Yeah but their vanilla is average at best.
ditto. I like those types of flavors but I’m unlikely to enjoy them as ice cream. I don’t even like those sort of flavors as potato chips.
The Salt & Straw vanilla uses Madagascar beans, which is generally a poor choice for pure vanilla ice cream since it’s too assertive; better to make extract out if it and reserve it for baking (like chocolate chip cookies, pound cake, and what-not).
Mexican beans are more suitable because while their vanilla flavor is less intense, it is still pronounced, and offers that nice mixture of sweet and slightly spicy vanilla flavor that provides a nice counterbalance to ice cream base. But while a better choice, Mexican beans are also more pricey.
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… or peach using peaches personally picked by the dessertmaker him/herself?!
Leo Bulgarini is so ‘Type A’ about his gelato ingredients, he is now asking his peach grower if he can harvest the damn fruit off the tree himself (simply 'cuz he didn’t like the way the picker treated his last batch of fruit). That, my friends, is dedication to perfection…
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Tried the Fish Sauce Carmel and surprisingly it was not a strong tasting flavor in fact it was underwhelming. The surprise winner for me was the sourdough, nice flavor and you can really taste the sourdough!
From what I understand about S&S (and I’ve only actually been once, to the NW 23rd St. Portland location, but I’ve heard an interview with Tyler Malek the founder), they’re very much into collaboration with other local businesses and offbeat combinations - it’s a pretty big part of their business model. But I’m with you - for me it doesn’t get much better than just an amazing, vanilla ice cream or something like that - simple but perfect.
agreed. I had no desire to try any of these flavors when I was there a week ago:
I’d much rather have a theme like nuts or summer berries or breakfast cereal or … And speaking of being there a week ago, I’m a little confused about these being the featured flavors for June when they were already available on May 27th. Maybe it’s a fiscal month.
Whoa. The Baroo of ice cream shops.
So who does have the best Vanilla ice cream in town? That was always my favorite flavor growing up.
Has anybody tried the Jeni’s Ndali Vanilla? They just started carrying pints again at Whole Foods for $9.99. Not familiar with Ndali but from their website they tout small batch and fair trade from Central America.
I thought it was decent, although I would take BLVD vanilla custard over it from the Whole Foods offerings. Bear in mind, I really prefer French vanilla over vanilla.
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Went and tried samples of the June flavors last night. Was pleasantly surprised! That said, I don’t want any of them as full scoop… A lesson learned by First Lady Mochi as she sacrificed the majority of her avocado scoop to the gods without half of it even being gone.
- Dill Pickle Sorbet - Very sweet but refreshing.
- Fish Sauce Caramel - Funky and savory and pretty dang good. Maybe my favorite taster. Really liked the crunch of the palm sugar.
- Avocado & Cardamom with Carrot Custard - Fine. Smooth and interesting but as mentioned above, perhaps not one for a full scoop.
- Sourdough with Chocolate & Strawberries - As others have mentioned, the sourdough flavor is definitely sourdough! Almost felt like I was tasting the mother dough…
- Cacao Nibs & Red Miso - A bizarre ice cream, but I enjoyed the small spoonful that I tasted.
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All of those flavors sound like the perfect mignardises, served in a whiskey shot glass accompanied with a demitasse of espresso or Kahlúa, for a do-it-yourself affogato.
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Spot on. And an actual shot of whiskey with a DillPickleSorbetback chaser.
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Do you know which ice cream shops use Mexican vanilla beans and which ice cream shops use Madagascar vanilla beans?
I don’t know of any that use Mexican beans.
Many use vanilla extract sourced from a variety of beans; others use Madagascar (Carmela) or a combination of different origin beans.
Waited on line Saturday night at 9:30 for ~30 minutes at the Venice location. The ice cream at S&S still continues to be amazing. The strawberry and toasted white chocolate and ooey chocolate brownie are heaven.
While we were waiting on line a bearded hipster in a green and white van stopped dead in the middle of Abbott Kinney, craned his head out the window and yelled “it’s not that good. It’s not worth the wait”. I disagree. And so do all the other people who were still waiting on line at 10:15.
I just looked up the special flavors for July - it’s the Berry Series. Yum. I need to get back over there before the end of the month.
The buttermilk with blueberries and wild berry sherbet were outstanding.
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Buttermilk with blueberries definitely caught my eye. and the birthday cake with blackberries because I do sometimes have the sweet tooth of a six year old.