Don’t be 'skyr-ed' to try some Icelandic food at So+Lo’s
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Despite North Dakota being home to the largest concentration of Icelanders per capita in the U.S., it’s not easy to find traditional Icelandic food in the state’s biggest city.
That is, until married couple Jen and Chris Nelson opened So+Lo’s, offering the famous Icelandic Skyr, pronounced “skeer”, along with other Icelandic-American food.
Skyr is a yogurt-like Nordic staple Icelanders have made since the Viking Age.
Jen Nelson, who was a Moorhead Public Schools art teacher for 22 years, got the idea after falling in love with the food during a 2025 trip to Iceland. She went with a group called Icelandic Roots, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving Icelandic history and heritage.
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“My mom is 100 percent Icelandic, and my dad was 50 percent,” she said. “I'm very interested in my heritage. I always have been.”
On the trip, she discovered a love for the simple, yet high-quality food.
“I fell in love with the skyr,” Nelson said. You can buy it at the grocery store, the gas station, they have it at hotels. It's literally everywhere.”
Skyr could easily be mistaken for regular Greek yogurt that could be in your fridge right now.
“It tastes like yogurt, it looks like yogurt, it acts like yogurt,” Nelson said.
However, due to the way it’s processed, it’s technically a type of cheese.
Like yogurt, skyr is made from milk and a bacteria culture, but it is usually higher in protein and lower in fat.
When she came back from Iceland, Nelson taught herself how to make skyr at home. It only needs three main ingredients: skim milk, a bacteria culture and rennet – an enzyme that commonly comes from the stomachs of cows.
But, after mixing the milk and bacteria, the mixture must be kept at over 100 degrees for hours.
After making a few batches, the couple thought it was the perfect opportunity to open a business selling skyr.
“We knew that nobody had skyr,” Jen Nelson said. “We thought that might be something unique to offer to the downtown Fargo community.”
While Nelson has no food industry experience, her husband has a long history of cooking professionally, working in various restaurants in the Fargo area over the last couple decades.
Even so, he said his wife is the undisputed authority on the Icelandic staple.
“Jen is the expert of the skyr, to tell you the truth. I'm learning that from her,” he said.
They decided to open So+Lo's and named it after their two kids, Soley and Arlo.
Now, the Nelson’s make fresh skyr daily at So+Lo’s, topping it with fresh fruit, honey and granola.
How it’s going
Some of the first people to try out So+Lo's menu were members of the Icelandic Klub of Fargo-Moorhead.
“We're thrilled that she's giving it a chance,” said Susan Sigurdson, the club’s president. “She served us pönnukökur the other night, and they were delicious.”
Aside from skyr, So+Lo's serves a few other Icelandic dishes, like rúllupylsa – pronounced roll-a-polsa –, thin slices of seasoned meat, and pönnukökur – pan-no-cooker – Icelandic pancakes.
Sigurdson said much of the Icelandic food she grew up with was passed down from her grandparents and was often the result of necessity.
“They were really basic foods,” Sigurdson said.
The staples included lots of cured and smoked meat and fish, foods that were hearty and could stay edible for a while.
She also remembers skyr.
“My mom used to make it and, as a child, I didn't care for it because it's got a little bit more of a tart flavor and I didn't care for it. I think it’s good now,” Sigurdson said.
Jen Nelson said the goal of the restaurant isn’t just to highlight how delicious Icelandic fare can be.
“Preserving cultural heritage through food, I think, is really big,” said Nelson.
