Pastry chef Lori Sauer, from Blue Bridge Hospitality Group’s MooTime Creamery, argues for traditional flavors—while Salt & Straw cofounder and head ice cream maker Tyler Malek tells us why you need to try this month’s most creative flavor, Salted Caramel Thanksgiving Turkey.
Lori Sauer, MooTime Creamery: “Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry—it’s nostalgia. Across the board, everyone tends to go for the things familiar to them. We’ve never been that company that wants to be different or weird. I don’t mean that in a bad way. Anyone can come in and find something they like. It’s not going to be too much of a stretch to get someone to try it. Vanilla is our number one, chocolate is second, and birthday cake is huge. To me, if I’m getting ice cream, I’m getting ice cream. I’m not going to spend money on something I might not like. MooTime has all those original flavors and some new flavors—the rocky roads and stracciatella. We stick with that. Obviously, I like those classic flavors —otherwise I’d be working at Salt & Straw.”
1025 Orange Avenue, Coronado
Tyler Malek, Salt & Straw: “You have an opportunity to share this experience, of tasting turkey ice cream. You’ll love it or hate it. And if you’re arguing if this was the best or worst ice cream, that’s a cool experience. It opens up a dialogue. Between our servers and guests and our ice cream makers, it creates full-face attention where you can talk about how fun this is. Or how much you dislike it—that’s fun, too. There aren’t many places in the world where you can chat with the person in line behind you. Slowly it’s becoming the opposite, where people are staring down at their phones. The style of our environment forces you out of that and into this other world. The flavors lean into that. You know what’s messed up? If you’re a purist, you demand turkey for Thanksgiving. That is Thanksgiving. Just because we serve ice cream doesn’t mean we shouldn’t serve turkey. The fact that it’s provoking conversation, that makes it more incredible.”
1670 India Street, Little Italy
The Scoop: Classic vs. Creative
Lori Sauer of MooTime Creamery (left) and Tyler Malek of Salt & Straw
