Nikki and I were hosting a few family members as they kicked off a road trip threw the Pacific Northwest. To celebrate, we took them to one of our favorite restaurants - a lovely vegan Thai place in Totem Lake. (aside: If you ever go there, definitely try their "Devil Wings" appetizers: they're spiced oyster mushroom fritters, and an absolute delight.) After a solid meal, we went looking for some dessert, and dropped by Salt and Straw, as it was only 1 block away. And when we saw smoked Mac and Cheese ice cream on their seasonal menu, Nikki and I knew we had to try it.

This thing was good. It's wild how much this tasted like Mac and Cheese, but sweet and cold. It used smoked Beecher's flagship cheese, which we already knew works well in Mac and Cheese. But in ice cream, it actually reminded me of gjetost (pronounced yay toast) in a very good way. Mixed throughout this scoop was some cheesecake, which brought with it a fun bready texture. Salt and Straw also claims to use Flour + Water Foods pasta, but I honestly barely noticed those, it was lost in the rest of the scoop. The smoky flavor really came through, however!

This ice cream was a lot of fun! Would I get it again? Yeah, probably. But I think Nikki and I are mostly just elated that we finally got to try Mac and Cheese ice cream, at all! We tried to get some from Van Leeuwen when we were in Philly a few years back, but they didn't have any. :(