REVIEW: Salt & Straw’s Breakside Brewery’s Spent Grains & Bacon S’mores

June 5, 2017June 4, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

No stranger to being the cool kids in the ice cream class, Salt & Straw are kicking off the summer season with an entire line of gourmet flavors using recycled and rescued ingredients. No, they didn’t dig through the garbage to make a creamy casserole of mismatched scraps, but rather, sought out byproducts of food processes, fruit too bruised to sell at full price, or bread that is too stale to stay on shelves and flipped them into inventive flavors of melty indulgence. As a country that wastes 40% of our food, this is a great thing to do for the United States, and owners Kim and Tyler Malek estimate this limited line alone will save around 2,000 pounds of food waste. For Breakside Brewery’s Spent Grains & Bacon S’mores, S&S utilized the flavor of leftover grains and malts from brewing beer and combined them with chocolate chunks and a bacon marshmallow fluff swirl.

Anytime that I see bacon as a component used in a sweet or non-traditional way I get skeptical that it is there purely for gimmick because of the “everything is better with bacon” hype, but with this flavor that couldn’t be farther from the truth. The marshmallow swirl is composed of 70% or so pure fluffy sweet marshmallow fluff, with an incredible balance of bounce and sugar that is everything a marshmallow should be – it’s perfect. Dispersed sporadically throughout the ‘mallow are chunks of bacon that cut through the sweetness with a touch of salt and a wonderfully pronounced smokiness that evokes the flavors of a campfire. The bacon is used not only to add an interesting tasting component, but to elevate the entire s’mores experience to a new, truer level than I’ve had in ice cream and it is fantastic.

The chocolate, unsurprisingly because it’s Salt & Straw, is incredibly dark and bitter with a big, bold cocoa flavor and an interesting gritty texture. It tastes very high quality and feels like some of the spent grains were used in the pieces, as there’s a chunky density to the chocolate instead of the typical smooth and clean texture that usually coincides with chips/chunks.

Rounding the entire s’mores experience out is the actual ice cream itself, which is a slightly gritty yet still silky smooth graham cracker base with light honey notes and hints of earthiness. The texture feels like a bunch of crackers were ground up and soaked in cream and then churned without any kind of aggressive straining to filter out the bits. The base is also where the recycled component comes into play, mixing the roasted spent grains from Breakside Brewery in conjunction with the graham to create a deep slightly smoky presence, and there are no odd flavors that seem out of place or boozy for a s’mores ice cream; everything works incredibly well.

The only element missing from an ideal s’mores experience is gooey melted chocolate, but all the flavors are represented and the execution of the recycled theme is spot on. A wonderful start to the June line, this one is a must try for people who love marshmallow, s’mores, or bacon used in brilliant new ways.

Rating: 9/10
Found at: http://www.saltandstraw.com or in scoops shops in Portland, OR

REVIEW: Little G’s Fluffer Cookie

June 2, 2017June 1, 2017 / seansskillet / 2 Comments

A fluffernutter sandwich combines two of the world’s best lip-smacking creamy stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth ingredients that you can dig up in your grandma’s pantry – peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. While I was always more of a traditional peanut butter and jelly kind of kid growing up and am now very much in the peanut butter and banana camp, I will never shy away from peanut butter plus anything, and I mean that quite literally. My girlfriend recently challenged me to try peanut butter with mustard, and I did it, and guess what? I liked it! For the limited spring fling run of pints Little G put their own spin on the fluffernutter universe, but luckily for us all, did not include mustard. Fluffer Cookie combines peanut butter ice cream with a marshmallow swirl and chocolate sandwich cookies.

