626 Night Market: Asian Food Trends and the Return of Froyo

 

Fro-yo girl here. I stopped going to 626 Night Market in Arcadia because of the pandemic. Going anywhere with crowds just seemed unappealing. But I returned this year because I saw that at least one vendor was going to offer frozen yogurt. The last time I went was in 2019. I reread my 2019 post and it sums up how I felt about the 2025 edition. It was far less crowded than in prior years, but maybe that’s because I went on July 4th. They’ve added more tables and benches for you to sit.

I saw many trends, but most have already been offered elsewhere (e.g., Labubu dolls, Dubai chocolate cups, tanghulu, charms, crochet dolls, freeze-dried fruit). It felt like there were fewer food vendors and fewer food trucks. They used to have better food trucks and more Chinese food. There used to be at least two stinky tofu vendors. This year, I didn’t smell stinky tofu once, and there were more Japanese food vendors than Chinese. You can still find adventurous foods like balut, pork blood cake (so delicious), and durian smoothies.

But, frozen yogurt returned! MOJO had fried yogurt skewers, aka thick-cut yogurt. The yogurt is poured onto a freezing pan and sliced into bite-sized shapes after freezing. Some shops add fruit, nuts, seeds, and grains.

MOJO had three flavors of fried yogurt: mango, strawberry, and pitaya. The cubes were made with yogurt and fruit. Each skewer had three cubes. Two skewers were $7. The strawberry yogurt cubes were creamier than the pitaya cubes. The pitaya yogurt had more tang. The cubes were very firm. The yogurt was lightly sweetened. Because the cubes were so plain, it felt like something that I could easily make at home. But, it was nice to see a frozen yogurt treat at the night market.

There were a few things that I wanted to try, including the Japanese fried sando from Sandoitchi and the Japanese egg-shaped cakes.

Free parking. Admission is $5.90 (presale), $6.93 general admission.

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

626 Night Market 2019 Food Trends Report

Fro-yo girl here. I’ve been going to 626 Night Market at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia every year since 2015, looking for emerging Asian food trends. Sometimes, 626 Night Market is the first place to offer Asian street foods. It was the first place I had a Korean hot dog/corn dog and taiyaki sundae. Over the years, I’ve noticed that the market has become more diverse both in terms of vendors and attendees. It’s also become less cutting edge and trendy in some ways, but it’s still very popular. Smorgasburg is trendier but less Asian, of course.

It’s fun to see people out with their friends and family, stuffing their faces, playing games, dancing, and having a good time. The food tends to be overpriced and not that good, but I think of it more as an experience. It’s hilarious to see adults holding giant baby bottles.

I did not see yogurt in any form this year, not even yogurt drinks. I do realize that yogurt is no longer trend – though they could offer plant-based yogurt to be more on-trend. It seems like the 626 Night Market offerings favor indulgent comfort food, not healthy. I did see acai bowls, sorbet, ice cream, churros, and waffles (Hong Kong, liege, taiyaki). Does anyone eat acai bowls at night??

This year I noticed a few trends:

Filipino food: There were so many Filipino vendors this year.

Cheetos everything: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos appeared as more than a coating for corn on the cob and corn in a cup. You could get it on fries, flavoring taco shells, and inside burritos.

Nashville hot chicken: Everyone knows how crazy popular Howlin’ Rays is. Dave's Hot Chicken also has been blessed with long lines. 626 Night Market featured multiple hot chicken vendors.

Boba merchandise: You could win or buy boba plushies. Vendors also had Air Pod cases that looked like boba drinks and boba drink stickers, cell phone cases, t-shirts, and art.

One thing I’d love to see is Indian street food. There wasn’t one Indian vendor. Maybe there aren’t enough Indians in the area. It’s also not trendy, though it should be. There wasn’t much Vietnamese food either, but the Vietnamese have their own night market in Westminster (Orange County). It’s mostly Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Mexican food.

I’ve gone on different days and times. While others advise you to get there early, it’s usually too hot to do so. I prefer going late Sunday night after sunset. The lines are shorter and they’ve rarely run out of food by then. 626 Night Market returns two more weekends this year: August 9 - 11 and August 30 – September 1.

