Double Rainbow Ice Cream

Double Rainbow is a brand of ice cream I've vaguely known about for a while.  I think I likely first heard of them back when JetBlue first started serving ice cream in their Mint cabin, and always featured a local ice cream from the port of departure (you can read about my thoughts on some of those scoops here).  I remember being let down that they picked Double Rainbow for SF, when we had so many other better brands.  JetBlue did away with the local brands years ago now, and switched to a generic vanilla gelato (albeit with rotating toppings).  I kinda forgot about Double Rainbow.

And then I dined at Square Pies Guys (review coming soon!) and fell in love with their warm monkey bread desserts.  They don't serve the monkey bread with ice cream, but they also sorta randomly sell Double Rainbow ice cream (by the pint only), so, I always snagged a pint to pair with my dessert, and brought home the rest.   I've since explored more of their offerings.

The brand started in the 1950s with a pair of friends selling ice cream at Coney Island, before heading to San Francisco and starting a local business in 1976.  Since then, they've been Bay Area based, but distribute nationwide

"We work hard to craft the very best ice cream with no short cuts. The old fashioned way if you will, made with quality ingredients and no sacrifices. We believe in hard work and doing things the right way, the way we have done it for over 45 years. From classic flavors, to unique culinary delights, to the very best non dairy frozen desserts, there is a place for everyone at Double Rainbow."

They currently make about a dozen flavors, including a few dairy free (soy milk based), along with a single sorbet.  The flavors are fairly classic, no real unique offerings, although they at least have a handful with mix-ins that are broad appeal.

I've found the ice cream overall to be ok, but not great.  I have no reason to seek it out going forward but mostly happily consumed my pints.

French Vanilla.

"There’s nothing plain about this classic. Winner of Best in America, Double Rainbow’s French Vanilla is a perfectly crafted blend of the highest quality milk, cream, eggs and vanilla." -- SPG

"If you are a diehard purist, then we would like to introduce you to a true classic. Our award winning French Vanilla ice cream is sure to bring a smile to your face." -- Double Rainbow

I started basic.  Vanilla, which happens to be French vanilla.

French vanilla is rarely the type of vanilla ice cream I prefer.  Vanilla bean, old fashioned vanilla, even just generic vanilla ... I prefer them.  The extra egg yolk and more custardy nature of French vanilla just isn't my style.  But, I needed some vanilla ice cream to pair with a dessert at Square Pies Guys, and this was the only one available that made any sense.

As I kinda expected, I wasn't into it.  It was very classic French vanilla ice cream though, and if that is what you want, this is a very true to that style.  A far more yellow hue to it than whiter color of other vanilla styles, due to the extra yolk.  Flavor was a bit more, well, custardy than regular vanilla, although I didn't find the vanilla aspect to be very flavorful itself.  I didn't find it as creamy as I'd like either, and it didn't melt in a compelling way either, so even as a base ice cream, it was subpar for me.  I'm glad it wasn't the first flavor I tried from Double Rainbow, as I probably would not have ever tried other products from them.

2/5, as the creamy/melty nature wasn't great, and I wasn't into the flavor (the later of which is a preference thing).  

Square "Pint" Guys.
Special.

"Double Rainbow's milk chocolate and coffee ice cream base with crushed cookie crumb “pie crust” pieces and a fudge swirl. Super rich and decadent just like the classic Mississippi Mud Pie."

Next I moved on to the most exciting sounding flavor available at Square Pies Guys, dubbed Square "Pint" Guys.  Cute.  This is a special flavor made just for SPG, a play on Double Rainbow's regular Mississippi Mud Pie flavor, but with both chocolate and coffee ice cream as the base.

It was a stunner, which was obvious the moment I opened my first pint.  Just *look* at all that fudge! Yes, it was just as rich and decadent as they proclaimed it would be.

The fudge definitely dominated this pint. They called it "a swirl", but really, it was far more than what I'd call a swirl.  It was great - thick, rich, deeply chocolatey fudge, so I wasn't mad at it, but it took some digging to get actual ice cream.

The ice cream I did get to seemed to just be chocolate.  It was good, pretty standard chocolate ice cream ... but I'm not generally a chocolate ice cream person.  I did occasionally get a bite of coffee, and that I liked considerably more.

Square "Pint" Guys: within.

And finally, the mud pie aspect, crushed cookie crumb pieces.  It took some digging to get to these, and the top portion of my pint was just ice cream and fudge (with literally more fudge than ice cream, not that I'm complaining really as I loved that!).  But once I got deeper in, I did find the chocolate cookie pieces, that I guess were crushed cookie pie crust?  Anyway, they were fine, akin to Oreo though, which is never something I care for that much.

Overall, this was a decadent, reasonably good pint, and I appreciated that all I had to do was add some fresh strawberries and whipped cream, and basically had a sundae ready to go.  Low 4/5.

Strawberry Cheesecake / Strawberry w/ Cake.

"You don’t have to travel to the Big Apple for this classic dessert. We swirl our delicious cheesecake ice cream with strawberries and cheesecake pieces. Yum!" -- Double Rainbow

"Creamy strawberry ice cream laced with luscious berries and cheesecake pieces." -- SPG

I got this pint from Square Pies Guys, where they had it on the menu as "Strawberry w/ Cake", yet the pint I was handed said "Strawberry Cheesecake" (as does Double Rainbow's own website).  I assumed it was the same ice cream, until I then read the menu description SPG provided, compared to the one on Double Rainbow's own website.  Both noted the berries and cheesecake pieces incorporated into the base ice cream, but, SPG called the base simply strawberry and Double Rainbow called it cheesecake.  That's a pretty big difference.  I was far more interested in cheesecake ice cream with extra bits of cheesecake and strawberries than I was in strawberry ice cream with the same, as I just don't generally go for strawberry ice cream.

