LA Ice Cream Adventures Part 1: Salt & Straw
Yes, Dearest Readers, you read that correctly. I got the opportunity to go to SALT AND STRAW. After my California fieldwork I hung out in LA for a couple of days with my friends Katy and Kylie. Our plan for day 1 was to wander around Venice Beach and then get ice cream. My friend Kylie has a whole LA bucket list, but didn't have Salt and Straw on it. After checking the Venice Beach ice cream offerings and seeing that Salt and Straw was in the area, we put it on her list and immediately got to check it off.
Salt and Straw (for all you ice cream n00bs) is THE original hipster ice cream spot, doing wacky flavors way before it was cool. No surprise, Salt and Straw started in Portland, OR and now has a handful of locations in Portland and LA. Lots of ice cream bloggers have gotten on the Salt and Straw train and ordered their pints, but I'm still a broke graduate student and don't always have $65 + shipping to drop on 5 pints. So I was super excited for this opportunity to try some S&S without shipping costs! I knew I had to make the most of it.
As the three of us sampled flavors, I was doing mental math looking at the menu. What was the best way to try as many flavors as possible? The more I looked at it, the more the tasting flight called my name. I asked the woman serving us how many flavors came in the tasting flight. She told me four flavors of their smallest scoop for $11.50. So I ordered it. All for myself. Go big or go home! (Yes this is kind of a rip off since a pint is $10.50, but I couldn't resist!)
Last note before I talk about the ice cream, two women waiting to get in line were asking me about the tasting flight, like how much it cost, what flavors you can get, etc. As we finished talking, one woman asked me, quite pejoratively, "How are you going to make it through all that?" I didn't have a come back ready right then, but now I say to her, like a boss, that's how!
The first flavor I got that I'll describe is Roasted Strawberries & Toasted White Chocolate. I have never had roasted strawberries before or toasted white chocolate and I kind of expected a smokey or charcoly flavor or something. But this didn't have any of that. Instead the flavor of the strawberries was very intense, but only sweet and fruity, no tartness. So I think the roasting just intensifies and sweetens the strawberry flavor. These were also the juiciest and biggest strawberry chunks I've ever found in ice cream. The white chocolate base was also great. White chocolate's mellowness allowed the strawberries to stand out, but the flavor of the chocolate was still intense! All in all š¦š¦š¦.5/4 cones, which I am going to say means, I would stock my freezer with this if I had unlimited $$. Classic flavors dressed up in their finest!
The next flavor I'll tell you about is California Avocado & Cardamom with Fermented Carrot Custard. Okay yes, there is a lot going on in this flavor. First, it is part of their June series of flavors, which is fermentation themed. The base avocado flavor was very mild. You got a bit of the nutty avocado flavor at the front of the palette and a kick of bright cardamom at the end. I would never have put the two together, but the mellow avocado created a great base for the cardamom. The fermented carrot custard tasted more like fermented, so like a tangy flavor, than carrot, per se, which worked well with the cardamom. All in all, this is a weird flavor, but weird done well! š¦š¦š¦/4 cones!
Third is Sourdough with Chocolate & Strawberries! It has a sourdough base, chocolate sauce, strawberry jam, and candied sourdough "croutons." I really enjoyed this flavor. The base wasn't too sour/tart, but just enough to give a sour vibe to the whole flavor. The chocolate sauce was quite liquidy and sweet. There was lots of it, and since it was on the thinner side, it wasn't trying to compete with the sour vibe of this flavor, but added some balance to it. The strawberry jam was also quite sour and tart, with some more sweetness for balance. Lastly, the sourdough croutons were so unique. They were like crusty amazing sourdough bread, but a bit harder and crumblier. They were a touch smaller than a quarter, chewy, and a touch sweet. However, there were not a ton of them in my scoop, only 2 or 3. More sourdough pieces, and this flavor would have been perfect! š¦š¦š¦.5/4 cones!
Last, but certainly not least, Salted, Malted, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Oh lawd. This flavor. It has a vanilla base with salted chocolate chip cookie dough and malted fudge swirls. Growing up my favorite flavor was cookie dough and I would still say it is my favorite "kid" flavor. And this Salt and Straw version was the perfect updating of my childhood tastes.
The cookie dough pieces were soooo moist and totally salty and sweet. The fudge swirls were thick, viscous, and totally rich, with a strong malt taste, too. Seriously, this flavor was sooo good. The sweet and salt and malt worked perfectly together.
I could have eaten a whole pint of this after eating the tasting flight. š¦š¦š¦š¦/4 cones easily!! Unfortunately you can't order this flavor from the Salt and Straw website so I'm just going to sit over here in the corner and sob a little bit.
