Blackbird Pizza’s Brownie Sundae Is an Ever-Evolving Tower of Deliciousness

Employees are given creative license to personalize the recipe as they see fit.

(courtesy of Blackbird Pizza)
By Bennett Campbell Ferguson

Pizza joints don’t normally offer desserts worth dying for, but I would put my life on the line for the brownie sundae at Blackbird Pizza’s Hawthorne location (1935 SE Hawthorne Blvd., blackbirdpizzapdx.com).

It’s a tower of deliciousness that includes a housemade brownie infused with vanilla liqueur, a mound of Tillamook vanilla ice cream, swirls of silky caramel and chocolate sauce, and a sprinkling of peanuts that adds just the right amount of crunchiness.

Best of all, the sundae is always evolving. According to general manager Derek Mellinger, employees are given creative license to personalize the recipe as they see fit.

“We just say, ‘This is the base, this is what we want, but make it how you would want to eat it,’” Mellinger says.

That philosophy has given rise to delightful twists, like breaking the brownie into chunks and spreading it throughout the ice cream, creating a magnificent tornado of contrasting flavors.

You never know what you’re going to get. But it’s always going to be good.

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