Drawing by My Niece, Fro-yo Niece?

Fro-yo girl here. My sweet niece, Randy Roo (her nickname), does like her fro-yo. She drew this picture of the two of us (I’m glad we’re both color coordinated) at a fro-yo shop! Her favorite flavor is chocolate and her favorite fro-yo shop is Twist.

She’s tried tart fro-yo but hasn’t developed the taste for it (yet). Her dream is to open a fro-yo and candy emporium one day!

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* TWIST FROZEN YOGURT: 12105 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

The Year of Acai

Fro-yo girl here. I darted into Whole Foods the other day and received a free serving of a new frozen confection, Jolly Llama sorbet. The sorbet comes in a single serving size ($1.79 each at Whole Foods). Squeeze and eat for a quick, fat free, and nutritious fruity treat. While the blueberry sorbet was nice, I couldn’t help but think that it would taste better if it were fro-yo. The size is just right and it’s really convenient to eat.

Jolly Llama comes in four flavors:
* Mango
* Blueberry
* Acai berry
* Strawberry

I wish there were more supermarket fro-yo options (something better than Dreyer's and Trader Joe's tart fro-yo). If it works for sorbet, why not fro-yo?

The acai berry flavor seems to be the superfruit flavor of 2009. Last year was the year for pomegranate fro-yo (everyone seems to have pomegranate fro-yo now). Next year it might be baobab? Acai blueberry fro-yo can be found at select Tuttimelon locations (you can see my acai blueberry Tuttimelon parfait), select Blush Organic Frozen Yogurt locations, and Yogen Fruz.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

http://www.jollyllamasorbets.com

Happy Anniversary, Culture!

Fro-yo girl here. I don’t live or work close to Palo Alto, unfortunately, but I still make special trips to go to Culture Organic Frozen Yogurt. This week they’re celebrating their one year anniversary (be sure to wish them a Happy Anniversary – and get a free topping in return – but the offer ends on Friday, 9/25), so I had to stop by and also reflect on the special occasion.

I had a cup of original tart fro-yo in my smurf blue fro-yo cup and topped it with crunchy housemade graham crackers (delish!). The texture was great tonight, thick and creamy but also refreshing with an icy edge. The flavor still has some sourness though it’s not as sour as it was when it first opened (too bad – I miss the old original tart flavor). They didn’t have frozen kefir today either (boo). I love that I don't have to swirl it myself.

Current fro-yo flavors: Chocolate, Vanilla, Original, Raspberry peach banana

Culture milestones:
* First shop in Bay Area to offer frozen kefir
* First to offer homemade fro-yo toppings like crisps, marshmallow crème, housemade meringues, etc. And they’re organic!
* First Bay Area fro-yo shop to offer flaxseed cones
* First Bay Area fro-yo shop to offer fro-yo sandwiches (Yo’Wiches)
* Site of fro-yo event hosted by yours truly

Mary, please make mochi!!!!!

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* CULTURE ORGANIC FROZEN YOGURT: 340 S California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94306

Tuttimelon’s First SF Self-Serve Location

Fro-yo girl here. Call me sentimental, but I can’t bear the thought of the original Tuttimelon location on Irving closing. I love that location. It’s still my favorite. Well, they’re adding a self-serve location on Irving St. It’s taking over the old Chinese jewelry store. I went inside that shop before and it didn’t seem that spacious? I swung by Tuttimelon Irving to talk to J. (he wasn’t there) and stock up on mango tart fro-yo (still an astounding 99 cents!).

Maybe they can keep the original location open for full serve diehards like me? Or have the option of having someone swirl for you at the self-serve place? I’m sure the new location will live up to the Tuttimelon standards, people will love it, and they’ll dazzle us with tuttiliciousness. Two more weeks to wait and then all will be revealed. But who will serve me? And what will happen to J’s swirling skills?

