Salt & Straw offers a new twist on ice cream

Salt & Straw, the newest addition to Palo Alto’s ice cream scene, opened its fourth location on University Avenue in Palo Alto on November 23. While there are other ice cream stores in Palo Alto, Salt & Straw fills a missing niche with its focus on pure ingredients and the story behind each flavor.

“We wanted it to be a space where people could come, learn about the city around them, meet their neighbors, just have a fun reason to be together,” co-founder Tyler Malek said at the opening.

Salt & Straw Palo Alto joins a growing network of ice cream stores

Salt & Straw started as a pushcart in Portland, Oregon and has since bloomed into a full-fledged business with 18 stores in both Oregon and California. Their most recent location opened in Burlingame in October.

“We started making ice cream and we realized there was a pretty cool power behind that,” Malek explained. “It’s really this idea of creating flavors that are a reflection of the city around us.”

They chose Palo Alto as their next location because the community has a strong appreciation for fine ice cream and the Bay Area is known for its adventurous palettes. “The South Bay is the cultural center of the country in many ways, so we wanted… to be part of that dialogue,” Malek said.

A goal of building local connections

The Salt & Straw team hopes to integrate into the Palo Alto community by working with local schools, finding farmers and producers, and developing more flavors through these partnerships.

As a first step, Salt & Staw aims to collaborate with Palo Alto elementary schools to create a curriculum where students will learn about making ice cream and create their own seasonal flavors, which will be featured for a month. The proceeds from sales of these special flavors will be donated back to the students’ school.

Building local flavors is a process that Salt & Straw has piloted in many of its locations. “It’s the best way to start getting to know a city,” Malek said. “It creates a really dynamic storyline.”

Rotating mix of seasonal and classic flavors

The Salt & Straw menu in Palo Alto features 13 classic flavors and five seasonal flavors, which rotate every four weeks. The menu always includes vegan (V) and gluten-free (Gf) options.

“The theme [this month] is nostalgic, heart-warming holiday favorites,” Malek said. “In February we’re doing a journey through the Bay Area, looking at different chocolatiers. In past months, we’ve highlighted social causes like food waste, making all our ice cream with ingredients that would have been thrown away.”

Vegan eggnog? Taste test reveals surprising delights

Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons had a saltiness that was initially off-putting, but after a few spoons, I found the salty ice cream paired very well with the thick, gooey caramel. The Salted, Malted, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough was a more classic flavor with a rich and sweet flavor profile. The chunky cookie dough perfectly complemented the ice cream and fudge swirls.

Dandelion Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies and Cream (V) (Gf), featuring vegan and gluten-free “Oreos” made by Salt & Straw, felt incredibly indulgent and creamy for an ice cream with no dairy milk. By making the ingredients themselves, Salt & Straw has freedom and flexibility to experiment with creating its own flavor integration.

Breakaway Matcha & Black Raspberry was a surprising favorite. I usually find matcha to be too bitter, but it paired well with the tart yet sweet black raspberries in this ice cream.

Sugar Plum Fairy, a marzipan and Assam tea ice cream with sweet plum jam, and Cinnamon Coconut Eggnog (V), with nutmeg and rum-infused almond milk, are both innovative twists on quintessential holiday flavors.

Every flavor tells a story

Salt & Straw’s co-founder Tyler Malek spends about two hours a day with his five-person R&D team, which works full-time to develop the store’s unusual and delicious ice cream flavors.

“A lot of flavors start with an inspiration,” Malek said. For example, Salt & Straw discovered that black raspberry pairs well with matcha after interviewing the matcha producer about his product.

“The majority of the work goes into the story-hunting…the flavors, oddly enough, are easy after that. The stories are where we focus the most,” Malek said.

Our conclusion? The delicious ice cream at Salt & Straw makes it is a must-visit for anyone, no matter how adventurous their palette.

How to visit Salt & Straw

Salt & Straw is now open downtown at 250 University Avenue in Palo Alto.