It did indeed seem to be a strawberry ice cream base.  It had fairly generous hunks of strawberry in it, which I found myself strangely enjoying, even though they were quite icy.  Really excellent strawberry flavor, but again, strawberry flavored base ice cream is not my preference.

Strawberry Cheesecake: Finally a cheesecake!

But what about the cheesecake?

It didn't seem to be in the base itself.  Perhaps it was a bit richer than a standard strawberry ice cream, but I wouldn't call out cheesecake specifically, and I still think it was likely just strawberry.  It was nicely creamy, and I enjoyed it more than most strawberry ice cream, but, I don't think the cheesecake was in the base.

After a bit of digging, a found a small cube of cheesecake. And then another.  And another.  Ok, it was loaded up with these little cubes.  They were strangely ... chewy?  But not in a bad way.  Just in an unexpected way.  Chewy is not a word I'd normally associate with cheesecake nor ice cream. They did not have a very strong cream cheese flavor, but were nicely rich. If you are looking for something very cheesecake forward, this is not it, but it was still enjoyable.  

3/5 for me because I rarely want a strawberry ice cream, but, it was interesting and a bit different.  I wouldn't seek it out again.

It's a Goody.

"Double Rainbow's classic, award winning Vanilla Ice Cream gets even more delicious with ribbons of peanut butter and rich fudge chips." -- SPG

"We start with our classic french vanilla ice cream, then we add ribbons of peanut butter and decadent fudge chips. And yes, it most certainly is a Goody! " -- Double Rainbow

This is Double Rainbow's best selling flavor.  I mean, it seems hard to go wrong with the chocolate and peanut butter combo after all.

It was basically exactly as you'd expect: a fairly standard base vanilla ice cream, flecked with little dark (?) chocolate chips, and swirls of decadent peanut butter.   The peanut butter was smooth and creamy, strong peanut flavor. The bites with peanut butter were fairly indulgent, the bites without were fairly plain, but I don't think you'd want anything heavier.  The chocolate element was fairly minimal, but I did appreciate the texture from the flecks.  The ice cream itself was average though, not super premium, not amazing melting qualities.  3.5/5.

Mango Tangerine Sorbet.

"Perfectly sweet mangos and tangy tangerines are blended together to create an exciting sorbet flavor."

I'm definitely NOT a sorbet person, but, I tried this for completeness, as it is the final flavor that SPG carries.

I was pleasantly surprised.  Yes, it was sorbet, so it was kinda icy, but it was so bright and fruity (although very sweet).  The mango and tangerine combo is surprisingly effective.  I would never want a bowl of this on its own, but, paired with super melty creamy vanilla ice cream and/or lots of whipped cream, it works well.  

3.5/5.

Update review: I've had this several more times, and am surprised by how much I like it.  Yes, it is icy sorbet, yes, it is very sweet, but, the fruity nature is just really good, and when you add plenty of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla, it just balances out so well.  3.5/5.

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United Club, Newark Airport (Gate Area C123)

Update Review, May 2026

This was my second visit to this lounge, the only lounge I had previously been to in Newark.  However, I got the chance to check out the much smaller UA Club near C74 AND the Polaris lounge (review soon!) on this day, and I think this one, near C123 quickly became my least favorite of the three, which surprised me as I thought it was pretty impressive before.  

I think it changed a lot from its early days.

No Hot Water for Tea.

There was no water anywhere in the lounge.  This meant no hot water for tea.

No Soft Drinks / Ice / Water.

It also meant no soft drinks of any kind, no water, no ice.  They had signs saying you could ask for water.  I did try to ask for sparkling water and was told nothing was available other than (tiny) bottles of still water.  Ooph.  This was clearly something going on, not a intentional change, but, it definitely set the tone.

Snacks.

The snack jars had decent enough sesame sticks, dried fruit bits, and very sweet plantain chips that seemed like they really were just banana chips (but were labelled plantains ...).

Sandwiches.

The deli area had three kinds of sandwiches and pickles, served from behind glass and plated to order, rather than the basic self-serve of the regular UA clubs.  I had liked the pulled pork one on my previous visit, but now they just had basic sandwiches (turkey, veggie, deli meat).

Salads.

There was no salad bar, but three premade salads.

Soup.

They had two soups of the day.

Cheese & Crackers.

The cheese and crackers lineup was standard UA Club blah, again, a surprise as the much smaller club down the concourse had an extensive cheese lineup at the C123 lounge.

Hot Dishes: Mains.

The hot dishes of the day were chicken or vegetarian tortellini.

Hot Dishes: Sides.

There was also rice and veggies.

Cookies.

The only dessert was chocolate chip cookies.  This surprised me, as the much smaller club near C74 had two kinds of cookies, and brownies, and even rice pudding (mmm, rice pudding!).

Original Review, September 2023

In June 2023, United opened a new lounge at the Newark airport, to a lot of fanfare.  Praise was actually fairly high, which surprised me, given that, well, it is a United domestic lounge.

I had the opportunity to visit recently, and, well, I was actually really impressed.  Impressed, by United.  For realz.

Now, it does NOT compare to a international first class lounge, or anything like that, no fine dining, but, the space is well designed, the food lineup is extensive, and things were actually tasty.

