Salt & Straw — Restaurant in Los Angeles

While I have yet to go to the OG Portland location, I have now managed to come to the Larchmont Salt & Straw several times! While street parking nearby can sometimes be a challenge in this area, I have always been able to find a spot within a couple of blocks. There is almost always a line on the sidewalk for this place, but thankfully the line moves pretty quickly.

They don't have a sample limit here, which is good because the first time I came I asked for six different samples :P I couldn't help it; everything sounds so good here! So my friend and I decided to do a tasting flight, which gives you four flavours. They say they give you small scoops, but they are pretty generous with the serving so we were quite full afterwards ;) For our flight we got the following: CALIFORNIA PEACHES WITH LEMON CRUMBLE *SEASONAL -- We were so confused when we got this one because it tasted very cinnamon-y so we thought they had accidentally given us the Cinnamon Apple Doughnuts. But they assured us this was the peaches one, even though it tasted completely different from the sample we had tried. It was still good, just not what we had been looking for. SUMMER SWEET CORN BUTTERMILK *SEASONAL -- This was our favourite! I'm sad it is seasonal because this was really good. Light and refreshing and delicious! TOMATO WATER OJAI OLIVE OIL SHERBET -- "Tomato water" is the perfect name for this. You wouldn't think it would taste that good, but this was my second favourite because it was so completely refreshing! AVOCADO AND STRAWBERRY SHERBET -- The avocado flavour was very subtle while the strawberry jam swirls were a bit overpowering. I did not like this one as much as I thought I would.

Since then, however, I have always gotten two flavours in a cup. It's easier that way and I don't have to share :P Their classic flavours are always good--they are classic for a reason. The seasonal ones can be a hit or miss. This past summer they did a collaboration with several famous chefs in the area and I did not enjoy those flavours. The good news is that, like I said before, there are no limits on samples so you can pretty much sample everything until you find the flavours...

The cousin decided to take me to Larchmont during a west coast visit on a weekday evening, since she could get her juice fix, and myself being a ice cream fiend could try this spot that is very popular.

Location - Paid parking along the strip, maybe you can luck on out on someone who paid but still left 30 mins left on the meter. Not much places to sit if they are packed. But there are some benches here and there such as the paid parking lot across the street.

Service - The staff on hand was all smiles handling all the customers, even with all the foot traffic still coming in after each other. The young woman assisting us was honest about the flavorings I feel, and suggested that since we were ordering something pretty rich to go a little basic on the ice cream choice. And while she was prepping our order, one of the guys behind the cashier asked us if we wanted some more samples even after we paid for our order. Might as well, right?

Food -

Blondie sundae with vanilla ice cream - A little on the small side as far as sundae's go, but it's big on taste vs just serving size. My cousin enjoyed the diced up pretzel pieces to add some contrast of taste to the very sweet caramel syrup. I would have to agree that the caramel was the most rich tasting portion of this treat. The blondie was well hidden underneath the vanilla ice ceam we opted for, so it took a couple of bites before we could pair a spoonful with the ice cream. It itself was cooked just right, soft that it was still chewy but not overly done where the plastic spoon was still good enough to cut into it.

Summary - They have a bit more fancy ice cream flavors than what I'm used to from seeing on what my SoCal yelper friends posts, but I'm a fan just because the customer service...

New favorite ice cream place. They have a lot of interesting flavors. I went for the Stumptown Coffee & Compartes Love Nuts and the Sea Salt Ice Cream with Caramel Ribbons. Both of these flavors were AMAZING. I was initially pretty skeptical about the sea salt ice cream. Salty ice cream doesn't sound good to anyone. But somehow, they made it work. The caramel goes perfectly with the salty flavor, and adds just the right amount of sweetness to balance it out. Loved this flavor! The stumptown coffee flavor I knew I would like. I'm a huge fan of coffee-flavored ice cream, and I knew that the addition of nuts would make it even better. The nuts went so well with the coffee flavor! The ice cream in both flavors were amazingly rich and creamy, but not overwhelmingly so. I'm definitely coming back to try some of their other flavors.

Price-wise, this place is kind of expensive. But I think it's totally worth it. If you want two flavors, you can either do a split scoop or a double scoop. I went for a double scoop and I regretted it (just a little). Them scoops here are BIG. The double scoop in a cup was just over $6. I believe a single scoop is $4.25? Something like that. I've heard their cones are really good as well. I can't wait...