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Pop-Tarts Sushi on Menu at New Times Square Store

By DNAinfo Staff on August 10, 2010 7:07am

By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MIDTOWN — You’ve never eaten a Pop-Tart like this.

Pop-Tarts sushi, S'mores, cookies and cobblers will be making their highly anticipated debut Tuesday as the first-ever Pop-Tarts World store and café opens its doors in Times Square.

The 3,000 square-foot breakfast pastry emporium on West 42nd Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway is set to open its doors at 8:30 a.m., giving eager aficionados their first taste of the store devoted to the sugary creations.

The Pop-Tarts café inside the store offers an array of offbeat creations inspired by the breakfast mainstay, including Pop-Tarts Sushi, made from three kinds of Pop-Tarts that are minced together and then wrapped in fruit roll-ups, and Ants on a Log, which crumbles Frosted Grape Pop-Tarts on peanut butter and celery sticks.

For traditionalists, plain pop tarts of every flavor are also available frozen, at room temperature or toasted.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Freddie Wilson, 13, of England, as he waited for an automated "Varietizer" to custom-fill a box of pop tarts with his favorite flavors.

At a sneak-peak preview Monday evening, the store was full of kids playing games and designing t-shirts, and parents who munched on the colorful treats.

Jaden Shin, 5, and his little sister, Elly, were both entranced by the giant digital vending machine and watched excitedly as it fetched their flavors.

"They're having a great time," said dad Peter Shin, 41, who lives in Kips Bay.

Mom Joanne Shin, 35, said the family will return to the store, despite her concerns about making Pop-Tarts a dietary staple in her home.

"I'm not so sure about the food because it's mostly sugar, but they're just enamored by the machine and the games," she said.

And while some had seemed skeptical when news of the store first broke, others couldn't wait for the store to open.

"I want to go inside!" Eliseo Lascurian, 7, complained to his mom, Betty-Jo, 40, as the family, visiting from Connecticut, passed by.

"It's fun. It's something different," Betty-Jo said.

Mallory Taylor, 25, who lives in Spanish Harlem, said she usually steers clear of Times Square because of the tourist-centric stores. But in this case, she said, she was happy to make an exception.

"This is amazing, this is Pop-Tarts. This is breakfast," Taylor said, peering through the store window. "Here they're going to make you something. I love that."

The themed sugar house also offers interactive merchandise, including the "Varietizer," which allows customers to create their own $12 variety boxes by mixing and matching the brand's 23 flavors, as well as a t-shirt customization station, where they can design their own branded t-shirts for $20.

Every hour on the hour, a light show plays that is meant to make customers feel like they're being given a "virtual frosting" and being wrapped in foil.

The new Pop-Tarts store is the latest food-themed attraction to come to Times Square, joining the Hershey's and M&M's stores nearby.