Pie and ice cream?
Say the magical phrase “à la mode” and you may find yourself with a hunk of something fruit-filled and fabulous and a melty scoop of cold bliss at its side.
It’s a puckerful pairing that’s perfect, in short, and merrily mushing pie and ice cream together on a single plate is an act so appetizing that few dessert devotees would dare raise an eyebrow.
But the mushing together goes further, fancifully further, in fact, at Salt & Straw, the artisanal scoop shops that gooily grace several Southern California neighborhoods, from Pasadena to Venice.
The ice cream company’s new limited-time flavor series is saluting pies all June long, with summer-style flavors that are both traditional and delightfully zingy.
There are five choices on the get-’em-now line-up, including the Rhubard Crumble with Toasted Anise, for those sweet-toothers that crave crumbles over pies or tarts. (We won’t get into the finer points, but crumbles are, yes, a bit crumblier, as the name suggests.)
The Wildflower Honey and Lemon Chess Pie has both curd and kick, while the pie crust folded into the Wild-Foraged Berry Slab Pie is “double-baked,” oh yummy.
The vegan offering is a Coconut Cherry Pie with Almond Crust and the somewhat savory selection? Ask for a cone of Gruyere and Tomato Custard Tart.
You can swing by just about any diner and ask for your pie to be served à la mode, but there are only a few times of the year, and a few luscious locations, where pies and ice cream scoops meet in one cool confection.
Nope, we don’t have a pie currently cooling on the windowsill, a summer sight full of nostalgic feels (and fragrances), but we can find a pie idea — or pie-dea, if you please — at a nearby ice cream shop.
For more background on this is-it-pie-or-is-it-ice-cream series, roll by your local Salt & Straw this June or in the direction of this site now.