I’m going to guess that the peanut butter ice cream itself is up to the usual Little G standards, but as is the case with some of their flavors, this one is so mix-in dense I can’t even really tell. The peanut butter definitely takes a backseat, not only in texture but in flavor, to the insane amount of Oreo cookies smashed into the base. What is really beautiful though, is the way the cookies have softened and taken on a dunked-in-milk kind of texture, that while it’s different than your usual melty creamy ice cream, it’s still insanely delicious and fun to eat. Make no mistake, these aren’t just wafer cookies, these are entire Oreo’s, and the ample amount of creme filling is also present, fusing with the base and the softened wafers to create a decadent, almost cake-like experience that is delicious and downright intense.

The slightest hint of peanut flavor peeks its head through the onslaught of aggressive sweetness and cocoa creme, but most people probably wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the PB versus vanilla or sweet cream. Composition-wise this pint is very similar to the core lineups’ Chocolate Milk & Cookies, with a bigger emphasis on the creme flavor than the chocolate because of the base switch up.

The marshmallow swirl is thick and also very intense, with a dense yet fluffy texture that is pretty much as good as it gets when it comes to an authentic and delicious marshmallow presence. Once again Little G is up there with Salt & Straw for taking the swirl game to another level, and this one, while it tastes predominantly sweet, does have a touch of roasted flavor to it that gives it an added layer of complexity and aids in bringing out a hint more roasted peanut flavor as well.

Through and through this pint tastes like eating an ice cream-ified version of an Oreo. The fusion of the marshmallow swirl with the cookies’ creme emulates the iconic filling, and the plethora of cocoa wafers in every bite makes the Oreo vibes absolutely inescapable. For my personal tastes, and to be true to the tradition of the fluffernutter tag, I want a bit more peanut butter, more salty contrast, and some relief from the intensity of the sugar, but this is one of those flavors that will leave you thinking about it when your bowl is empty, and becomes dangerously addictive.

Rating: 9/10
Found at: http://www.goldbely.com (use code seanpancake0 for $25 off of your first order!)

REVIEW: Salt & Straw’s Pirates of the Chocolaty Caribbean

May 22, 2017October 25, 2020 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

As a somewhat low key Disney fanboy and not so low key Salt & Straw fanboy I was completely puffed with joy when I read that the two would be collaborating for the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Very rarely does a smaller craft brand like S&S get the chance to work with one of the entertainment industry’s titans and I was genuinely excited not only for this release, but for what the relationship could mean in the future. I was so excited that I read the press release at least five times, and in fact, I think it’s so well written that I’m going to stop my intro here and just post the official description from a couple weeks ago:

“Pirates of the Chocolaty Caribbean captures the sweetness and spice of rum and toasted sugar flavor of the island spirit by infusing a caramel ice cream with cinnamon, allspice, orange peel, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, and star anise. The real magic of this caramel spiced rum ice cream is the one-of-a-kind chocolate inside—single-origin chocolate from Trinidad, sourced locally from Bar Au Chocolat, studded with pop rocks that go off like pirate cannons between your teeth. Dig into the true flavor of the Caribbean in every scoop!”

Of course, this was a super limited time offering, only available at ONE shop in Los Angeles, but somehow, through the goodwill and kindness of Kim and Tyler at Salt & Straw, I was able to acquire a pint and give it a taste for the skillet.

By Salt & Straw standards this base is incredibly subdued, and for my personal tastes, a bit too mellow. When I read the description of all the spices going into the ice cream my heart lit up, but they’re much harder to detect than I had anticipated. Usually with S&S when they say something is in the flavor it is IN it and always executed with intense finesse but here I had to really search for any prominent spicy notes.

The ice cream is incredibly smooth and rich with a soft caramel essence that isn’t too sweet and finishes with a lovely buttery flavor that accentuates the high quality dairy like a well balanced sweet cream. There is the slightest touch of cinnamon and nutmeg at the end but even that is very subtle, with no star anise, cloves or cardamon to be found. There also isn’t any boozy rum flavor going on, which given the description of “caramel spiced rum ice cream” would have been really nice to taste; although I get the feeling the spices were supposed to emulate rum rather than alcohol being a prominent flavor.

