Gone is the old-fashioned ice cream shop serving familiar — but boring — flavors. Salt & Straw, an artisanal ice-cream parlor located in Downtown, L.A., serves innovative ice-cream flavors that cater to multiple types of people.

At every step, Salt & Straw has considered the needs of their customers. For the vegans and lactose intolerant, they have a new set of flavors called “Vegan New Year.” For the adventurers, they provide interesting flavors such as avocado and Oaxacan chocolate fudge. And for the old-fashioned folks, they serve conventional flavors with slight modification, like double fold vanilla and freckled woodblock chocolate.

If reading Salt & Straw’s menu isn’t entertaining enough, they’ve written an ice cream haiku to prevent waiting-in-line boredom. It reads: Oh ice cream tasty / frozen tundra of bliss I’ll / cross you anytime. Additionally, customers can view each employee’s favorite flavor, which is posted on a wall, and items from featured “pop-up shops,” displayed by the line. 

Although they’ve provided multiple diversions for people waiting in line, the line itself isn’t really that long. On a weekday at 2:30 p.m, the wait was about 15 minutes, including the time it took to decide on one of many delicious flavors. After sampling about 10 flavors — they give unlimited samples — I settled on honey lavender, and a friend who accompanied me ordered the chocolate gooey brownie.

Although prices are a bit steep — once scoop is priced at $4.90 — the ice cream is worth the price. The scoops are large and the cones are made in-store. The honey lavender has a lot of flavor without tasting like soap, and the chocolate gooey brownie has huge chunks of soft, delicious brownie.

The location is cute, the flavors are delicious and the wait is short; what’s not to like about Salt & Straw? Although it’s located in Downtown LA, the creamery is definitely worth the drive for any lover of ice cream, or person willing to experiment with taste. Give them a try; contrary to their name, Salt & Straw doesn’t suck.

Salt & Straw

829 E. 3rd St.

Los Angeles, CA

Daily:  noon–11 p.m.

(213) 988-7070