Setting

This lounge is located near gate C123, up a level from the gates.  The entry is quite simple, no human interaction required, simply scan a boarding pass and go.  The lounge is fairly huge.  And obviously, all shiny and new. and frankly, the nicest (non-Polaris) United lounge I've ever seen.  

As large as it was however, it was BUSY.  So full. Not really any seats available, even though really a sizable lounge.  It was impressive how many people it held, and just how much activity there was (2pm, Saturday).

I didn't check them out, but there are full shower suites available (a rare thing for a domestic lounge!), and a "wellness room", which I'm not sure even is.  The regular bathrooms were pleasant enough, well maintained, large as well.

Entry "Library".

When you enter, you enter through a library area, with no seating, and a simple water/fruit setup.  Fairly welcoming, really.

More Seating.

Past that is one big seating area, with sky lights, and a beverage station with coffee, water, and snack dispensers.

Spacious.

Continuing along, you reach the much bigger lounge area, with a variety of seating options, overlooking the airport.  Great for those who want to watch the planes come and go.  All seats had ample power outlets.

There is also dining specific seating, that I didn't seem to get a photo of.

Bar.

Another fixture is the looooong bar, with multiple bartenders working it.  I did not investigate the drink lineup on offer.

At the far end, out of sight here, is a full barista station, with made to order espresso drinks, Illy brand.

Food & Drink

In addition to the staffed bar and coffee bar for alcohol and caffeine, respectively, there are many self-serve coffee and tea stations, water bottle refill stations, and multiple Coke Freestyle machines with #allTheOptions.  I appreciated the beverage selection, and came prepared with empty water bottles to fill, but I did hear grumpy people complaining that there were no cans nor bottles available.

The food in this lounge far exceeded any other domestic United lounge I've been in.  I was actually very happy with my warm bbq pulled pork sandwich, delicious potato salad, buttered fresh corn on the cob, and a lovely side salad with shockingly good tomatoes.  BBQ vibes were very comforting and satisfying.  Perhaps not fine dining, but, comfort food done well has its place.

Snack Mix.

A simple thing, but I enjoyed the snack mix station (located separate from the buffet area, in a different drink/snack station).

The lineup the day I visited was: sesame sticks, "healthy trail mix" (which was 90% banana chips with a few bits of other dried fruit), and wasabi peas/edamame mix.  All were standard quality, not stale, and exactly what I like to munch on.

Basic, but, **** from me.

illy Cold Brew.

I did quite enjoy the illy cold brew, it was smooth, not bitter, seemed pretty high quality (although not nitro as advertised).  Served by the barista at the coffee bar, not self-serve.  ****.

Sandwiches.

I approached the buffet, and was, well, stunned.  Was I in an actual cafe, or United Club?!  

Yes, the first thing I encountered was sandwiches, but, they were in an actual nice looking display, were served to order, with your choice of pickles or olives added to the side of the plate.  Definitely a step above most domestic lounge sandwich offerings.

The options were a turkey sandwich, grilled vegetable, or bbq pulled pork.

I went for the pulled pork, and honestly, it was not bad.  Served warm, nice bbq sauce, some slaw, pork wasn't too fatty.  The bun was average, but the fillings, truly not bad.

I was stunned.  ***+.

Soup.

Two soups (chicken noodle, cream of broccoli) and crackers came next.  Didn't try, these are obviously not special.

Salad Bar.

Then came the salad bar, with two types of greens, marinated tomatoes that were actually ripe, fresh, and juicy, cucumbers, and farro.  I was stunned by the quality tomatoes.  They weren't mealy, generic tomatoes in any way.f

Salad Bar Part 2.

The next section had potato salad, edamame, shredded carrots, cooked broccoli, and shredded cheese.

I had the potato salad and really enjoyed it.  Nice size bits of egg in the mix with the potato, nice kick from spicy mustard, very creamy.  I'd be happy to buy this in a cafe/deli.  ****.

Cheese / Crackers / Chips / Salsa.

I didn't try the fairly boring looking cheese, or the chips and salsa, but I did appreciate the big juicy grapes.

Hot Foods: Rice, Beans, Pasta.

And then ... an actual hot food buffet.  In a domestic lounge.  Wow!

The first section had rice and beans, which you could definitely use to make some good nachos with the chips/salsa/cheese, along with a vegetarian pasta dish.  Everything was well labelled with ingredients and allergens.

Hot Foods: Corn on the cob, Chicken.

And then ... corn on the cob!  And a chicken dish.

I was pretty excited by the corn.  I enjoyed plenty of fresh corn on the cob during my August visit to the east coast, and this was one last taste of that.  Sure, it wasn't as fresh and flavorful as the corn I had been getting from the local farm, but it really wasn't bad.  Well cooked, not dried out, lightly buttered and seasoned.  Not amazing, but, certainly unexpected and enjoyable enough.  ***+.

Cookies, Brownies.

Desserts were a letdown, only cookies and brownies, generic United lounge offerings.  I didn't have either, and waited for my ice cream sundae on my flight.

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Saucy Bao

My office brings in two popup local businesses 3 days a week to do a lunch catered offering.  Many of these business have food trucks, or stalls at regular food festivals, although occasionally some have regular brick and mortar businesses too.  Most are relatively small and unknown; I don't think I've recognized the names of more than 1-2 over the years (ok, they brought Katz once, and that was epic).

It is a fun way to get some variety, and support local businesses, but generally the food isn't actually that good (Katz was the exception).  It often just isn't very fresh, which I think is the real problem, and they are working with hot boxes to keep things warm that they aren't familiar with, so it just doesn't bode all that well for anything served warm.  They never actually cook or prepare anything on-site as they do soo many covers in an exceptionally short period of time, so it isn't like a regular food festival where they do often do some prep there.  This is basically just serve, serve, serve, rapid fire.  They often sell out within 30 minutes, rarely lasting a full hour.  I've stopped trying most of them, but Saucy Bao caught my eye.

