Smorgasburg LA Ice Cream Alley Report 2022

 

Fro-yo girl here. Ice Cream Alley was back at Smorgsaburg LA this August. It felt slightly smaller this year, with a mix of old and new vendors.

List of Ice Cream Valley vendors:

• Creamy Boys (NEW) – New Zealand style ice cream
• Happy Ice – Italian ice
• Kinrose Creamery (NEW) – ice cream inspired by the flavors of the Middle East
• Sad Girl Creamery (NEW) – Latina owned, ice cream tacos
• Salt & Straw (NEW) – ice cream scoops
• Sweet & Hollow – chimney cones with ice cream
• Wanderlust Creamery – ice cream scoops, Escape bars

Kinrose Creamery’s flavors were the most appealing (sour cherry & cream ice cream, citrus rose granita, honey walnut baklava ice cream) but I went to Creamy Boys since their New Zealand style soft serve real fruit ice cream reminded me the most of froyo.

New Zealand style ice cream is hand-crafted; the ice cream and fruit are blended together in a special “drill” machine. In New Zealand, this type of ice cream is often found at the beach, farmers market, or a fruit shop. Choose the base (dairy or non-dairy), add-ins, and cup or a waffle cone. Available flavors: strawberry, vanilla, hokey pokey, mixed berry, banana. There’s only one size.

Mixed berry ice cream ($8) made with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries: I was reminded of Yogen Fruz and more recently, Valley Swirl, Swrlies, and Loving Cup (Bay Area). Creamy Boys was certainly creamy. The hand-cranking results in an ice cream with more variation in texture and flavors. There were icy chunks of frozen berries, seeds, patches of vanilla ice cream, etc. The vanilla flavor was mild and not as strong as Valley Swirl’s. It seemed less sweet than Valley Swirl’s and less flavorful than Yogen Fruz. The portion was generous.

I noticed they had the same photo backdrop from previous years. I didn’t see any frozen yogurt but it was nice to see more internationally inspired flavors of ice cream.

Admission is free and there’s free parking too (2 hours free). Parking is plentiful.

SMORGSABURG LA: ROW DTLA, 777 Alameda St., Los Angeles

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 Froyo Flavor at Wanderlust Creamery: Preserved Lemon & Candied Pistachio

Fro-yo girl here. Wanderlust Creamery finally has another froyo flavor! Inspired by Morocco, Preserved Lemon & Candied Pistachio features preserved lemon yogurt ice cream, dotted with spiced honey pistachios. The only other yogurt flavor they’ve had was Greek Yogurt with Pomegranate-Rose Jam in 2017. Five years ago!

Preserved Lemon & Candied Pistachio Yogurt Ice Cream: I love lemons, pistachios, and froyo, so I was excited to try the new flavor. I was a bit let down by the actual flavor. The pistachio bits were so tiny and sparse that I could not tell that they were spiced. The lemon flavor was distributed throughout and tasted muted. The froyo was not tangy but did taste like yogurt and cream. It wasn’t too sweet. I wanted much more lemon and pistachio flavor. The texture was thick, rich, and creamy.

I went to Wanderlust Pasadena. The other locations are in Tarzana, Atwater Village, Fairfax, and Venice.

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.

21 Choices Pasadena Looks About Ready to Open

Fro-yo girl here. I was in Old Town Pasadena for the Wanderlust Creamery grand opening (September 20) at the old Coolhaus space inside Indiana Colony when I walked by 21 Choices. The custom counters have been built and the froyo machines have been delivered. They removed the paper that covered the windows. Most of the lights have been installed. Based on what I saw, it looks very close to opening…

Meanwhile, the Yogurtland space is still unoccupied and Jamba Juice is returning to their Old Town location, the one that’s been dormant for years. One Zo just opened because we needed another boba place in Old Town. I am sad that Midori Matcha closed but it was a terrible location with very little foot traffic or even car traffic.

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

* 21 CHOICES: 44 N Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena, CA 91103

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.

Wanderlust Creamery Introduces Greek Frozen Yogurt Flavor (For the First Time)

Fro-yo girl here. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that Wanderlust Creamery, one of my favorite ice cream scoop shops, had made a Greek Yogurt with Pomegranate-Rose Jam ice cream. It’s one of their new September flavors. I think it’s the first Greek yogurt flavor they’ve had? There was a Yuzu Yogurt Charcoal Sorbet before, but that was made with yogurt soda.

* Yogurt + Pomegranate-Rose Petal Jam ice cream (frozen yogurt): It’s Greek yogurt ice cream, swirled with a jam of whole pomegranate seeds & Greek style rose petal confiture. The yogurt base is creamy, smooth, dense, rich and luxurious (it must be full fat). I could see bits of rose petals. The pomegranate seeds added some crunch though some bits were very hard. Flavorwise, I loved it – it tasted like extra tangy rose yogurt. The pomegranate probably makes it extra tangy.

When I visited the shop, they didn’t have any Yogurt + Pomegranate-Rose Jam left in the case. They get their pomegranates from Florida and Hurricane Irma disrupted their supply. It’s unclear when they’ll be able to make this flavor again.

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

* WANDERLUST CREAMERY ATWATER VILLAGE: 3134 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles (Atwater Village) 90039

* WANDERLUST CREAMERY TARZANA: 18511 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana, CA 91356

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.