Free parking. Admission is $5.

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

626 Night Market Asian Food Trends Report

Fro-yo girl here. 626 Night Market continues to be the place to see and taste Asian street food trends. This year they added a Northern California version, but I think the Arcadia market is still the biggest and best. I haven’t been to the OC or Northern CA night markets.

The layout was similar to last year. Start at the information booth to study the map if you’re looking for specific vendors or foods. The vendors are also listed on the 626 Night Market website.

This year I noticed a few trends:

• More Korean foods, including Korean pizza, Korean fries, Korean corn dogs, and more. Apparently South Koreans call corn dogs hot dogs and one of their hottest street foods is hot dogs (but they’re actually corn dogs). Some are encrusted in French fries and others are sprinkled with sugar and drizzled with ketchup and mustard. Ghostix had both kinds. The Cheeze on Stix featured a huge mozzarella cheese stick dipped in batter with tempura flakes, sugar, mustard, and ketchup ($10): The batter was lighter and crunchier than the typical cheese on a stick. The sugar added a little sweetness. It was interesting but didn’t have Korean flavors. I like Hot Dog on a Stick’s cheese on a stick better. 
• More puffle cones. Puffle cone vendors have been at 626 Night Market for years, but there were more of them than ever. 
• More drink vendors, especially milk tea vendors. Those baby bottles were everywhere. 
• Elote, corn in a cup and Cheetos. Elote has been at 626 for years, but colorful versions were all over this year, including those coated in Cheetos. 
• Foot long French fries - these are a new street food trend in Japan. I'm not sure where to get them other than the 626 Night Market.

I didn’t see froyo, but there was an ice cream truck with soft serve. I also got a free cup of Alove Yogurt and free Puchao candy.

Free parking. Admission is $5.

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

626 Night Market Dessert Trends Report

Fro-yo girl here. I returned to the 626 Night Market, “the original and largest Asian-themed night market in the United States” with some friends during Labor Day weekend. They changed the layout again (the food trucks were outside in the parking lot) and they seemed to have as many vendors as ever, including plenty of new ones. The art section was much smaller though. 

The 626 Night Market is a showcase for new Asian food trends. This year some new foods included rainbow grilled cheese, cute bentos, cotton candy topped with bacon or a soft shell crab, shot glass cookies filled with milk and sushi donuts.

There were more Thai rolled ice cream and churros vendors than ever (ice cream rolls and churros were already at the 626 Night Market last year). The Blue Nova, SoCal's first ice cream rolls truck, just launched. Drinks continued to be very popular. Main Squeeze started the light up bottle trend last year. This year the drinks came in light bulb shapes with a mini lightbulb light) and giant light up baby bottles.

Desserts included fried ice cream, potted ice cream, fish waffles filled with soft serve, snow ice, Hawaiian shaved ice, churros (with ice cream), cronut ice cream sandwiches, cookie shot glasses filled with milk, Hong Kong egg waffles, funnel cakes, ice cream rolls, liquid nitrogen ice cream, grass jelly, dessert tofu, milkshakes, halo halo, and cotton candy.

While I didn’t see any froyo, A+ Tea House did offer yogurt drinks. The rolled ice cream places only had ice cream. Last year one place, Snow House, Tea Bar had strawberry froyo rolls. The trends didn’t seem as innovative this year. The only one that surprised me was the cotton candy topped with a soft shell crab from Cap’n Crispy. I wish they had higher end vendors like Sul & Beans, Honeymee or Beeline.

The 626 Night Market will presumably return next summer (given how popular it is, it should be back). Free parking. Admission is $3.

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

New Desserts at 626 Night Market, Includes Froyo

Fro-yo girl here. The last 626 Night Market of 2015 is this weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) at Santa Anita Park. While some vendors from the August night market returned (e.g., Ice Cream Garden, Ridges Churro Bar, Dolcissimo ice cream macaron sandwiches , UniqCone) there were also new dessert vendors. The handpulled noodle stall (China Tasty) was new and they had a guy making noodles on the spot.