What works wonderfully in this flavor is the pop rock studded dark chocolate, which delivers on everything it promised to be. It’s incredibly dark and bitter with tons of small pop rocks that immediately start sizzling the second I chomp into them; and it really does feel like cannons going off in my mouth. The chocolate is integrated in broken thin sheets and dispersed throughout the pint with perfection – some small shards of chocolate and some big chunks that keep each bite slightly different in bitterness and crunch. It’s a funny juxtaposition to put such a novelty candy into high quality single origin chocolate but it works beautifully, adding excitement to every bite.

While I wish this ice cream had a true spiced rum base to compliment the very well executed chocolate, I can’t deny that it is still an incredibly well made and delicious product. All of the more interesting ingredients fall to the background and simply temper the sweetness of the caramel for a more grown-up spin on flavors that are very familiar to ice cream aficionados. In all honesty this is just a very high quality and slightly elevated chocolate chip ice cream, and a damn good one at that.

Rating: 7.5/10
Found at: Salt & Straw Los Angeles

REVIEW: Little G X MdoughW Cinnamon Caramel Churro

May 19, 2017May 19, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

Collaborations are one of the greatest elements of hip hop, but they can be pretty damn cool in the food world too. Usually reserved for big brands like Taco Bell teaming up with Doritos, Baskin Robbins with Oreo, and recently, Pop Tarts with Jolly Rancher, it’s much less common that smaller independent companies collide to release a joint product – but today that narrative is straight shook. Gourmet ice cream goddess Little G and cookie cup titans MdoughW have joined forces to release a limited edition run of cookie and brownie (“doughie”) loaded pints of indulgence decadence. Utilizing MdoughW’s signature doughies, aka wildly soft cookie cups stuffed with delicious fillings, and Little G’s super premium ice cream bases and swirls, the two combined to churn out six epic flavors, and today we take a first dive into Cinnamon Caramel Churro, which is cinnamon ice cream with MdoughW churro pieces and a salted caramel swirl.

The cinnamon ice cream is absolutely spot on. It has a giant, robust, and spicy cinnamon flavor that has the cinna-slut in me satisfied in ways not many ice creams have done before. There is a genuine spice-heavy, almost floral zing that tastes like freshly ground cinnamon was dumped generously onto a sweet cream base and it is absolutely magical. Visually the base is studded with brown flecks that translate the cinnamon flawlessly. It should go without saying that the ice cream itself is incredibly rich and creamy with a succulent melty mouthfeel that is divine.

The churro pieces are incredibly soft with a nice salty pop that register much more like dough than they do the crispy fried stick I associate them with. The pieces are of generous size and have upheld their dense chew well in the sea of cream, but without any sort of crispy crunch they could easily be cinnamon bun pieces or snickerdoodle cookies and I’m not sure I would be able to tell the difference. Imagining the way the dairy would soak into the fried exterior of a churro to create a crispy squish has me wishing there was more, but the cinnamon-heavy, almost grainy base helps emulate that experience to a degree.

The biggest element that’s a bit of a miss for me in this pint is the salted caramel swirl. I know what Little G is capable of when it comes to swirls (the best in the game up there with Salt & Straw), and with this flavor the swirl is more subtly incorporated into the base than standing out on its own in big gooey puddles of deliciousness. Every so often I’ll get a bite that has a sweeter, smoother punch to it, and that is where the caramel comes into play, but I miss having thick succulent ribbons that deliver a deeply sweet, salty, and caramelized flavor.

This is a great flavor of ice cream for cinnamon lovers, but it doesn’t really hit the mark completely when it comes to what I know and love to be a churro. Although it has one of the best cinnamon bases I have ever had, some crunch is really needed to drive the desired flavor into full effect, and I really wish I had some serious caramel to send it to the heights I know Little G can ascend to.

Rating: 9/10
Found at: http://www.goldbely.com (use code seanpancake0 for $25 off your first order!)

