photo by Posy Quaterman
Audio By Carbonatix
Dallas was enamored when Salt & Straw officially opened last week at 2323 N. Henderson Avenue. We haven’t had a scoop of ice cream this groundbreaking in a hot second.
Salt & Straw is an ice cream shop that was founded in Portland by cousins Kim and Tyler Malek. There are over 50 locations across both coasts, but for the shops’ first location in Texas, the duo chose Dallas. And next up is Fort Worth.
The menu
It’s best known for its rotating monthly flavors, called series, that are each built around a theme. Right now, the theme is called “The May Flowers Series,” and the current flavors are jasmine milk tea, almond stracciatella, strawberry tres leches, rhubarb crumble with toasted anise, saffron milk with wildflower honey and a vegan coffee chamomile sherbet.
Summer pies, Halloween, Thanksgiving, cereal-sly delicious and upcycled foods have been series themes in the past. You can always expect something new, interesting or unconventional on the menu.
Salt & Straw did a collab with Taco Bell late last year where they made a “tacolate”, which they described as “cinnamon-ancho ice cream packed into a hand-pressed, sog-resistant waffle cone taco, then dunked in dark chocolate and studded with crunchy puffed quinoa.”
It’s served with mango jalapeño and wildberry cinnamon sauce to crunch it, drip it and devour it, as per the item’s custom slogan. It was so successful that the collab is back for a second run, and you can get the ice cream taco online in packs of six, or at any local Salt & Straw location.
At one point, they also did a collab with Grillo, but we’ve talked about questionable pickle collabs once this month, and that’s already one too many.
Apart from what’s shiny and new at the shop, there is a core ice cream menu that is always available. Take a peek at it here. Chocolate gooey brownie, double-fold vanilla (because we don’t single fold in this city) and salted, malted chocolate chip cookie dough are three of the shop’s regular bestsellers.
For Salt & Straws local debut, it’s working with local brands including Tecovas and Fritos® for limited-time offerings.
It will serve a FRITOS® Pie Sundae while supplies last, following the grand opening. The salty-sweet creation takes candied Fritos crumbles with a touch of heat and tops them with Salt & Straw’s Double Fold Vanilla ice cream, tangy whipped sour cream, a toasty cheddar tuile crisp, chipotle fudge and green sprinkles.
Both Texas Salt & Straw locations (Dallas and Fort Worth) will also have two exclusive, Texas-inspired flavors. The first flavor is cream cheese jalapeño jelly. It takes tangy and creamy cream cheese ice cream, ribbons it with sweet and spicy jalapeño jelly, and studs with a buttery Ritz Cracker cookie crumble.
The second flavor is a paloma sherbet made with red grapefruit and reposado tequila, swirled with chili-lime curd. That, and the soft serve margaritas, will be the treat of the summer.
Over there in Cow Town
If you live in Fort Worth and feel left out after the Dallas opening, Salt & Straw will open on Friday, May 22, at 1305 W. Magnolia Ave.
The shop will host an opening weekend celebration where the first 50 guests will receive surprise gift cards with values ranging from an ice cream flight to an entire year’s worth of ice cream.
On Saturday, May 23, at the Fort Worth shop, you can purchase a single scoop and get a kids scoop for free, and also enjoy face paintings by Karla Menéndez of KaLiam Party Faces from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Salt & Straw, 2323 N Henderson Ave., Monday – Sunday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Salt & Straw, 1305 W. Magnolia Ave., Monday – Sunday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (opening Friday, May 22)
