The second SF location of Portland-based Salt & Straw ice cream debuts Friday with a particularly frightful, if inventive, list of Halloween-season flavors, and with a charitable focus in light of the fires in the North Bay — most of which, officials say, should reach full containment by Friday. The Hayes Valley location, which we've known about since the creamery first announced its move into the Bay Area late last year, will open October 20 at 586 Hayes, at Laguna, and be open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily like its counterpart on Fillmore Street, which opened in April.

As Eater tells us, the menu at the new location will feature some of the shop's perennial favorite flavors, along with the following special Halloween-themed one-offs, including one made with actual blood pudding, and one made with actual crickets:

The Great Candycopia
Salted butterscotch ice cream with homemade snickers, whoppers, heath bars, and peanut butter cups

Dracula’s Blood Pudding
Spices and cream cooked into actual blood pudding

Essence of Ghost
A grey sherbet with flavors described as “bitter, sweet and slightly musky”

Creepy Crawly Critters
Chocolate-covered crickets and coconut toffee brittle-covered mealworms folded into matcha ice cream

Freckle and Hyde Potion
Cranberry sorbet spotted with dark chocolate, and a bitter melon coconut sherbet with coconut ash-coated pop rocks

Salt & Straw will be donating 15 percent of profits on Friday, from both SF shops, to Redwood Credit Union’s North Bay Fire Relief fund and Farmer’s Guild. Also proceeds from $1-scoop pop-ups, which they're doing at various locations including The Market (1355 Market Street) on Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. will go toward fire relief as well.


Salt & Straw - 586 Hayes Street at Laguna - Opening Friday, October 20