I grab a bottle of yellow mustard and carefully top a warm, salted soft pretzel with squiggles of it at The Pretzel Bakery, a Capitol Hill-based eatery that opened its second location—in Potomac’s Cabin John Village—in April. A first bite takes me back instantly to my early childhood in Philadelphia when my mother, born and raised there, introduced the treat to my siblings and me as a mandatory rite of passage. That combination of carb-y warmth, saltiness, malty sweetness and acid proved to be soul-satisfying.