I swung by on the first day of the three day service, and the line, right at the 11:30am opening was crazypants long.  I gave up, and opted to arrive early the next day.  I was second in line at 11:10am.

Mock Storefront.

They decorated the area much like they would at a stall at a popup food festival.

Catering Setup.

The bao were kept in a hot box until serving time, and then brought out on the line in catering pans to serve.  It wasn't particularly effective; the buns were not very warm, many were falling apart.  They clearly just were not freshly made/steamed, which is to be expected, but not even being warm was a real let down.  The staff seemed to notice that they were not warm enough, and tried to turn up the hot box for future customers.

Menu.

The menu featured four kinds of buns: pork, beef, chicken, or vegan, along with three sauces (house sauce, chili oil, spicy mayo).  All had soy, green onion, garlic, sugar, salt, and sesame oil in the filling, along with oyster sauce (or, "vegetarian oyster-style sauce" in the case of the vegan one).  The chicken one also had carrot and corn in it (random), and the beef was supposed to have spinach and cabbage but didn't actually seem to.

We were allowed to pick three buns each, and could mix and match.  I got all but the chicken, as I truly dislike it.

Bao: beef, pork, veggie.

The trio all had the same tasting simple bao casing.  Soft, fresh enough, but basically average and not very noteworthy.  They all tasted the same, despite the beef one having an orange hue, and the veggie one having no pleats.  

Bao: Inside.

All were stuffed reasonably well with filling.

Beef:

This one was just ... odd.  The beef was a really dense, gristly meatball-esque.  The ingredients did not list mushroom, but I'm fairly sure there was mushroom bits in there (either that, or it was some really odd beef).  It was all just heavy, not very flavorful, and not great texture.  The ingredients said the beef one would have spinach, green onion, and cabbage, but I didn't find any of those things in it.  Just the not-so-good meatball.  My least favorite.  1/5.

Veggie:

The surprise hit of my trio.  I got this mostly because I needed a third choice and didn't want to double up on another, but it was actually by far the best.  The filling was very strong on the green onion (honestly, I tasted a lot of garlic, but that wasn't listed as an ingredient?), and had barely any mushroom (I saw two tiny bits, but didn't really taste nor get texture from them at all), but it was flavorful and fresh and juicy.  It went well with the sauces.  The only one I'd consider getting again, although I wouldn't seek it out.  Higher 3/5.

Pork:

The one I expected to like the most, as it is the most common type of bao I encounter and generally enjoy. But this I didn't care for at all.  It had the common unnaturally red bbq pork-esq filling, but the pork was incredibly fatty, and the flavor wasn't particularly compelling either.  The red color/sauce made me think bbq pork buns, but the flavor was very muted.  I tried a few bites hoping I got a bad first few bits of pork, but, no, this just wasn't very good.  1/5.

Chili Oil & House Special Sweet Garlic Sauce.

The business name is "Saucy Bao" after all, so they do have sauces.  These were normally drizzled on top of the buns, but I asked for mine on the side.  We were given a choice of chili oil or house special sweet garlic sauce, but I asked for both.  They also were drizzling on spicy mayo, which seemed odd to me - I adore spicy mayo, don't get me wrong, but it seemed like an odd thing to put on these style buns?

Chili oil:

The chili oil was fairly standard, slightly spicy (presumably sesame) oil.  It went reasonably well with the bao, as you'd expect.  3/5.

House special sweet garlic sauce:

The house special sauce was a complete surprise.  It was shockingly good.  It was indeed sweet and garlic-y, and, well, special.  It was made from a base of soy + oyster + vinegar + sesame oil, plus lots of bits of fresh minced garlic, and sugar.  They seemed to add sugar to everything (all the buns had it in the filling too), but here it worked really well.  The result was a sorta sweet and sour sauce, with a strong aroma, and really classic "Chinese food restaurant" taste.  It went well with the buns, and I suspect would go well with any kind of dumpling, steamed veggies, etc.  I really liked this.  4/5.

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Ruffles Chips

Update Review, 2026

As I discovered back in my original review in 2012, it turns out, the chips I grew up eating, Ruffles, just really truly aren't for me anymore.  But after another nearly 15 years, I decided to give them one more shot ... and, yeah, nope.  Not the chips for me, nostalgia and all.

Cheddar & Sour Cream.

"A blend of rich, velvety cheddar with smooth, creamy sour cream flavor."

I was so excited when I saw these at my office one day.  Sure, I remembered that I've really not enjoyed any Ruffles in recent years (my parents still exclusively eat them, and, meh), but I had such fond memories of this flavor.

The flavor still was nostalgic for me: creamy, cheesy, unique.  But underlying all that was the base Ruffles chip, which I just don't care for.  The taste is really greasy, they don't really taste like potatoes, I just don't care for them.  Maybe 3/5 nostalgic flavor, but still just a 1/5 for me because, Ruffles.

Baked Cheddar & Sour Cream.

Next up, baked. These tasted way too healthy.  Like compressed potato flakes.  I didn't care for the form factor, and even the "ridges" weren't as dominant as in real Ruffles with ridges.  Cheddar & sour cream flavor was ok.

1.5/5.

Original Review, 2012

My favorite chips back when I was a kid were Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream (or perhaps Cape Cod chips, those still hold a special place in my heart!).  I loved the addicting tang from the sour cream, and the cheesy goodness.