REVIEW: Blue Bunny Mint Cookie Crunch

May 12, 2017May 11, 2017 / seansskillet / 1 Comment

Blue Bunny have expanded their line of ice cream flavors, and I hope that means they’re expanding their distribution too. While they have distro-deals in place with major retailers like Walmart, for whatever reason, in the Bay Area with our lack of Wally World’s, Blue Bunny is kind of hard to find. Many grocery stores carry the novelty items like the mini cones, but quarts and pints of the Bunny are hard to come across. Growing up in Nebraska where Blue Bunny was much more common, I was super stoked to find a fresh new flavor at a local discount grocery store. Mint Cookie Crunch combines mint ice cream with fudge swirls and mint chocolate cookie chunks.

The mint base is light and creamy with a refreshing minty-ness that steers clear of any dominant peppermint flavor. It’s a pleasant and genuine base that isn’t too sweet or too powerful in any way. The fudge swirl has a very distinct Hershey’s chocolate syrup kind of flavor with just a bit more thickness than the stuff that pours from the brown bottle. It’s a little light milk chocolatey for what I would commonly associate with fudge, but it seems fitting for a swirl swimming in glowing green cream.

The cookie “chunks” pop up in the form of little balls that have a big satisfying crunch and haven’t lost any of their bold cookie texture. This crunchy-preservation is achieved by coating the balls in chocolate so the actual cookie never makes contact with the melty dairy. It’s a clever move very similar to the cookies in Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Peppermint Crunch (RIP) and they work just as well here as they did in that more chocolate heavy pint. It’s a very different experience than a mint cookies and cream, and I appreciate the crunch factor that adds extra depth and excitement to the ice cream. The flavor isn’t as mint-forward as the heralded Girl Scouts Thin Mint, but the cookies definitely have a minty-ness that let’s me know it isn’t just a chocolate cookie.

When you get all of the components together in one bite they work together seamlessly with a lovely balance of mint, chocolate, and smooth dairy. Blue Bunny have put together a really solid product that isn’t as intense or fatty as a super premium ice cream but tastes of significantly higher quality and less gum-filler-y than Dreyers or Breyers. A fantastic middle-of-the-road scoop that’s a great bang for your buck.

Rating: 8/10
Found at: Grocery Outlet ($2.99)

REVIEW: Little G’s Going to the Circus

May 5, 2017May 4, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

Growing up with my parents I always loved taking a trip to the grocery store. Drifting off from my mom at Safeway to look at the toy aisle and peruse all the latest snacks that I probably couldn’t convince her to buy was always a thrill, but on the best days I got to sneak away and go next door to Rite Aid. No, I wasn’t looking to fill a a prescription or look at their bigger, better toy aisle, but rather, peer into the icy glass case of the Thrifty ice cream counter. Massive, cheap, oddly shaped scoops from big, sometimes freezer-burnt tubs of ice cream was the best pre-dinner treat, and among my favorite flavors was Circus Animal Cookie. That childhood classic flavor combined pink and white cookie batter ice cream and chunks of real Mother’s Circus Animal cookies. It wasn’t the highest quality ice cream, but it was good, and as my childhood nostalgia savior, Little G released the limited time Going To The Circus, which mixes animal cracker ice cream with frosted animal cracker pieces, buttercream frosting, and sprinkles.

This ice cream is an absolute alley oop slam dunk and-one. The colors are assertive and pop with a childlike aura than translates perfectly to the flavor. The base of the ice cream actually has crumbled up Circus Animal cookies in it, and as with many Little G flavors, the mix in density is crazy. The base is a bit hard to taste on its own, but the frosted cracker flavor is there and it is big. The combination of the animal cracker base, buttercream, and abundant sprinkles makes this flavor taste not only like Circus Animals, but like the most fun, joyous ice cream birthday cake I’ve ever consumed.

