Salt and Straw

We had enough of the dark at Ground Kontrol. It was time to get out into the gray daylight once again. After parking down the block, we passed by this roller skating store. They had cool gear there. Maybe it's for the roller derby chicks...

Across the street was the ice cream place we wanted to go to...

Let's go in, shall we?

One of my friends who moved here recently recommended this place and of course, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to try this local made boujie ice cream joint (I make it sound so ghetto, but it really wasn't. Humor me please).

While in line, KDB ended up bumping into a mountain climbing buddy here. Small world!

Their flavors of the day. There are some interesting offerings here but the flavors I wanted most were noticeably absent from this board (more on that later). I would have tried the pear if it didn't have blue cheese. We figured out what flavors we wanted and made sure to grab our seats. It was standing room only in here.

Ooh, a "tasting flight" of ice creams but we weren't too keen on trying four flavors at once. Just two, ha ha.

Known for their "farm to cone" philosophy. Local ingredients. All the pretentious buzzwords are there. Sustainable. Organic. Local. Small batches. Baskin Robbins this ain't. Reminds me of the artisanal ice cream shop we visited in Santa Cruz last summer, The Penny Ice Creamery. You can read all about their history and methods on their website (at end of post).

Jars of various cookies and confections. We got a trio to eat with our ice cream...

Mini pecan tarts. Looks like they used little cookies standing on end for the "crust". Cute!

Here's what we got:

Bert's -   Cinnamon Snickerdoodle with Coffee with Cocoa Nibs. Of the two, he liked the coffee the best. The snickerdoodle had that cinnamon flavor going on in there which I wasn't a fan of, but Bert is.

KDB's - Salted Caramel Cupcake and Honey Lemon with Ricotta Almond cookies (which aren't shown). His first flavor sounded quite interesting. You can see the cupcake crumbs in the ice cream. I didn't sample his flavors so I cannot attest to its' goodness (or badness).

My flavors were the Arbequina Olive Oil and Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons. Now I have to admit, "olive oil" is not a flavor you see too often. I also read somewhere that it was Oprah's favorite flavor. Not that I watch Oprah or anything (I don't), but now I was curious. I settled for the olive oil because Salt & Straw's other "exotic" flavors like Bing Cherry with Bone Marrow and Brown Ale with Bacon were not offered that day. Turns out those are seasonal and I was a bit disappointed. I really wanted to try that bone marrow ice cream. Dagnabbit.

Anyhow, the olive oil ice cream did taste like it's namesake. It was really wierd for me to taste this is ice cream form. Not my favorite. The other flavor, Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons was much much better. I will try anything with sea salt in it.  The ice cream here is very creamy and fresh. It coats your tongue differently too. You can tell it's hand made.

TC's - Mint Chocolate Chip with Lemon Confetti and Banana with Spicy Monkey Caramel and Walnuts. Of the two, she liked the mint chip better. The monkey ice cream was banana flavor I believe. There weren't too many walnuts in her scoops. The pairing of lemon with mint chip was also unexpected.

A selection of their house made cookies - "Lil' Mama's" (chocolate sandwich cookie), Fleur de sel Chocolate Chip Cookie, and Almond and Chocolate macaron. The chocolate chip cookie with the salt was my favorite. These were so cute and bite sized but I could feel myself going into sugar overload.  The macaron was also excellent. Loved the chocolate filling. Poor Bert's lactose intolerance was also challenged by today's visit.

Their bathroom (not pictured) had vintage soap and paper towel dispensers reminiscent of an old elementary school.

Local Portland reviews of Salt & Straw:

"The Scoop on Salt and Straw", Portland Monthly, May 2011
"Portland: Salt & Straw", House and Hold Blog, May 2012
The Passionate Foodie blog, October 2011
and yelp

Salt & Straw
2035 NE Alberta St.
Portland, OR
SaltandStraw

After our ice cream break, we dropped off KDB back to his place in the Woodstock area. We wanted to check out several places in the neighboring city of Milwaukie...