Fro-yo Mystery at Pome

Fro-yo girl here. This week I went to Pome, the 2 month old smoothie shop in the Marina on Chestnut St., for a cup of organic fro-yo. I looked down at the receipt and it said Tuttimelon, 3901 24th St., San Francisco, CA. That's the shuttered Noe Valley Tuttimelon. I'm puzzled why a two month old shop on the other side of town would be issuing Tuttimelon receipts. Pome has been open for two months and they've obviously programmed their prices and menu items into the register...why wouldn't they change the store name and address too?

Pome probably isn't related to Tuttimelon because it serves fro-yo but it's not Tuttimelon fro-yo (it's organic and tastes like Straus). And there's a Tuttimelon on the same street as Pome. I guess it's the ghost of Noe Tuttimelon.

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

* POME: 2066 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA

2010 the Year in Fro-yo Review

Fro-yo girl here. It's time to revisit my 2010 wish list to see which of my fro-yo wishes came true in 2010.

* More Yogurtland signature fro-yo spoons. This wish didn't come true but Tuttimelon came out with signature logo spoons...only they're not available in the U.S. yet. I hope to get some in 2011, without having to go to Hong Kong to pick up the spoons.

* Mobile fro-yo trucks in the Bay Area: Fro-yo trucks popped up in NYC but there still isn't one in the Bay Area. Why?

I didn't have many wishes and they didn't come true either. The year wasn't such a great one for fro-yo in the Bay Area. I'm sad about a couple of shops that closed, especially Cafe Delatti. However, the year was an interesting one. YoCream was acquired by Danone, Jamba Juice started testing its line of fro-yo (in the Sacramento area), I tried fro-yo at Target (not self-serve), Menchie's made it up to the Bay Area, and Greek yogurt grew in popularity. Next time I'll reveal my fro-yo wish list for 2011.

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

Fro-yo Xmas Gift Guide

Fro-yo girl here. Fro-yo gift cards are the perfect gift for teachers, co-workers, your stylist, your postal carrier and your family and friends. Be on the lookout for special holiday deals like these:

* BLUSH ORGANIC FROZEN YOGURT: Buy $25 or more in gift cards and get a free small frozen yogurt w/ two toppings for yourself

* PINKBERRY: Purchase $500 or more in Pinkberry gift cards online at http://www.pinkberrygiftcards.com/ and get a $25 gift card. They have cute holiday designs but who spends $500 on fro-yo gift cards? For that same amount you can get 20 small FREE fro-yos with toppings from Blush.

* CULTURE ORGANIC FROZEN YOGURT: Culture has put together the perfect gift set for fro-yo fans. Their fro-yo survival kit ($19.99) includes a reusable fro-yo bowl and spoon (I have one in smurf blue), a bag of housemade toppings choice, your choice of a jar of housemade fro-yo sauce and a $5 gift card. Bring the bowl back for 10% off your fro-yo purchase every time you use it. Yum! Also, if you buy a $25 gift card, you'll get a free small fro-yo.

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

UPDATE: Tuttimelon has a special holiday gift card promotion! Buy $20 in gift cards, get a FREE yogurt w/ 2 toppings or 10oz of yogurt at their self-serve locations. Share your love for Tuttimelon!

Harmony Yogurt also announced a special deal, buy $20 worth of gift cards, get a small fro-yo with one topping for free. Treat yourself and treat someone else to the fro-yo you love.

Fro-yo and Pearl Tea

Fro-yo girl here. Recently, I posed the following question: “You're in the mood for fro-yo but there isn't any around. What do you have instead?”

The options included ice cream and gelato (which are the most similar to fro-yo), baked goods (cake, cupcakes, cookies), Asian desserts (egg puffs, boba tea) and a healthier option (smoothies). Surprisingly, boba tea was the overwhelming favorite substitute for fro-yo, capturing 58% of the votes. Gelato was a distant third with 17% of the votes. The cold desserts/snacks were more popular with readers.

At first I thought that most of my readers are Asian (and that could be true) but then why aren’t egg puffs more popular? Boba/pearl tea isn’t healthy but it is refreshing (like fro-yo). I’ve certainly seen the crowd move from Quickly on Irving St. to Tuttimelon (which prompted Quickly to come up with their own fro-yo). I’m still not sure to what extent the results are based on the Asianness of voters.

I’ve compiled a list of Bay Area shops that offer both fro-yo and boba/pearl tea. Maybe someone should create milk tea flavored fro-yo? I’ve seen (and tried) milk tea gelato.

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

* HELLO DESSERTS: 1698 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA 95131
* HONEYBERRY: 3488 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95052
* LOVE BERRY: Winston Way (Stonestown Galleria), San Francisco, CA 94132
* POCO CAFÉ: 1688 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA 95131
* ROCK IT SWIRL: 2810 Diamond St, San Francisco, CA 94014
* TRENDY BEAN CAFÉ: 1054 Kiely Blvd, Santa Clara, CA 95051
* TUTTIMELON: 601 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133
* YUMYGURT: 650 Central Ave Ste G, Alameda, CA 94501
* YOLATEA: 600 Main St #F, Pleasanton, CA 94566

Noe Tuttimelon Grand Opening Coverage

Fro-yo girl here. What a crazy day (August 8) with so many fro-yo grand opening celebrations (Tuttimelon Noe Valley/SF, Harmony Yogurt in Burlingame, FruittiYogi in Alameda and Golden Spoon in San Jose).

First stop: Tuttimelon’s grand reopening with free fro-yo from 12 – 2 PM. The first 50 people received a door prize (I didn’t see what it was) while the first 500 received a raffle ticket with a chance to win an iPod Touch and Nintendo DSI. Tuttimelon Bear insisted that we go there first and was thrilled to see Mr. Tuttimelon (Roy L. there). My Tuttimelon original tart with blueberries, watermelon cubes, cantaloupe, strawberries, lychee, granola, fresh and chewy strawberry mochi, and graham crackers was truly tuttilicious.


I asked about their new flavored, super fresh mochi balls. You can’t find them at every Tuttimelon location. So far I’ve only had strawberry. Look for blueberry, green apple and melon mochi too.


The Noe Valley location had pictures of cupcakes – and a case full of gourmet cupcakes from Sweetface Bakery. Loved the Hostess Who? Cupcake! Tuttimelon Bear was also a fan. A true dessert mecca, Noe Tuttimelon offers gelato, fro-yo (2 flavors a day), parfaits, smoothies, Leonidas chocolates and cupcakes. It’s a smaller location with no indoor seating.

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

* NOE TUTTIMELON: 3901 24th St, San Francisco, CA