It was time to try them out again, along with their baked counterparts.  I appreciated them for the nostalgia, but, turns out, my tastes have changed.   I guess Frito-Lay brand chips in general just ... don't quite do it for me, as you've read about in all my other reviews too.

Baked! Cheddar and Sour Cream.

These were unlike any other baked chips that I've had in that they were still ruffles, so they had ridges.  Most baked chips don't have that going for them.

They were basically a healthier, more potato-y tasting Ruffle.  The sour cream flavor was very strong, the cheddar flavor was ok.  Not bad for a healthier chip, but not really something I want more of.

Cheddar & Sour Cream.

Now these, these are just like I remember. 

Strong flavor that I guess is cheddar and sour cream.  Orange coating.  Yup.

Update Review: Yup, exactly what I remember, except that I don’t really like them now :(

Update Review #2: Ok, they have their place.  I think it is alongside a burger or hotdog, at a cookout.  In any other setting I seem to dislike them, but there, they aren't bad.

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Salt & Straw Ice Cream

Update Review, 2023-2026

Over the past few years, I've had a chance to try a few more unique flavors from Salt & Straw when I ordered pints for delivery, and a few more standard crowd pleasing flavors while flying on Alaska Airlines flights.  I remain relatively impressed.  It isn't ice cream I'll go out of my way for, but I certainly enjoyed it.

Thanksgiving Series.

Oh be still my heart!  I finally took the plunge and ordered a couple pints from Salt & Straw's always interesting Thanksgiving lineup.  I'm so glad I did.

Parker House Rolls w/ Salted Buttercream.

"What's a holiday feast without warm, fluffy rolls? We carb-load by gently folding buttered rolls topped with flaky sea salt into a salted butter ice cream to double down on the savory, making this simple side the most coveted. It’s rich, it’s decadent, and it’s as classic as it gets."

"Everyone loves a bread basket, and ours is brimming with warm, fluffy buttered rolls. Slightly sweet, lightly toasted, and finished with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt, these melt-in-your-mouth dinner rolls are gently folded into a rich, sweet-and-salty butter ice cream. Simple yet irresistible, this classic starter gets everyone excited for what’s to come."

Ok, this flavor I was seriously excited for.  I do love a good Parker House roll (which, I have actually had at *the* Parker House, in Boston, at a wedding), and I love buttercream, and, um, who doesn't love butter, so this sounded fascinating and awesome all at once.  I couldn't wait to dive in.

I was disappointed when I read the ingredients though and saw that they use  King's Hawaiian Rolls.  Now, don't get me wrong, I like King's Hawaiian Rolls, but, they are not the same thing as Parker House rolls, and, Salt & Straw usually prides themselves in making all the individual components of their ice cream (e.g. even the Halloween candy ones have homemade versions of Kit Kats, etc).  I decided to trust them that these worked better than anything they could do in-house, as they clearly aren't ones for being lazy with custom ingredients.  But it is worth noting that these aren't really Parker House Rolls.

I was a bit disappointed when I lifted the lid as well.  This wasn't a pint with good "curb appeal", if you know what I mean.  No inclusions visible, no swirl of magic sauce to draw you in, no hunks of cookie dough or rubble beckoning you to dig for them.  It looked ... like plain ice cream.

But one taste, and I was hooked.  I will admit that one bite in, I decided that 1) I needed to pop it in the microwave for a few seconds as I couldn't possibly wait for it to soften to perfect eating consistency, and 2) I absolutely was not bothering with getting a bowl to scoop it into.  No, this was a dangerous kind of pint, the kind you just absolutely cannot put down, and are glad to have all to yourself in the secrecy of your own home.  One taste, and I needed to devour the entire thing, stat.

Because it was everything I wanted it to be and then some.  The base ice cream was sweet and salty.  Yes, it was ... butter ice cream base.  Rich, salty, decadent, and unique.  Perhaps just a touch too sweet, but, that is a minor downside.  It melted really nicely.  High quality, premium, *butter*, ice cream.  A+.

Move on to the inclusions, which were there, once I got under the top surface.  So yes, minor ding for the fact that I did have to get a full and complete spoonful in order to get mix-ins, but, very minor point, given that they were well distributed throughout otherwise, and, well, were fantastic.

Hunks of toasted King's Hawaiian rolls.  Yes, it is strange.  Yes, I worried they'd be soggy.  But they weren't.  The toasting must really help.  They were sweet, they were doughy, I wanted to keep digging for these pieces.  Speaking of strange, yes, then there are the hunks of buttercream.  They were about the same size as the hunks of bread.  They were sweet, buttery, salty.  They didn't melt in the same as the ice cream, so you could tell what was bits of buttercream, and what was ice cream.  

Put it all together and you have a premium base, unique flavors (for ice cream that is, the brain has no problem with understanding the taste of Hawaiian rolls or buttercream after all), fun textures, and hunks integrated throughout that you want to just keep digging and digging for.  And thus, yes, you have me, pint and spoon in hand, standing in the middle of the kitchen, riveted, and not capable of putting it down until an embarrassingly large portion of the pint was suddenly "missing".  I call that success, although, ooph, I had a bit of stomach ache right after.  

4.5/5, highly recommend.

Roasted Peach & Sage Cornbread Stuffing.

"In this classic twist on stuffing, we ditch bread cubes for molasses-y, crumbly cornbread cookies and bring that classic herbiness by steeping sweet cream with fresh sage. Dollops of tart peach jam simmered with warm spices and honey balsamic vinegar brighten it all up for a balanced, woodsy ice cream."