Salt and Straw (for all you ice cream n00bs) is THE original hipster ice cream spot, doing wacky flavors way before it was cool. No surprise, Salt and Straw started in Portland, OR and now has a handful of locations in Portland and LA. Lots of ice cream bloggers have gotten on the Salt and Straw train and ordered their pints, but I'm still a broke graduate student and don't always have $65 + shipping to drop on 5 pints. So I was super excited for this opportunity to try some S&S without shipping costs! I knew I had to make the most of it.
Sooo many tasty flavors.
As the three of us sampled flavors, I was doing mental math looking at the menu. What was the best way to try as many flavors as possible? The more I looked at it, the more the tasting flight called my name. I asked the woman serving us how many flavors came in the tasting flight. She told me four flavors of their smallest scoop for $11.50. So I ordered it. All for myself. Go big or go home! (Yes this is kind of a rip off since a pint is $10.50, but I couldn't resist!)
Alllll for me!
Last note before I talk about the ice cream, two women waiting to get in line were asking me about the tasting flight, like how much it cost, what flavors you can get, etc. As we finished talking, one woman asked me, quite pejoratively, "How are you going to make it through all that?" I didn't have a come back ready right then, but now I say to her, like a boss, that's how!
Sorry for the terrible lighting on this one. Look at the pic above, I promise this flavor was pretty!
The first flavor I got that I'll describe is Roasted Strawberries & Toasted White Chocolate. I have never had roasted strawberries before or toasted white chocolate and I kind of expected a smokey or charcoly flavor or something. But this didn't have any of that. Instead the flavor of the strawberries was very intense, but only sweet and fruity, no tartness. So I think the roasting just intensifies and sweetens the strawberry flavor. These were also the juiciest and biggest strawberry chunks I've ever found in ice cream. The white chocolate base was also great. White chocolate's mellowness allowed the strawberries to stand out, but the flavor of the chocolate was still intense! All in all š¦š¦š¦.5/4 cones, which I am going to say means, I would stock my freezer with this if I had unlimited $$. Classic flavors dressed up in their finest!
The next flavor I'll tell you about is California Avocado & Cardamom with Fermented Carrot Custard. Okay yes, there is a lot going on in this flavor. First, it is part of their June series of flavors, which is fermentation themed. The base avocado flavor was very mild. You got a bit of the nutty avocado flavor at the front of the palette and a kick of bright cardamom at the end. I would never have put the two together, but the mellow avocado created a great base for the cardamom. The fermented carrot custard tasted more like fermented, so like a tangy flavor, than carrot, per se, which worked well with the cardamom. All in all, this is a weird flavor, but weird done well! š¦š¦š¦/4 cones!
Third is Sourdough with Chocolate & Strawberries! It has a sourdough base, chocolate sauce, strawberry jam, and candied sourdough "croutons." I really enjoyed this flavor. The base wasn't too sour/tart, but just enough to give a sour vibe to the whole flavor. The chocolate sauce was quite liquidy and sweet. There was lots of it, and since it was on the thinner side, it wasn't trying to compete with the sour vibe of this flavor, but added some balance to it. The strawberry jam was also quite sour and tart, with some more sweetness for balance. Lastly, the sourdough croutons were so unique. They were like crusty amazing sourdough bread, but a bit harder and crumblier. They were a touch smaller than a quarter, chewy, and a touch sweet. However, there were not a ton of them in my scoop, only 2 or 3. More sourdough pieces, and this flavor would have been perfect! š¦š¦š¦.5/4 cones!
Last, but certainly not least, Salted, Malted, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Oh lawd. This flavor. It has a vanilla base with salted chocolate chip cookie dough and malted fudge swirls. Growing up my favorite flavor was cookie dough and I would still say it is my favorite "kid" flavor. And this Salt and Straw version was the perfect updating of my childhood tastes.
A cookie dough piece!
The cookie dough pieces were soooo moist and totally salty and sweet. The fudge swirls were thick, viscous, and totally rich, with a strong malt taste, too. Seriously, this flavor was sooo good. The sweet and salt and malt worked perfectly together.
Look at the fudge!
I could have eaten a whole pint of this after eating the tasting flight. š¦š¦š¦š¦/4 cones easily!! Unfortunately you can't order this flavor from the Salt and Straw website so I'm just going to sit over here in the corner and sob a little bit.
BONUS PIC! There was some fabulous street art on the same street as Salt & Straw. There were four in total, and I thought they were perfect since Salt & Straw is probably the whitest ice cream place that has ever existed.
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