Speaking of cake, the frosted animal cracker pieces have softened in the ice cream and lost their usual crunch, making them feel a bit more like sponge cake than cookies. This isn’t a bad thing, as they still have a good chew and the chunks are big enough that when paired up with the sprinkles there’s still lots of crunch factor compared to a normal ice cream. Cookie chunks and sprinkles and frosting all swimming in a pool of sweet sweet cream is on another level of childhood indulgence.

Simply put, eating this ice cream is fun. It’s intense and it’s sweet but completely channels the feeling and after school nostalgia of Circus Animal cookies to a tee. When I rate an ice cream I think about a number of factors, but ultimately it comes down to did I enjoy eating it and does it deliver on what it set out to do. The answer to both of those questions with this pint is a resounding yes, and I can’t think of a single thing I would change to make it a sturdier mission accomplished.

Rating: 10/10
Found at: http://www.goldbely.com (use code seanpancake0 to get $25 off your first order!)

REVIEW: Little G’s That Peanut Butter Brownie Dough

April 28, 2017April 27, 2017 / seansskillet / 7 Comments

If you love ice cream and you don’t know about Little G it’s time to learn about the internet-driven gourmet ice cream movement. What Grace is doing out of her small commercial kitchen in Massachusetts is not only delicious but insanely fun. Late last year she asked fans to submit flavor ideas for a run of seasonal pints to start 2017 and one of the winning suggestions was That Peanut Butter Brownie Dough, which is her own spin on the Ben & Jerry’s 2014 limited batch Peanut Butter Half Baked. The flavor combines chocolate and peanut butter ice creams with brownies and peanut butter cookie dough chunks. Are you awake yet?

Wow. Sometimes the apprentice surpasses the master and that skill set is on perfect display in this pint. The peanut butter ice cream has a very genuine nuttiness to it that isn’t very sweet, but isn’t salty either. The peanut flavor comes through in a soft yet rich way that has just enough character to stand up to the chocolate, which is velvety smooth and has cocoa notes somewhere between milk and dark – not quite bitter but not too heavily leaning on milky-ness. It’s hard to get two separate ice cream bases to work harmoniously in one flavor and these two are a lovely brown and tan yin and yang.

The mix in density is absolutely spot on. While the ice creams have a chance to shine with their melty mouthfeel and subdued sweetness, the real star of this show is the fudgey as all hell scratch made brownies. These are the best brownies I have ever had in an ice cream, and are firm enough to be solid chunks but have maintained all of their fresh-out-of-the-oven squishy chew that make brownies unique from cookies. They are sweeter than either of the bases which elevates the flavor to a whole new level of eyes closed brilliance. When I get a bite with chocolate ice cream and brownie together the taste transforms into a decadent richness that reminds me of chocolate cheesecake and is over the top with indulgent intensity.

This is an entire chunk of flawless brownie

The only thing holding this pint back from being absolutely perfect is the peanut butter cookie dough. While the dough is still really good, I wish it had a little bit more dough-y butteriness and rich peanut flavor to really stand out against the other three very strong components. The chunks are big and succulent but missing a little something, I think a touch more salt, to really drive the experience into something transcendent. Even though I wanted a bit more pop from the dough, I still found myself gleefully excited having a piece of unbaked cookie that took up nearly my entire spoon. Eating Little G is a completely different experience of ice cream exploration and this was a fantastic journey.

Rating: 9.5/10
Found at: http://www.goldbely.com

Note: This flavor can’t be purchased anymore but on May 1 Little G will be announcing their next line of limited flavors and you never know what Grace may have whipped up this time. If it’s your first order from Goldbely use code seanpancake0 to get $25 off!!