For my second pint, I considered several of the other Thanksgiving option, but the one that I finally decided on was the Roasted Peach & Sage Cornbread Stuffing.  I adore stuffing, so although the roasted peach didn't seem that interesting (nor really that Thanksgiving inspired?), I hoped the stuffing would be compelling (of course, it is cornbread cookies, not actual bread hunks, in this one).  And yes, they do make their own jam, and cornbread cookies, for this.  The balsamic sounded fascinating too.

It was indeed a fascinating flavor.  Not necessarily delicious, but, fascinating.

The swirls of peach jam were generous, and intensely flavorful.  The peach jam was very, very sweet, but also incredibly spiced, and acidic.  Sweet and tart and spiced, all at once.  Huge punches of flavor.   I didn't quite care for the flavor, but I give them credit for the intensity, and the huge gobs of it.  

Then there were the gritty bits of cornbread cookie, that was supposed to remind me of stuffing.  I didn't really find hunks of cookie as I hoped, just this touch of grittiness throughout.  I liked the texture actually, but I wanted to actually taste the cornbread element more, and wanted bigger hunks to contrast against the so very sweet jam.  

I did love the sage that really came through on the finish.  Just as they say, very woodsy, but in an extremely pleasant way.

I found the journey of eating this unexpected, and it was certainly a unique flavor, but I never found myself wanting to go back an extra scoop of this.  The jam was just too much.  I'll give it a generous 3/5 for creativity and the sage, but otherwise, a letdown flavor for me.

Sea Salt w/ Caramel Ribbons.

"Our reimagination of the classic. We spike our cream with just enough Guatemalan fleur de sel to bring out its nuances, then drizzle in ribbons of our hand-burned caramel."

The first time I flew with Alaska Airlines, the flavor was Salt & Straw's most famous, sea salt with caramel ribbons, which I've had before, and loved.

It was served quite solid, so it took a while to become possible to eat it.  But once it softened, I dug right in.  It matched my memory of the flavor - nice quality base ice cream, and TONS of very gooey, very sweet, caramel.  I added my own fresh strawberries and sprinkles, and quite enjoyed.  And then I enjoyed an extra, which I volunteered to take off the flight attendants hands (so generous of me, right?).  She happily obliged, given how many extra there were.  4/5.

Strawberry Rhubarb w/ Cinnamon Crumble.
(Alaska Airlines).

On my next flight, I was quite happy to see that we had the strawberry rhubarb with cinnamon crumble flavor.  I don't think this is sold directly by Salt & Straw to consumers, I think it is a special collaboration with Alaska.  The ice cream featured swirls of strawberry rhubarb jam and cinnamon snickerdoodle cookie pieces.

It was served quite hard, but it did melt nicely eventually.  It was fabulous ice cream, smooth, rich, creamy, and the fruity swirls of jam were quite flavorful.  I liked the texture from the softened snickerdoodle bits.  It was a flavor I could enjoy on its own without adding too much to it (although, of course, I did add some fresh strawberries too).

4/5.

Pumpkin Spiced Latte Cake.
(Alaska Airlines).

My next Alaska flight was on Sept 1, and it just changed out to ... pumpkin spice latte cake.  Doh.  I'm sure this excited some folks, but August had pistachio with ricotta ripple that people raved about and sounded great to me, and I'm not really one for pumpkin spice.  But, still, I do like Salt & Straw, so of course I tried it.  This is a flavor made only for the airline I believe.

And ... yeah.  It was aggressively pumpkin spiced, which I think is probably great if you like those spices, no doubt, but for me it was waaaay too much nutmeg and things I don't generally like.  I didn't taste anything latte about it either, no coffee flavor at all (which was fine, but an odd name for a flavor if it's really just pumpkin spice cake ...).  The cake element was ... interesting.  It seemed like pulverized tiny bits of cake that basically just made it slightly soggy and sorta like sawdust?  But the flavor really was true to name in the cake part, you couldn't miss this texture.

It was served at a decent temperature, it still required a bit of time to soften nicely, but wasn't a total rock.  No freezer burn.  Good quality ice cream base.  But just not a flavor for me. 2/5 for the flavor, 3.5/5 for the quality.

Peppermint Cookies & Cream.
(Alaska Airlines).

Winter brought peppermint.  It was ... ok.  Mine wasn't properly sealed, and it was a bit freezer burnt.  I wanted more peppermint flavor.  I feel like a broken record here, but, I don't really like cookies & cream in general (really, I don't care for Oreos), so I wished it was something more like mint chip, but I think this is likely a crowd pleaser.  

Original Review, 2022

In 2017, something exciting happened in San Francisco.  A new ice cream shop came to town.  Not that San Francisco has a shortage of great ice cream, ranging from the always busy Bi-Rite, to daring flavors at Humphrey Slocombe, to liquid nitrogen darling Smitten Ice Cream, to my personal favs Mitchell's, Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous, and the now shuttered Shakedown ... Yes, San Francisco has plenty of great ice cream.  But a new place was coming, and, wow, it was surrounded by hype.

Salt & Straw was coming to town.  Those who had discovered it in other cities along the West Coast (mostly, Portland) raved about it.  I remember when I was in the LA area once a year or so before someone telling me I *had* to go there.  I remembered it due to the sorta odd name (which, isn't really odd, it turns out, it refers to the basics of old school ice cream making, where you use rock salt to lower the freezing point of water, and store ice cream in insulating straw).  Salt & Straw was known for their very interesting flavors. 

