Portland’s iconic ice cream shop, Salt & Straw, has officially landed in Texas, and they’ve arrived with a bang. The artisan ice cream makers debuted their first Texas location on May 15 in Dallas’ Knox-Henderson neighborhood at 2323 N. Henderson Ave. A second shop followed May 22 on Fort Worth’s Magnolia Avenue at 1305 W. Magnolia. The highly anticipated Dallas openings drew ice cream fanatics in herds, with fans camping out for first scoops of the beloved brand.
Founded by cousins Kim and Tyler Malek, Salt & Straw had been eyeing Texas since 2018. Pandemic delays slowed progress, but when both the Dallas and Fort Worth spaces fell into their lap, the duo jumped at the opportunity.
“We really like to be in an area where people can walk around and enjoy their ice cream, and we just thought this would be perfect,” Kim says.
Salt & Straw arrives just as Henderson Avenue is in the midst of transformation. Long known as a nightlife and restaurant enclave, the neighborhood is shifting towards embracing retail and family-friendly foot traffic, while maintaining its El Chapo shot-fueled late-night energy. A forthcoming mixed-use development will bring retailers including Ariat, New York’s Cami, and Jean Dousset fine jewelry. Similarly, Fort Worth’s Magnolia Avenue is walkable with plenty of restaurants.
“It is just such a beautiful gathering space, so we decided we’re all in,” she says. “The locations were meant to be, and we didn’t want to miss it.”
The name Salt & Straw references how ice cream was made at the turn of the century, when churns were packed with hay to keep them cool. The brand launched in 2011 during an Earth Day event in Portland, where the cousins scooped sea salt with caramel ribbons and chocolate gooey brownie from the back of a 1957 truck.
For the first and only time, they surrounded the ice cream with actual hay. “We thought it was so cute,” Tyler says, with a laugh. “It was really cute, but it was also probably a food safety violation.”
Long before Salt & Straw existed, Tyler was already an adventurous flavourist. His earliest recipe paired smoked cherries with bone marrow. Kim was skeptical, but soon became a believer. “The bone marrow just adds a really nice texture and salt,” she says.
More than a decade and a half later, the decadent flavor remains one of Salt & Straw’s most popular offerings. Getting the bone marrow to emulsify unlocked Tyler’s creative bounds. “It just became this obsession to think about how to emulsify flavors and some of these higher fat ingredients into the ice cream,” Tyler adds.
That philosophy is evident even in the shop’s classic flavors. The chocolate ice cream retains the cocoa butter’s fat for a unique, velvety texture; while June’s lineup will include custard chocolate olive oil ice cream. Arbequina Olive Oil, one of the scoop shops’ more famous flavors in Oregon, will soon join the Texas menu.
“We’re known for having really unexpected ice cream. A lot of people call it like going on a taste adventure. But the truth is, we have the very best vanilla you could ever find,” Kim says.
Their double fold vanilla uses twice the number of vanilla beans, while chocolate gooey brownie incorporates housemade brownies that freeze down soft and chewy. It’s rich, chocolatey, and approachable. Sea salt with caramel ribbons is silky with salted cream and canned roasted caramel. “Doing the classic flavors better than anyone could ever dream of is really important to me,” Tyler says.
The company’s top-selling ice cream is salted, malted, chocolate chip cookie dough, which is Tyler’s personal favorite. Malt is folded into the dough before it is diced into the ice cream, creating an umami flavor that’s complemented by Oregon sea salt for crunch. Kim favors strawberry honey balsamic with black pepper.
The menu rotates monthly. June introduces Salt & Straw’s Chef Series, featuring collaborations with five James Beard Award-winning chefs, including Gregory Gourdet of Kann in Portland and Maison Pasarelle in New York. Gourdet teamed up with Tyler once again for caramelized plantain with spicy pecan toffee, inspired by Haitian flavors with sweet heat.
Other June flavors include starling sweet potato buckwheat crumble with Dan Barber of Blue Hill at Stone Barns; chocolate caramel smoked budino with Miami chefs Alex Meyer and Luciana Giangrandi; Hong Kong milk tea with toasted white chocolate with Mei Lin of Daybird and 88 Club; and cheesecake with salted yuzu curd with Brady Ishiwata Williams of Tomo and Canlis. Texas-exclusive flavors include cream cheese jalapeño jelly and paloma sherbert. “We don’t always do spicy ice creams for some reason, but Texas begged us to do it,” Tyler says.
The grand openings were commemorated with Fritos pie sundae, a savory, spicy, and sweet build of candied Fritos crumble, double fold vanilla, chipotle fudge, and cheddar crisps.
Then there’s the tacolate, Salt & Straw’s collaboration with Taco Bell: a nostalgic chocolate taco stuffed with cinnamon-ancho ice cream inside a crunchy puffed quinoa shell dipped in dark chocolate. Mango jalapeño and wildberry cinnamon sauce packets take the throwback dessert to the next level. Salt & Straw thrives on curiosity. “We have really unique flavors because we want you to sample all of them,” Tyler admits.
Samples are part of the experience. Employees hand out miniature metal spoons topped with quarter-sized tastes, and there’s no limit to how many guests can try.
“If you wait in line, that is your moment,” Tyler says. “You should be able to spend as long as you want here.”