REVIEW: Humphry Slocombe Hong Kong Milk Tea (Northern CA Whole Foods Exclusive)

April 24, 2017April 22, 2017 / seansskillet / 3 Comments

On May 5 Humphry Slocombe will launch a Whole Foods exclusive flavor that can only be purchased in person at Northern California stores. While on the surface this might not seem like that big of a deal, it’s important to remember that exclusive releases are generally reserved for brands like Ben & Jerry’s at stores like Walmart and Target; and this merging of a smaller craft ice cream brand with Whole Foods is a significant leap for the gourmet company. The flavor, Hong Kong Milk Tea, is inspired by the sweet caffeinated beverage that keeps Hong Kong (and the bay area) hustling. The ice cream is a fusion of Numi organic tea, sweetened condensed milk, and almond cookies, and arrives as the creamy brain-child of Slocombe’s Jake Godby and Whole Foods Market Chef Ambassador Melissa King. The awesome folks at Humphry Slocombe sent over a pint so I could get an advance tasting of their latest creation and I’m eager to scoop into it.

When I think of milk tea I think of boba tea, and imagine a syrupy sweet beverage with chewy tapioca balls and silly colored wide straws. I know that that type drink is much newer and less traditional than the Hong Kong variety, but I have more experience with it, and luckily this ice cream is almost nothing like that. The sweetness is incredibly subdued, with a wonderful melty mouthfeel and smooth malty black tea finish that is genuine and refined. The flavor of the Numi tea coats my tongue with the dairy and tastes like a perfectly steeped cup of tea with a generous helping of sweetened condensed milk.

The most impressive aspect of this great tea base is the lingering aftertaste, which even after a minute or more of not eating has left a nice sharp tea flavor that is pleasant and not bitter in the least. This is a perfect frozen rendition of a drink usually served warm and preserves all the tannin-y nuances of tea balanced out by repeated licking sweetness.

The almond cookies in place of tapioca balls (in my boba-mind) also elevate this to a more “adult” version of the milky beverage, adding small bursts of almond-y chew that add just a touch more sweetness but not too much additional flavor. The cookies remind me more of softened, soggy cereal in milk than they do snappy cookies, and I wish the pieces were bigger and/or caramelized in the way that HS does in their fantastic flagship flavor Secret Breakfast. As the lone mix in I don’t get a ton of crunch or almond taste from the cookies, which seems like a bit of a missed opportunity considering how simple and delicate the base is. The idea makes sense, having an almond cookie with a cup of milk tea, there just needs to be something else done to make it all really click.

Full disclosure: I’m not the biggest fan of tea-based ice cream, or coffee for that matter. I like drinking my coffee and tea straight and my ice cream to be caramel-y and chocolate-y and salty sweet peanut butter pretzel-y intense. That being said, if you like tea in your ice cream bases (like my girlfriend), you will undoubtedly love this pint. It has a tremendous balance of flavor that captures the simple magic of Hong Kong milk tea.

Rating: 7.5/10

If you’re in the bay area and want to sample Hong Kong Milk Tea, they will be giving away free scoops at a public preview on April 29 from 12 PM to 3 PM at Whole Foods Market Oakland, where there will also be $1 off pint coupons, Numi tea samples, a lion dancer, and tons of happy ice cream enthusiasts.

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Oat of this Swirled

April 14, 2017April 13, 2017 / seansskillet / 2 Comments

Bring on the fudge flakes. Five flavors, five flakey endeavors, welcome to the modern era of Ben & Jerry’s. Although I have a sneaking suspicion that whoever orders ingredients for B&J accidentally ordered 1,000 pounds of the flakey chocolate instead of 100, these flakes in this flavor actually have a purpose, in the form of an homage. In 2012 Ben & Jerry’s sent Oatmeal Cookie Chunk to the flavor graveyard, and although I never had it, I’ve heard of its greatness referenced more times than I can count. Oat of This Swirled is the company’s response to the fans’ dairy-soaked tears, which combines buttery brown sugar ice cream with fudge flakes and oatmeal cinnamon cookie swirls.