"We’re inspired by interesting ingredients. A local creamery’s habanero-laced goat cheese. Herbaceous and citrusy liqueur from a craft distillery. Wild nettles foraged  in Washington. Our Grandma Malek’s famous almond brittle. Every ingredient has a story; we’re trying to find the most intriguing angle."

Salt & Straw really means it when they say they are inspired by interesting ingredients.  The flavor line up at Salt & Straw is constantly changing, with new flavors monthly.  Yes, they have some classics that remain in all scoop shops, but otherwise, they are constantly trying out crazy combinations, some exclusive to particular locations.  The flavors always sound bold, unique, and, well, not things you'd normally think of putting into ice cream, like Duck Cracking with Cherry Preserves.  Ras el Hanout & Pickled Rose Petal Jam.  Roasted Beets & Humboldt Fog.  Some, I'm sure, are more successful than others.  Their tame, everyday flavors include Arbequina Olive Oil and Pear & Blue Cheese.

All the ice cream made by Salt & Straw is super premium, meaning, made with as high percent butterfat as they can get into it (using cream from Scott Brothers Dairy).  Of course they make all their own candies, caramels, etc that go into the pints, unless of course they are part of one of their many collaboration projects with local artisan bakeshops and the like.  The price is higher than many other brands, but, the quality and exclusiveness commands it.

Fillmore Storefront.

The first location in SF was on Fillmore Street, right in a prime shopping and strolling area.  And, yup, they were quite successful, now with multiple SF locations, including another in Hayes Valley.

If you don't want to visit a shop though, they deliver all over the city on every major food delivery platform, and ship nationwide.

Side note: Want some ice cream delivered? For free?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]
  

My first visit was to the Fillmore St location, but I've since ordered pints for delivery.

Pints.

Because the flavors change every few weeks, Salt & Straw doesn't develop specific labels for any pints, rather, all pints come hand labelled, regardless if you get them at a shop, at a grocery store, or shipped nationwide.  The labels add a small batch, limited, exclusive feel to the ice cream.

Logo.

Each pint has the Salt & Straw logo on top, proudly proclaiming their Portland heritage.

Regular Flavors

Each Salt & Straw location has about a dozen standard flavors, always including 1-2 vegan options, and their signature flavors.  These are generally consistent across locations, but there are a few variations.

I've tried several from this lineup, and, wow, I see why they are fixtures on the menu.

Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons.

"Our signature flavor combines Guatemalan Fleur de Sel ice cream with ribbons of housemade, hand-burned caramel for a positively obsession-worthy blend of salty and sweet. We created this ice cream with Mark Bitterman, the ‘selmelier’ behind The Meadow, a family of world renowned salt shops in Portland and New York. He literally wrote the book on the subject—James Beard Award-winning cookbook Salted—and has aided many of our saltier ice cream experiments since 2011."

Oh, wow.

I saw "sea salt" and "caramel" in the name, and thought, "yup, another trendy salted caramel product".  I'm glad I didn't pay much attention to the full description, because the result is that I went in expecting simple vanilla ice cream with a caramel swirl that I'd inevitably review as "I didn't really detect the promised salt", like, well, most salted caramel products.

But not this.  Um, no.  This was, indeed, as named, "Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons".  The base ice cream is not vanilla.  It is salt.  Yes, salt ice cream.  It is a beautiful flavor, really quite unlike anything I've had before (including the salt ice cream from Alden & Harlow that wasn't remarkable).  Smooth, creamy, premium ice cream, amazing salt flavor.

And then there are the caramel ribbons.  Now, these ... these are just too sweet for me.  But the consistency is perfect, gooey in just the right way.  A little of the caramel was wonderful with the salt flavored base, but, the distribution was just a bit too high for me, resulting in a very salty product.

Still, wow, what a flavor.

****.

Chocolate Gooey Brownie.

"This one hits the spot when those extra-urgent chocolate desires kick in. An indulgent, almost hot-chocolatey chocolate ice cream lays the foundation for hearty chunks of chewy chocolate brownies made with homemade marshmallow fluff to keep them extra soft—even when frozen in ice cream. It’s the ultimate comfort food."

Next I went chocolately, opting for the very tempting sounding chocolate gooey brownie.

This was the least interesting of the ice creams I tried (even once I dug away from the freezer burn on top, doh!).

The chocolate base wasn't really indulgent at all, it was just mild milk chocolate, not nearly as intense as I wanted.  The brownies were well distributed throughout, good size chunks, and I did appreciate that they were soft and not icy, but there wasn't anything particularly special about them.

I just found this flavor boring and disappointing, and tried it several times, thinking I just wasn't in "the mood" originally, but, it never really delivered on what I was looking for.

***.

Collaborations

Salt & Straw is constantly doing collaborations with other merchants.  Sometimes they'll choose a bakery, and do flavors inspired by the signature cakes, and of course have chunks of cake from the inspiration bakery in them.   Other times it is a particular chef, and they team up to create unique flavors.  In the summer, it might be a farmer they pair with to create vegetable forward flavors.  Every month, a new theme or partnership, and more exciting flavors to explore (I'm still sad I missed out on the Mushroom Muddy Buddies made with a mix of different wild mushrooms!).

The Cookie Monster.

“Cookie and cream with 9 dips of cholttate and 6 dips of lavendr all over with cholttate eyes with whiped cream hair.” -by Corion from Ms. Coombs Class, Dr. William L Cobb Elementary

This flavor was done as part of a collaboration with local schools to design flavors, and the winners had their flavors actually made into ice cream.  This one was dubbed "The Cookie Monster"

The translation into a flavor by Salt & Straw was a blue colored ice cream (vanilla), with chunks of fudge and Oreo cookies.  This photo really didn't come out well, as it was fairly brilliant blue.