New Desserts:

Nimo Yaki: Nimo Yaki is a a fresh fish shaped waffle (taiyaki) served plain (with red bean, $4) or filled with ice cream ($6). The soft serve ice cream is available in two flavors, vanilla and chocolate (or you can choose both). The wide mouth fish is made on a waffle iron. Red bean paste is added to the batter. The fish is stuffed with soft serve ice cream, then garnished with sprinkles and a wafer roll cookie. The vanilla ice cream wasn’t a high quality ice cream and the garnishes were run of the mill. The fish is a doughy waffle. It’s novel (and inspired by Korean street food) but the execution was disappointing.

Snow House Tea Bar: They had frozen yogurt! It was called fried yogurt with fresh fruits. You can get strawberry yogurt or mango yogurt ($8). The yogurt is poured in a thin layer on a cold metal plate and then scraped with spatulas and shaped into rolls. I tried something similar years ago at a place called Ice Pan in Los Angeles (it closed) and I wasn’t a fan.

Go late (it’s open till 1 AM) to avoid the long lines for food. The longest line is for ramen burgers. Free parking. Admission is $3.

http://www.626nightmarket.com/

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

626 Night Market Dessert Roundup

Fro-yo girl here. This was my second visit to the 626 Night Market, “the original and largest Asian-themed night market in the United States.” It’s as crowded and crazy as ever but there is food everywhere and so many desserts. What’s nice about the 626 Night Market is that it has become a showcase for new Asian food/dessert trends. The trendy foods are the most popular.

Most of the desserts featured ice cream but in different forms and it was clear that the crowds appreciated novelty. Here’s an overview of the ice cream/froyo offerings: 

• Choctal: prepackaged chocolate and vanilla single origin ice creams
• Crescendo Ice Cream: nitrogen infused ice cream isn’t that novel any more but they also had Singaporean style “ice cream bread.” Ice cream bread features ice cream served with a slice of soft bread. You’re supposed to fold the bread around the ice cream. In Singapore they like using rainbow colored bread with a block of ice cream. Crescendo used plain white bread.
• Dolcissimo: ice cream macaron sandwiches – these were popular of course, the Cookies & Cream one sold out first.
• Frach’s Fried Ice Cream Truck: a decadent creation – ice cream in the middle, cake shell and a crispy fried batter
• Ice Cream Garden: I knew that potted drinks were a trend but now there’s potted ice cream. I don’t really get it. They’re cute I guess.
• Matcha Mochi: Froyo! Matcha Mochi had two flavors, matcha green tea and English Earl grey. You could get a cup ($4) or add toppings (Chinese chewy boiled rice balls, red bean paste, fan waffle cookie) for an additional $2. Both froyo flavors were nice – strong tea flavor, creamy, light texture. The yogurt flavor was overwhelmed though. 
• Melting Fire: crossnut ice cream sandwich (a croissant donut ice cream sandwich)
• Ridges Churro Bar: different kinds of churros plus churro ice cream
• Three Twins: organic prepackaged ice cream
• UniqCone: ice cream J shaped hooks – this strange looking double-ended creation features a corn puff cone that’s filled with soft serve vanilla ice cream (but could easily be filled with froyo). The design eliminates drippy cones. UniqCone makes its own cones and the soft serve machines are modified to make it easy to fill the cones. The J-shaped “Jipangyi” cones started on the streets of Korea…like so many food trends.

None of the dessert or boba places was as popular as Main Squeeze lemonade; people wanted the light up mason jars. RAMNUTS (ramen donuts made with horchata marinated deep fried ramen noodles, stuffed with cream cheese, chocolate or strawberry fillings, iced and  topped with sprinkles) and potato tornadoes on a stick were also extremely popular. 

On the savory side, shark tacos, frog fries, pig feet on a stick, and pho waffles sounded intriguing.

The next 626 Night Market dates are August 7-9 and September 4-6 at the Santa Anita Park (the racetrack). Free parking. Admission is $3. 

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.