The brown sugar ice cream is more effective here than in Blondie Ambition, where the toffee flakes muddy some of the texture and take away from the subtle golden brown sugar notes. It’s not a mind blowing base by any means but it’s clearly not vanilla and has a richness to it that is very enjoyable and compliments the profile of oatmeal cookies well. Speaking of cookies, the swirl here is very tasty, with a slight grittiness and buttery cinnamon flavor that is straight oatmeal cookie without the chew. Some of the cinnamon flavor seeps into the base and the two work together to translate the creamy slightly spicy feeling of fresh baked cookies. I do wish there were some chunks to go along with the swirl though, to give some bigger bursts of the baked goods, because as it stands you’ve gotta dig deep and hope to find a decent strand of the ribbon (which is great when you do).

The fudge flakes, as good of quality as they are and as much as I begrudge their overuse in these new flavors, actually do work here. Their sweet yet dark chocolate notes serve as a good gap between the cinnamon and brown sugar, and even though they’re strong tasting they don’t overpower the other two elements. There’s still a few too many of them in relation to the amount of swirl, but they aren’t making me angry at all.

The more that I eat the more I realize this ice cream tastes almost identical to eating an original IT-S-IT, the Bay Area born oatmeal ice cream cookie sandwich dipped in chocolate. The flavors in this pint mimic that experience almost perfectly, even hitting the right balance of spices and sweetness to the degree that multiple times I walked away from the freezer thinking I had just finished eating a sando and not playing shovel with my spoon. This is both a blessing and a curse because A. IT’S-IT’s are freakin awesome I love them and B. They were invented in 1928 and I’ve had that experience at my disposal my entire life, so there’s nothing new or unique being brought to the table, even though it’s delicious.

Through and through this pint comes off as a touch lazy and lacking some pizazz but I actually really enjoy a lot of what’s inside. If Ben and Jerry’s wanted to make a simple switch that could take this to another level, cut the fudge flakes by 30% and add in some cookie chunks to compliment the swirl – boom – magic would be made.

Rating: 8/10
Found at: Safeway

REVIEW: Salt & Straw Roasted Strawberry Tres Leches (San Francisco Exclusive)

April 10, 2017April 9, 2017 / seansskillet / 2 Comments

The time has finally come and on this Friday, April 14, the bay area will get its first Salt & Straw scoop shop. The stellar Portland-based ice cream company will be taking a similar approach to their stores in Los Angeles and will offer some SF scoop shop only flavors that you have to be present for to actually experience and taste that will be unique not only in their exclusivity but in their profile to represent the bay area. I was fortunate enough to get to try a couple of these flavors before they hit the public, and like everything S&S does, they are impressively great. Salt and Straw’s San Francisco exclusive flavor Roasted Strawberry Tres Leches combines a roasted strawberry ice cream with chunks of tres leches cake and a vanilla strawberry jam swirl.

The strawberry ice cream is perfect. Bursting with authentic slightly tart strawberry flavor there’s a touch of saltiness to the base that is simply delectable and tempers the aggressive sweetness of the jam to create a full bodied multi-layered berry flavor. The roasted element of the strawberries gives a true-to-taste fruit experience that shares absolutely nothing in common with lower quality, artificial tasting “strawberry” ice creams. I’m not as well versed on berry bases as I am with sweet cream, caramel, or chocolate, but this is without a doubt my favorite strawberry I have ever had.

The tres leches cake is dense and chewy in a way that resembles cake batter with a beautiful cinnamon flavor that melds harmoniously with the two fruity components. There’s a touch of golden sheen to the cake that reminds me of graham crackers in the best way – channeling honey and spice and childhood nostalgia. A little bit of the cinnamon seeps into the strawberry, so even when you get a bite without cake there’s an added touch of spicy depth that elevates the ice cream beyond your basic berry and into something transcendent.

What makes Salt and Straw so incredible is their precise attention to detail, and everything about that precision is represented in this pint. From the use of vanilla strawberry jam instead of just strawberry, which adds a round fullness to the flavor, to the subtle use of salt to balance everything out, Salt & Straw truly craft the scoops of ice cream lovers’ dreams.

Rating: 10/10

Sean's Skillet

ice cream, snack reviews, and bay area eats

ice cream