Fro-yo girl here. Happy New Year, fro-yoholics. For my first post of 2009, I'd like to recognize certain cities for leading the way in fro-yoland. In other words, these cities are the best in the Bay Area for fro-yo. To earn a place on the list, the city must have the following:
(1) Quantity of fro-yo shops
(2) Quality of fro-yo shops
(3) Innovativeness of fro-yo offerings
And the winners are:
1. Palo Alto - scores the highest on innovation thanks to Culture (homemade toppings, organic fro-yo of the highest quality) and Fraiche (great homemade mochi). Quality is also high with Red Mango in the mix, along with Culture and Fraiche. You can even find fro-yo on the Stanford campus at the Axe & Palm. Avoid Michael's Gelato and the future Orange Tree location.
2. San Francisco - Yogurt Bar was the first tart fro-yo shop in town but they have since been overtaken by many better tasting fro-yo shops. SF scores the highest on the quantity factor with fro-yo available all over town (with the highest concentration in the Financial District), including liquor stores (e.g., Michaeli's, New Russian Hill), pizza shops (Blondie's), malls (SoGreen, LoveBerry) and college campuses (Natural Sensations). Chains such as Yogen Fruz and Cefiore are represented along with homegrown high quality favorites, Tuttimelon, Jubili, Swirl Culture, Caffe Ambrosia, and Chill. Self-serve joints are represented as well (Yoppi, Icebee, Happy Yogurt). Chill ups SF's innovation score.
3. Cupertino - another high scoring city when it comes to quantity but not as high as SF in terms of innovativeness. Those who work and live in Cupertino have no shortage of fro-yo shops to choose from, including my one of my favorites, Red Mango, and a good self-serve spot, Tartini. For sweet fro-yo, check out I Love Yogurt for massive portions. Other fro-yo shops include the ever popular Yogurtland, Froyo? (you can eat fro-yo while watching a movie at Vallco), DIY Yogurt
4. Berkeley - started out strong with Ryno's, Yogurt Harmony, Papamingo and Michelle's Yogurt but new fro-yo shops have been slow to open. Of course Berkeley will forever be known as the home of Yogurt Park (known affectionately as YoPa). Though they specialize in soft serve ice cream, Sketch has fabulous tart fro-yo. The new year should see the arrival of Tuttimelon and other shops.
Support your fro-yo shop in 2009.
You know you love me. XO XO, fro-yo girl.
Showing posts with label Sketch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sketch. Show all posts
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Hidden Fro-yo Gems
Fro-yo girl here. Most froyoholics drive around (or walk around) town with their eyes open for signs of a fro-yo shop. I’d like to draw some attention to some fro-yo spots in the Bay Area that are hidden because they don’t have clearly visible (from the street) signs of fro-yo.
Two of these are on college campuses:
* NATURAL SENSATIONS (SF State, 1650 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132): Super cheap! Best fro-yo bargain in the Bay Area ($1.75 for 12 ounces of fro-yo goodness). They have four fro-yo flavors a day. I don’t think they ever carry tart flavors but that could change.
* THE AXE & THE PALM (Stanford University, 520 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA 94305): Decent tart fro-yo, stick with the dry toppings though (skip the fruit ones).
Two are tucked inside Korean food courts:
* CAFE MILAN (3561 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95051): Near Galleria Market and Paris Baguette, tasty tart fro-yo, skimpy toppings
* TIKI SURF (inside Super Kyo-Po Market, 3521 Homestead Rd, Santa Clara, CA 95051): Excellent tart fro-yo but gritty texture, look for the $1.50 fro-yo cone special
The last two are dessert shops where fro-yo is just a line item vs. the main offering:
* HELLO DESSERTS (1698 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA 95131): aka, Dessert Heaven, they recently added a very good tart fro-yo (a little gritty though) to an awe-inspiring lineup of desserts including pearl tea, build your own cream puffs, imported Parisian macarons, sorbet, gelato, etc.
* SKETCH (1809 4th St, Berkeley, CA 94710): It’s a gourmet soft serve ice cream shop that also happens to have some of the best tart fro-yo (one flavor, plain) in the Bay Area.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Two of these are on college campuses:
* NATURAL SENSATIONS (SF State, 1650 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132): Super cheap! Best fro-yo bargain in the Bay Area ($1.75 for 12 ounces of fro-yo goodness). They have four fro-yo flavors a day. I don’t think they ever carry tart flavors but that could change.
* THE AXE & THE PALM (Stanford University, 520 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA 94305): Decent tart fro-yo, stick with the dry toppings though (skip the fruit ones).
Two are tucked inside Korean food courts:
* CAFE MILAN (3561 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95051): Near Galleria Market and Paris Baguette, tasty tart fro-yo, skimpy toppings
* TIKI SURF (inside Super Kyo-Po Market, 3521 Homestead Rd, Santa Clara, CA 95051): Excellent tart fro-yo but gritty texture, look for the $1.50 fro-yo cone special
The last two are dessert shops where fro-yo is just a line item vs. the main offering:
* HELLO DESSERTS (1698 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA 95131): aka, Dessert Heaven, they recently added a very good tart fro-yo (a little gritty though) to an awe-inspiring lineup of desserts including pearl tea, build your own cream puffs, imported Parisian macarons, sorbet, gelato, etc.
* SKETCH (1809 4th St, Berkeley, CA 94710): It’s a gourmet soft serve ice cream shop that also happens to have some of the best tart fro-yo (one flavor, plain) in the Bay Area.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)