I'm not sure if it was my mind playing tricks on me, but I really, really thought the ice cream was frosting flavored.  It was super creamy, and tasted exactly like the blue frosting on a Carvel cake.  Hence, my concern that it was just my brain playing tricks on me.  It tasted ... blue!  Sweet and blue, and really quite enjoyable.  That couldn't be just vanilla ... could it?

I'm never one for Oreo or cookies and cream inspired things, as I generally don't care for the texture, but this didn't bother me too much.  I liked the fudge chunks more, and thought the chocolate was a nice compliment to the sweeter ice cream.  The chocolate here was more successful than in the brownies in the Chocolate Gooey Brownie pint.  Clearly quality chocolate.

Overall, I really did like this, and would happily have more.  Thank you, to this random elementary school kid for the inspiration.

****.

The Spooktacular Series: October 2018.

In October, the flavors all tend to take on a Halloween slant.  There is one with real bugs, one with blood pudding, and one loaded with candy. You know, all your typical Halloween features.   But I was drawn in by the "Essence of Ghost", even though the description didn't tell me anything about what it actually was.

 

Essence of Ghost (October Special):

"Do the wisps of ghouls spooking a foggy graveyard give you the chills? This frigid sherbet might just bring you back to that memorable moment of shivering pleasure. Jets of tasty gray pass through the deep foggy sherbet. Each bite of this sherbet delivers a shrill set of flavors that are bitter, sweet, and slightly smoky. This one is so creepy and delicious, it’ll give you chills.".

When I ordered it, I was warned, "it has scotch, that's ok, right?"  I was suddenly even *more* interested.  Of course that was ok!

The look of this ice cream was not exactly appealing, a shade of gray, not the color food normally is.  But the taste?  Wonderful.  All the smoky qualities of scotch, in an ice cream.  It was fairly savory, only a little sweet.  I loved the smokiness.

A unique flavor, and I really enjoyed it, but wished for some texture from chunks of ... something.  I'm still not sure what would pair well with it, but I wanted bits of something inside.

****.

Pots of Gold & Rainbows.

"For this legendary technicolor favorite, we hand-sort the luck from the charms, steeping the whole-grain cereal in cream for that bottom-of-the-bowl sweetened milk before stirring in mountains of rainbow ‘mallows."

I don't remember what the theme or collaboration was the month that brought about Pots of Gold & rainbows.  

This isn't a flavor I'd ever go out of my way to purchase a pint of.  It sounded like a "cereal milk" base, with, well, Lucky Charms.   I ... don't really like Lucky Charms.  This flavor is all about, well, Lucky Charms.  They even make it with real Lucky Charms cereal.  And yes, they do just use the now standard cereal milk technique to steep the milk in the cereal base (made famous by the original from Milk Bar in New York, which of course I've reviewed before).

That said, I do like cereal milk ice cream (sometimes, but not Ben & Jerry's Frozen Flakes™ version, and not the Frokzen Kuhsterd Cinnamon Toast Crunch), and so when a friend offered a pint in exchange for some protein mug muffins (she ordered a case of this online, I had a case of the muffins and they were far too healthy for me), it seemed like a winning trade.  So I gave it a try.

My first impression?  Like all of the other Salt & Straw ice cream I had before, it is clearly super premium high quality ice cream.  And, yes, wow, it tasted exactly like Lucky Charms! Which, I mean, it should, but wow!  The flavor was remarkable in that way.

And if you know Lucky Charms, then you know this means it is very sweet, marshmallowy, and slightly fruity.  Lucky Charms aren't my favorite thing, but this turned out to be a pretty fun, tasty,evolution of the "cereal milk" ice cream fad.  I enjoyed trying it, and certainly polished off the pint with no issue, but, I wouldn't get the flavor again.

***+.

[ No Photo ]

Mt Tam Cheese with Toasted Acme Bread

"Cowgirl Creamery makes some of the best artisan cheese in America, inspiring the perfect cheese plate in ice cream form to show it off. We blend their Mt Tam cheese—rind and all— into the base of this flavor to capture both the funky notes and creamier-than-creamy richness of this perfect cheese. We then swirl in homemade sour cherry and apricot jam and bits of famed Ferry Building bakery Acme Bread’s Fruit and Walnut Bread that we toast and candy so they stay crunchy in every scoop!"

When Salt & Straw partnered with two San Francisco Ferry Building staples, Acme Bread and Cowgirl Creamery, I was all in.  I knew both the base products very, very well, so this one sounded far to fascinating not to try.  

Cowgirl Creamery's Mt. Tam is one of my favorite cheeses (my first real introduction to the fact that triple creams were, in fact, not *all* just called brie, lol).  Acme Bread was a foundation of my life when I first moved to San Francisco.  And yup, I love sour cherry jam.  Basically, I love all the things in this flavor, but, uh, normally they come on a cheese plate, not an ice cream cone.

It was as strange and awesome as it sounded.  A savory flavor, salty, funky in all the right ways from the Mt. Tam.  I love that they included the rind in it.  It was what I expected the famed burrata ice cream from Dominque Ansel to taste like (but sadly, I didn't taste burrata in it at all!).  The sweet jam was a perfect pairing, and although you didn't find distinct chunks of bread, it added a texture much like a graham cracker swirl.

This was fairly awesome, and really something different.  For those times when you can't decide if you want a cheese platter or "real" dessert, turn to this!

****.

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