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.

Fro-yo Made a Different Way at Ice Pan

Fro-yo girl here. Ice Pan caught my eye because of its innovative process of making the ice cream (or fro-yo) in front of you. They claim to be the "world's first ice cream store where you actually see your ice cream being made from scratch." The ingredients are all natural. IcePan has Fructooligosaccharide which helps accelerate bowel movements, so it's good for constipation.

Step 1: Pick a size: small, medium or large ($3.95, $4.95, $5.95)
Step 2: Choose one flavor, they have a dozen, including chocolate, green tea, banana, strawberry, watermelon, peanut butter, pistachio, and yogurt
Step 3: Choose a base: soy milk, regular milk, nonfat milk, low fat milk
Step 4: Choose toppings (cereal, mochi, fruit, peanuts, chocolate chips) and decide whether to have them on top or mixed in.

Each serving is made from scratch at an Ice Pan station. They spread the liquid mixture thinly on a silver pan – it hardens and looks like an omelette or crepe at first, then scrambled eggs, and finally ice cream. The person making your dessert scrapes, chops and throws the mixture and finally scoops it up (and adds dessert sauce and/or toppings if desired). It’s interesting to watch though it reminds me of Benihana.

* Frozen yogurt with nonfat milk, mochi mixed in ($3.95 for small, 75 cents for mochi topping): The fro-yo was very sticky, like gelato, and the flavor was decent - like your plain/original tart fro-yo but with a different texture and mild flavor.

Yogurt gelato, yogurt ice cream and Ice Pan yogurt just isn't as good as a good soft-serve style fro-yo. A good soft-serve fro-yo is creamy with some iciness, and is smooth and silky without being sticky.

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

* ICE PAN: 7100 Santa Monica Blvd. #135, West Hollywood, CA