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* TUTTIMELON: 2150 Irving St, San Francisco, CA
* TUTTIMELON: 2045 Irving St, San Francisco, CA (not open yet)

Nubi SF Lakeshore Plaza Grand Opening Coverage

Fro-yo girl here. Yes, I was lurking around Lakeshore Plaza during today’s grand opening event at Nubi. I stopped by in the morning only to learn the ribbon cutting ceremony would occur at 4 PM. At 4 PM, there was a line of people milling around and the crowd spilled out into the parking lot. I spotted the same balloon artist that was at the Nubi San Leandro grand opening event. Ono and Zen Buffet sent congratulatory floral arrangements.

The fro-yo is 50% off all day today. They also had Nubi stickers and balloons for the kids. I didn’t stick around for the t-shirt giveaway. In fact, I didn’t have the patience to wait for the ribbon ceremony after lurking around for over 20 minutes (sorry). [Oh, I read my e-mail too late - so the ceremony was at 4:30 PM.]

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* NUBI SAN FRANCISCO: Lakeshore Plaza, 1511 Sloat Blvd, Suite A, San Francisco, CA

Grand Opening of Yogoholic in Pleasanton

Fro-yo girl here. Pleasanton just added another self-serve fro-yo shop: Yogoholic. On September 18, 19, and 20, during the grand opening celebration, they're offering a buy one, get one free deal. The shop opened a few days ago (soft opening). They have 8 flavors a day, mostly sweet (there was only one tart flavor today) with about 30 toppings (yes, mochi) for 39 cents an ounce. The fruit looked nice and fresh today.

I spied some coupons by the register for 50% off and buy 1, get 1 free by the register.

It's in a dead shopping center (most of the spaces are vacant) in a residential neighborhood.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* YOGOHOLIC: 3350 Bernal Ave. #145, Pleasanton, CA

Coming Soon: Icebee in the Sunset

Fro-yo girl here. I drove by Icebee again today and the door was open. I peeked inside and it looks like it’s close to opening. The fro-yo machines were way in the back and it was dark inside, so I’m not sure how many machines they have. I’ll keep driving by. More self-swirling madness coming your way soon.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* ICEBEE: 2608 Ocean Ave., San Francisco, CA
www.icebeeyogurt.com

Coupon for the New Bericup

Fro-yo girl here. Bericup is about to open in the food court of Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks, CA. Here's a coupon for buy one, get one free good till Halloween (October 31st of course). It's going to be a self-serve fro-yo shop (33 cents an ounce). I took a picture of it the other week. Enjoy the fro-yo.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* BERICUP: 382 W. Hillcrest, Thousand Oaks, CA

Pictures from Blush SF Grand Opening

Fro-yo girl here. I'm a few days behind on my fro-yo news due to my SoCal trip. I also missed the Blush SF grand opening :-(. These pictures are from Debra Disman of ArtiFactory Studio (http://www.artifactorystudio.com/). She's the artist responsible for Blush's wall artwork.




Congrats again, Blush!

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* BLUSH SAN FRANCISCO: 219 King St., San Francisco, CA

Sno:la: The Best Fro-yo

Fro-yo girl here. I’ve told myself that I can’t go to SoCal without visiting my favorite fro-yo shop, Sno:la. Their organic, seasonal, non-fat fro-yo has no white sugar and isn’t a Pinkberry wannabe. In a land with a million fro-yo shops, Sno:la offers something truly unique, one of a kind, and artisanal. The fro-yo flavors are natural and pure. Sno:la fro-yo actually tastes healthy since it isn’t loaded with sugar. This is probably the best fro-yo in the world (I believe it is but I haven't tried every fro-yo shop in the world).

My friend, a froyoholic whose taste in froyo I trust, noticed the taste difference (of course) and declared her love for Sno:la.



I love their sour cherry fro-yo. I haven’t seen that flavor elsewhere. And you can top it with their housemade sour cherry sauce. Their toppings are ultra fresh including the mochi that is made exclusively for them in plain, strawberry and green tea. The pomegranate and Italian tart flavors are also incredible. Stunning. I wish I could bring some of their fro-yo home or have it shipped to my house.



