SAN DIEGO — I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream, as a new location of the inventive scoop shop Salt & Straw is opening in San Diego this week.
The store is set to open in the Westfield UTC mall on Friday, making it the third location of the Portland-based ice cream brand in America’s Finest City.
To celebrate, Salt & Straw’s head ice cream innovator and co-founder, Tyler Malek, teamed up with San Diego chef and Top Chef contestant, Brian Malarkey, to whip up a special flavor that will be available exclusively during opening weekend: roasted beets & goat cheese.
The flavor, which first debuted in Salt & Straw’s 2018 Guest Chef Collaboration Series, features beet ice cream ribboned with a roasted beet and apple jam and swirled together with chevre goat cheese gelato. The ice cream, served topped with candied walnuts, will be available in limited quantities for the grand opening while supplies last.
In addition to the special flavor, Salt & Straw will feature its Upcycled Food Series on the menu through the month of June, in honor of the grand opening. This menu features five flavors created in collaboration with brands focused on reducing food waste in the U.S.
The Upcycled Food Series includes:
- Day-Old Bread Pudding and Chocolate Ganache: A custard bread pudding ice cream flavor created in collaboration with Urban Gleaners, a Portland-based nonprofit. The ice cream is topped with house-made chocolate ganache.
- Cacao Pulp and Chocolate Stracciatella Gelato: Created in partnership with the cacao brand, Blue Stipes, this flavor is a cacao gelato striped with ribbons to dark chocolate straciatella.
- Lemon Curd and Whey: A tart, tangy gelato flavor infused with whey-based Lemon Ginger Tonic from the partner brand, Spare Food Co.
- Salted Caramel and Okara Cupcakes: This flavor folds plant-based pantry staples and bits of vegan caramel dark chocolate cupcakes made from okara flour — a flour made from soy milk that is usually thrown out when making the milk — into a salted coconut oat milk ice cream.
- Malted Chocolate Barley Milk: This flavor uses chocolate barely milk to create a candied fig ice cream. According to the company, it’s the first ever allergen-free ice cream at Salt & Straw that is not a sorbet.
The new UTC ice cream shop is located at the north end of the mall, facing La Jolla Village Drive. The location will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day.
Other existing Salt & Straw outposts are located in Little Italy and Del Mar.
