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Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, Salt & Straw is opening their newest location on Friday, May 26 in the Collection section of the Westfield UTC Mall where it joins Pacific Catch, BenGong’s Tea, and Pazza Market & Cucina. This is the third location in San Diego for the Portland-based company, which now has 20 locations across the country including Little Italy and One Paseo.
In celebration of the opening, Salt & Straw’s co-founder and head ice cream innovator Tyler Malek is bringing back a special flavor that he first created in 2018 with chef Brian Malarkey (Herb and Wood, Animae) for Salt & Straw’s guest chef series. It features beet ice cream spiraled with roasted beet and apple jam, mixed with a chevre goat cheese gelato, and speckled with candied walnuts.
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The opening menu will also feature five flavors from their Upcycled Food Series, which will remain on the board until the end of June. Bringing focus to food waste by finding innovative ways to develop recipes for ingredients that might go uneaten or unsold, the special flavors include day-old bread pudding and chocolate ganache, cacao pulp and chocolate stracciatella gelato, and lemon curd and whey.
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Two vegan options include salted caramel and okara cupcakes and the malted chocolate barley milk, which is also the first allergen-free non-sorbet style of ice cream for the company.
Collaborations have been key to store launches for Salt & Straw., who’s worked with local purveyors like Thorn Brewing, Keys Creek Lavender, and Eclipse Chocolate. Salt & Straw has created a menu for their Student Inventors Series with Washington Elementary School and the UTC store will be collecting monetary donations on behalf of the nearby Doyle Elementary School.
A spokesperson told Eater, “At this time, there are no immediate plans to open more scoop shops right now, but Salt & Straw loves San Diego and has had such a great response from their neighbors, so they are always open to finding more ways to bring their ice cream to the community.”
