salt & ice

this is a photo of jimmy quan. he chases protein shakes with la croix of the limey boi variety. i'm joanne, welcome to salt & ice :^) this site is a living catalogue of ice cream and frozen treats that i've consumed from 2014 to the foreseeable future.

[saltnice]

[saltnice]

Uji Time | 09.04.18

Berkeley, CA | Black Sesame Soft Serve w/ Waffle Cone

Things do get better with time!! Perfectly rich, thick, and no ice crystals to be found. 

[saltnice]

Salt & Straw | 08.21.18

San Francisco, CA| Mt Tam Cheese with Toasted Acme Bread and Breakaway Matcha & Carrot Carrot Cake 

Super generous portions, wonderfully luscious and flavorful ice creams. 

[saltnice]

Yogurt Park | 08.25.18

Southside, Berkeley, CA | Vanilla mini with cookie dough mix-ins

Again I don’t know if I enjoy “froyo” but the vanilla was creamy!  It just doesn’t really taste like anything.  Cookie dough bits were an awesome surprise but halfway through this mini (I shared this with Adriana) I could feel the sugar coursing through my veins. 

[saltnice]

Almare Gelato Italiano | 08.18.18

Downtown Berkeley, CA | Pistachio & Raspberry

This isn’t my first time here, but I always return to the pistachio. It’s wonderfully fragrant (always toast your nuts!), creamy, and works so well as a frozen dessert.  Raspberry was less memorable but still delicious.  This place is a gem. 

[saltnice]

Loving Cup | 07.28.18

San Francisco, CA | Vanilla base w/ Oreo mix-ins 

Maybe froyo is not my thing, but I wish the vanilla base had more flavor?  It just tasted like a vaguely frozen sweet thing that wasn’t icy. 

[saltnice]

Bi-Rite Creamery | 07.21.18

Mission District, San Francisco, CA | Black Sesame & Roasted Banana

Supppper late post because of post-end-of-job-going-onto-new-school life, but this was good!  All I really remember from this day is my very very sad stomach ache post Kitchen Story/Bi-rite bathroom runs.

[saltnice]

Salt & Straw | 06.29.18

Hayes Valley, San Francisco, CA | Mt Tam Cheese with Toasted Acme Bread and Breakaway Matcha & Black Raspberry

FREE! - open public invite to taste test new SF flavors

We waited for nearly two hours in the cold for these scoops starting from 12:15am.  At many points we wanted to quit because Adriana had work the next day and the line moved stupidly slow.  I really wanted to try the pickled strawberry and natto banana bread ice cream, but we really wanted to leave as soon as we could, so we actually ended up with the same two scoops because we liked them both so much.  

Ice cream didn’t melt super fast like that time I had Salt & Straw in December, so I actually was able to save a bunch of ice cream for Bobs to try as well, without compromising the ice cream texture.  

5/5 so worth

[saltnice]

Penny’s Ice Creamery | 06.25.18

Santa Cruz, CA | Dark TCHOcolate Ice Cream w/ Waffle Cone 

5.50 for a single scoop + waffle cone

Penny’s earl of grey flavor was so watery and diluted and definitely not the same Penny’s I had last summer.  Got the chocolate ice cream because it had the most flavor and best thiccc creamy texture, but halfway through, it was really just too rich to continue eating it comfortably.  

3/5 saddest of sad bears 

[saltnice]

Smitten’s | 06.09.18

Santana Row, Santa Clara, CA | Strawberry Buttermilk

7.00 for waffle cone and seasonal single scoop

Smittens has been lacking in the unique flavor department lately, but luckily this strawberry buttermilk ice cream tastes more elevated than the strawberry ice cream I made as a kid - so that’s a win for me.  As you can see, I was basically halfway done with the whole shebang before I remembered this blog was still a thing.

Throwback to the days I had patience to make ice cream. 

4/5 my poor poor wallet 

[saltnice]

Saffron & Rose | 05.27.18

Westwood, Los Angeles, CA | Cucumber, Orange Blossom, and Raspberry Pomegranate 

3 scoops, 5.50? 

I don’t remember how much it was again (gdi me), but the orange blossom was definitely too floral for me; there were straight up frozen pockets of orange blossom water.  Persian ice cream is the shit; stringy and stretchy in all of its wonderful deliciousness. 

5/5 dreaming about this 

[saltnice]

Premium Matcha Cafe Maiko | 05.20.18

Japantown, San Francisco, CA | matcha soft serve w/ a waffle cone 

5.50

Looking for real matcha?  Look no further - this is the premium matcha at the concentration you are looking for.  Delightfully bitter rounded out with the floral sweetness that can only be had through real matcha, and lots of it.  

5/5 perfection, heaven. 

[saltnice]

Ici Ice Cream | 05.13.18

Elmwood on College Ave, Berkeley, CA |  Green Tea Sour Cherry w/ a cone

6.50 for a scoop and a cone

Got something else other that earl grey for once.  Felt so bad for making the pro scooper have me taste test so many things that I just caved and got the sour cherry. Surprisingly good texture, and cone is always awesome.  Ici’s is just so expensive, but they’re doing so well they opened a new downtown location!!  Adriana’s strawberry ice cream was also güd. 

5/5 expensive but good 

[saltnice]

Amorino Gelati á e Tradizione | 03.27.18

La Ramblas, Barcelona, Spain | Pistachio, Passionfruit, and Dark Chocolate

Really amazing flavors - the passionfruit was bright, pistachio carried wonderfully nutty aromatics with lots of real pistachio chunks, and dairy free chocolate gelato was a welcome bittersweet compliment to the two other flavors.  Loved it so much that I really wanted to go again on the same day, but sadly, ya girls lost a lot of monies on this trip to some airliner called Norwegian.

5/5 molt deliciós

[saltnice]

Marianne’s Ice Cream | 03.18.18

Santa Cruz, CA | 1020 – Caramel ice cream with Chocolate Swirl and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, their most popular flavor!

3.25 single scoop w/ waffle cone

Very pedestrian place that has a great array of flavors, but sadly their quality wasn’t on par with all the hype surrounding the place.  Would recommend for a cheap scoop. Nature is all Santa Cruz really has to offer, but that’s not so bad at all. 

3/5 ehs 

[saltnice]

Yogurtland | 03.10.18

San Jose, CA | Pandan Coconut, Regular Tart w/ Mochi bits, Cheesecake bits, and Mini Chocolate Chips 

V good flavors, even better friend (henlo floflo). I think Yogurtland still has cheapest price per pound in terms of cold dessert.  We were the first people here so the dude was still trying to set some machines because the yogurt came out very soft and melty for some, but otherwise, solid!

4.5/5 solid

[saltnice]

Tara’s Organic Ice Cream | 02.10.18

Berkeley, CA

I don’t remember what flavor or how much it was, but I remember it as just being ok, if not just a tad bit icy?  Pricing is definitely cheaper than Ici’s and the flavors are more Asian, but not sure I’d be going back.

3/5 mehs