Salt and Straw is celebrating Valentine’s Day all month long with the introduction of five new seasonal flavors created in collaboration with local chocolate makers. Every month, Head Ice Cream Maker Tyler Malek adds seasonal flavors to the shop’s small-batch ice cream menu.
This month inspired a chocolate-driven selection known as “LA Chocolatiers,” highlighting the unique styles, ingredients, and techniques of five of Malek’s favorite chocolate purveyors. As with all if its ice creams, Salt and Straw also sells the ingredients. In this case, they are selling the chocolates so you can taste the inspiration in its chocolate bar form.
The flavors:
- Compartes’ Coney Island – A riff on the chocolate maker’s “Coney Island” bar, this vanilla and rainbow swirl ice cream is dotted with caramelized waffle cones and chunks of the treat that inspired the flavor.
- Ococoa’s Fig & Sesame Butter Cup – A delightfully dense and simple chocolate sesame ice cream, speckled with chocolate butter cups and ribbons of fig jam.
- Twenty-Four Blackbirds’ Cardamom & Candied Cocoa Nibs – A sweet cream ice cream sprinkled with freshly grated black cardamom and laced with candied, single-origin cocoa nib morsels.
- Bar Au Chocolat’s Date Night – A freshly roasted chocolate ice cream mixed with sweet, fruity dates that playfully nods to the popularity of date shakes in SoCal.
- Chocovivo’s Olive Oil & Blood Orange Chocolate Milk Sorbet – A creamy sorbet that’s been spun with a chocolate paste made from lightly stone-ground cacao beans doused in blood oranges and olive oil.
It was a tough assignment, but this writer managed to taste all the new flavors. Thankfully, store manager Ian Kane guided me through the tasting process, explaining the unique attributes of each flavor. Kane is an expert on the Salt and Straw approach to ice cream making, working with the company since 2011 when it first opened in Portland.
Like all of Salt and Straw’s ice creams, these new flavors are unique and unexpected. Each a miniature work of art; a pleasure to savor. Ian said the Compartes’ Coney Island and Bar Au Chocolat’s Date Night are the most popular so far. Personally, it was a very tough call. While, I loved the Compartes’ Coney Island because it was so colorful as well as delicious, I’d have to say my favorite was the Twenty-Four Blackbirds’ Cardamom & Candied Cocoa Nibs. Don’t be put off by the cardamom, it’s really a perfect compliment to the crunchy, chocolate nibs.
Take advantage of the Salt and Straw sampler — you get four small scoops — and test out the flavors for yourself. You have all month to check out the chocolate series. Next month will bring a whole new batch of flavors. If something is a really big hit, you might find it later on the classic menu.
Salt & Straw
240 N. Larchmont Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90004
323-466-0485
www.saltandstraw.com
