: The Curbside Special. Below: The Salted Knot’s Chad Day and Maria Vassett. 29 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES FEB 24TH– MARCH 2ND, 2022
