There is always a reason to eat ice cream. It can be a celebration, a consolation, or just a bit of punctuation on an Autumn afternoon.
We are pretty well spoiled with some top notch ice cream choices in Culver City, and now a Portland favorite has joined the sweet sorority, maybe even bringing the game up a level. Salt and Straw in now open at the Culver Steps.
Many people thinking about food right now are looking at recipes for Thanksgiving, so maybe you’re thinking of pie, perhaps pie a la mode? The newest location for Salt and Straw Ice Cream has your Thanksgiving-ice cream connection thinking in new directions, with flavors that are more than dessert.
With the official opening date today, Nov. 19, 2020, the Culver City shop will be scooping up a four-course Thanksgiving feast reimagined as ice cream flavors: Cranberry Juniper Sorbet featuring cranberries with juniper for a refreshing and bright tang, Sweet Potato Casserole with Maple Pecans with baked sweet potatoes and brown sugar and cinnamon, swirled with whipped maple fluff and crunchy pecan praline, (because we all know that’s a dessert just disguised as part of dinner,) Roasted Peach & Sage Cornbread Stuffing, a complex, deeply fl ice cream steeped with sage, featuring molasses-y cornbread cookies and dollops of tart peach jam, and (the ultra Thanksgiving flavor ) Salted Caramel Thanksgiving Turkey, house made caramel ice cream stuffed with pieces of crispy, roasted turkey skin.
If Turkey ice cream or Stuffing ice cream sounds odd, ask for a sample; you may be surprised. I say this as someone who has enjoyed garlic ice cream, served in a half an avocado, so perhaps a little adventure would be fun.
The sidewalk facing out to Culver Boulevard has the shop entrance, a big friendly space with plenty of room to consider your flavor options and keep a polite distance from your fellow ice cream lovers.
If you are looking for your a la mode, the companion scoop to a traditional holiday pie, we recommend the Double Fold Vanilla as a take home pint. It’s a deep vanilla with an intense bottom note than can sit next to any pumpkin pie with pride. As a passionate vanilla ice cream fan, I can honestly say I’ve rarely tasted one better.
Maybe dessert isn’t pie. If it’s an ice cream feast, there are dozens of flavors to consider; Honey Lavender – an intense, potent floral with dark sweetness blended through. Or Chocolate Gooey Brownie (which I admit to wanting to scoop on top of a freshly baked brownie just for absolutely overdoing it.) Or, the final treat at the end of the feast, Cold Brew Coffee with Cashew Praline.
When things are challenging, an ice cream cone or just a scoop can be that little treat that brightens things a bit. Or maybe just the best thing about a sunny afternoon strolling downtown.
Judith Martin-Straw
(No relation)
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