Sno:la I LOVE YOU. I had to see the future location of Sno:la Santa Monica during my recent trip to SoCal. The new location, which should open soon, was papered over so I couldn’t see the inside. There were various pictures of Sno:la events (so I know how the owner, Masako Kawashima, looks like now) and press clippings featuring Sno:la. And they also had a poster with my blog featuring the post that declares my love for Sno:la. I didn’t know they knew about me. I was lucky enough to meet Masako at the Beverly Hills location!

Congrats Sno:la on the new location. I’ll be there soon after it opens!

* Sno:la: 244 North Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills, CA
* Sno:la (coming soon): 314 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA

Fro-yo Prices

Fro-yo girl here. I hadn’t been to Pinkberry in a few months and was surprised to see that they’d made many changes since my last visit, including new toppings, new fro-yo flavors and new pricing. Unlike most places that charge you for each topping, Pinkberry now has two prices: yogurt only and yogurt with toppings. The yogurt with toppings price is $1.45 higher than the yogurt only price and it comes with your choice of toppings. The $1.45 is about average for two toppings but now you can get even more than two toppings. The pricing clearly benefits those who like lots of different toppings on their fro-yo. Doesn’t almost everyone get toppings? Fro-yo just tastes better with toppings.

New Pinkberry Prices:
* Original: S ($2.50)/ with toppings $3.95; M ($3.50)/ with toppings $4.95; L ($5.50)/ with toppings, $6.95.
* Flavored: S ($3.50)/ with toppings $4.95; M ($4.50)/ with toppings $5.95; L ($6.50)/ with toppings, $7.95.

A friend of mine would prefer to have one topping included in the price and I see his point. If you charge for topping, the customer has to think about whether each additional topping is worth the price whereas a pricing bundle eliminates the perception that the toppings are extra.

Some Quickly locations advertise “99 cents unlimited toppings” and the new Market by Safeway in San Jose offers unlimited toppings for $1.

Speaking of pricing, I don’t understand why original is often cheaper than flavored. The original is usually the best flavor!

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* PINKBERRY: 742 State St, Santa Barbara, CA
* THE MARKET BY SAFEWAY: 100 S. 2nd St, San Jose, CA

I Heart Froyo Merchandise

Fro-yo girl here. During my visit to SoCal, I stopped by Froyo Life, a self-serve fro-yo shop with locations in Moorpark and Montrose. They have the cutest merchandise for fro-yoholics, I Heart Froyo tee-shirts and buttons. You can see them on their website, www.iheartfroyo.com (what a great URL to have!) Maybe one day they’ll sell them online? For now you have to go to one of their locations to get the tee-shirts and buttons.

Ilovefroyo.com takes you to a website of a fro-yo shop called Froyo in Utah.

* FROYO LIFE: 6593 Collins Dr. #D7 Moorpark, CA
* FROYO LIFE: 2301 Honolulu Ave. Montrose, CA

Cefiore Early Bird Special: Free Topping, M – F, 9:30 AM – noon

Fro-yo girl here. Like to eat fro-yo for breakfast or lunch? There’s a special going on just for early birds. From now until 9/18 (rumor has it that it could last till the end of September, no promises though), get a free topping with your purchase of fro-yo at the Financial District Cefiore. Treat yourself to an old favorite or try something new.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* CEFIORE: 59 New Montgomery St., San Francisco, CA 94105

New Yogurtland Cup

Fro-yo girl here. Spotted at the Yogurtland in the Silver Creek area of San Jose: the new Yogurtland cup designs. They feature the new logo and the new tagline, “you rule.” Charming, isn’t it? The old cup was cute too.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* YOGURTLAND: 2740 Aborn Rd, San Jose, CA

Soft Opening Coverage: Nubi SF, Blush SF

Fro-yo girl here. Today was a significant day for fro-yo. Nubi SF opened its doors and patrons enjoyed 50% off of the regular price of 39 cents an ounce. They had 12 flavors available and a wide variety of toppings including Asian ones (jellies, lychee, red beans). The promotion ends tonight. But, you have another chance to enjoy their fro-yo at 50% off on September 19th during the grand opening celebration. The space is pretty small but they squeezed in as many tables and chairs as they could and it has a cute, modern look.

