Salt & Straw: Portland Ice-Creamery Goes SoCal

The lines were lengthy for the Larchmont Boulevard shop's opening.

September? It's a scorcher in Southern California, especially around the middle of the month, when even the beach cities can see a "9" in their daily high temperatures. (Spoiler: It's the first number in the temperature.)

That's when we dream of cool, rainy places and cool, moist treats. And when those treats and places dovetail -- say, like Portland's famous Salt & Straw ice cream -- and when they pop up, almost magically, in our hot city during the hottest weekend of the year, well... It can feel as if we Angelenos, as a collective populace, possess the power to summon the very stuff of our chilly-cold fantasies.

The fantasy was made real on Sept. 13 when the first Salt & Straw location bowed on Larchmont Boulevard. True, one of the Northwest's most famous dessert has shown its creamy face around our city in smaller cameos -- Joan's on Third carries the sweet stuff -- but the Larchmont scoopery is the Oregon favorite's first full-on LA outpost.

It's debut did not go unnoticed, to the tune of lines on the lengthy side. But should we put the wait down to the fact that weekend #1 timed well with the roastiest heat wave of the year? Let's.

And let's give some sugar to the flavors, which think local and fresh and rich and decadent. California Peaches with Lemon Crumble, Cinnamon Apple Donuts, Summer Sweet Corn Buttermilk, GRAND POPPY Sherbet, and Chocolate Almond & Caramel Cheesecake.

True, Cinnamon Apple Donuts is a pretty autumnal flavor, but it is also true that fall is just days away. And surely those Portland ice cream makers know that we still eat ice cream in the fall 'round about Los Angeles?

Welcome, Salt & Straw, and may sweet fans continue to queue long after these toasty temps have settled back down into autumn's-coming weather.

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