It’s strange that you see one fro-yo machine first, before you see the cups. It seems like the cups should be the first thing you see. I picked up some free Nubi stickers by the cashier and a coupon for 15% off at ONO Hawaiian BBQ (on the fro-yo receipt).




I also returned to Blush SF for their soft opening. Every seat was taken by a diverse crowd of fro-yo fans. Free fro-yo flowed from 12 – 5 PM. They presented me with a personalized Blush t-shirt (thanks Frank!). The fro-yo swirl training paid off with some beautiful swirls. The fro-yo was just as good as their Dublin location.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* NUBI SAN FRANCISCO: Lakeshore Plaza, 1511 Sloat Blvd, Suite A, San Francisco, CA
* BLUSH SAN FRANCISCO: 219 King St., San Francisco, CA

Blush SF Hours Before It Opens

Fro-yo girl here. Thank you Frank, for the tour of the new Blush SF! It’s just hours away from opening! Today during my visit I ran into the Taylor machine technician and his apprentice, the new employees who were there for fro-yo swirling training (the goal is to avoid the dreaded hole in the middle and produce a lovely, generous swirl), Frank’s brother/partner, and the artist responsible for the pretty flowers and butterflies on Blush’s walls. I may have even helped with the fro-yo machine calibration :-).



The store evokes images of something modern (icy looking Italian chairs, glass with bubbles in it and the Blush logo projected on it, sleek/massive flatscreen TVs – the Giants games will always be shown, iPod docking stations), upscale (stainless steel toppings bar, the new shaving station for CHOCOLATE) and eco-friendly (recycling station, green walls, recycled glass table tops – biodegradeable spoons are on the way). Breathtaking!



This is the first Blush location with six organic flavors a day. Right now they are:
* Original: a perfect original tart, with real yogurt flavor
* Blush (pomegranate-dragonfruit): a unique flavor, like no other, one of their most popular, I've fallen in love with it
* Mango: sweeter, lots of mango flavor
* Pineapple: so zingy and refreshing
* Kiwi strawberry: the lightest and sweetest
* Acai blueberry: addictive, my favorite blueberry fro-yo of them all



The plan is to offer all but the pineapple flavor every day. Pineapple will be replaced by other seasonal flavors such as pumpkin pie in October. The menu is the same as the other Blush locations: fro-yo, fro-yo parfaits (highly recommended), shaved ice w/ fro-yo, and Blush Blends (smoothies). Expect similar toppings but with a few extras thrown in (SF has more room for toppings, 36 containers in total), like the shaved chocolate, madeleines and malt balls (if they don’t melt before they get to the store).

I spied the cutest Blush t-shirt…love their logo. The picture shows the back of the shirt.

The soft opening is on Friday, Sept. 4. Enjoy a free small fro-yo with your choice of 2 toppings from 12 - 5 PM.

The grand opening is on Saturday, Sept. 5. Doors open at noon. The first 100 people get movie passes from the Metreon. They'll be giving away many prizes throughout the day.

Prizes: Tons of Apple including from iPhones, iTouch, Nanos, Shuffles, iTunes gift cards. Sony Blu Ray players and PSPs. For sports fans, win Warriors and 49ers tickets.

Safeway across the street offers free validated parking (with purchase) and it's just a few minutes from the 4th & King Caltrain station...right by AT&T Park. I can usually find parking in South Park during the weekends.

Congrats Frank, Paul, Julia, Jonathan and BLUSH!

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* BLUSH SAN FRANCISCO: 219 King St., San Francisco, CA

Yogurtland Dublin Very Early Picture

Fro-yo girl here. I swung by the future Yogurtland in West Dublin last week to take picture. It’s in the Safeway shopping center but not facing the main road. The Yogurtland sign isn’t up, the space is completely empty, and the available sign is still in the window…but the location is listed on the Yogurtland website.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* YOGURTLAND DUBLIN: 6851 Amador Plaza Rd., Suite 102, Dublin, CA