SomiSomi Closures and Replacements

 

Fro-yo girl here. I’ve never written about SomiSomi because they serve soft serve ice cream (not froyo). But their soft serve is pretty good, even though I rarely get it (because it’s not froyo). Recently, they closed two locations near me. The Westfield Santa Anita location in Arcadia became an acai bowl place. And now the Glendale Galleria location is becoming another soft serve ice cream shop called Devil & Angel Desserts. They also have mochi donuts, drinks, and taiyaki. I miss the days when Pinkberry and Go Greek were at the Galleria and the Americana.

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.

Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt in Arcadia is Now Der-Tea

Fro-yo girl here. Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt, which started in Sydney, Australia, opened their first location in California at Westfield Santa Anita in Arcadia, California in May 2021. It lasted one year (not long). The sign has been changed to Der-Tea. They still make yogurt on the premises and offer purple rice yogurt, but they also added milk tea and fruit tea drinks.

I didn’t try it but reviewers say Der-Tea isn’t as good. Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt still has shops in Temple City, Rowland Heights, Chino, and San Gabriel. A Yomie's in San Francisco on Ocean Ave. recently converted into a milk tea shop called YM Tea. The purple rice yogurt trend might already be waning?

* DER-TEA: 400 S Baldwin Ave, Space 2203, Arcadia, CA 91007

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.

Spotted the New Pinkberry Vending Machine at Westfield Santa Anita

Fro-yo girl here. Last summer, iCream, a soft serve vending machine, made its debut at Westfield Century City and rolled out at other malls in Southern California. I spotted the iCream vending machine at Westfield Santa Anita in Arcadia, CA a few months ago. Since it served ice cream, I didn’t buy anything.

However, iCream just announced a partnership with Pinkberry and the vending machine at Westfield Santa Anita now dispenses Pinkberry frozen yogurt!

The first ever Pinkberry vending machines opened in late March at the Premium Outlets in Cabazon. The Westfield Santa Anita machine is located by the food court (by Chick-fil-a). It serves one flavor (Original Tart). There are 3 dry toppings and 3 sauces to choose from. A plain froyo is $5 and it’s $0.25 per topping and per sauce.

The amount of yogurt dispensed is small (3 ounces?) and the texture was a little icy and not as smooth as I expected from Pinkberry, but it did taste like Pinkberry original yogurt. Also, the machine dispenses the yogurt in a cute plastic Pinkberry cup with a foldable spoon underneath.

The machine accepts cash and credit cards but does not provide any change.

Can you believe that I wished to get froyo from a froyo vending machine back in 2013? It took 9 years for that wish to come true.

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.

Noodle St Housemade Yogurt

 

Fro-yo girl here. Noodle St. started in Monrovia, CA in 2017 and currently has four locations. They specialize in handmade noodles. You can even watch someone making the noodles in the kitchen. Their Chinese beef noodle soup is high quality, refined, and delicious They also make their own yogurt! The first time I dined there and saw yogurt on the menu, it wasn’t available.

Recently, I walked by the Westfield Santa Anita location in Arcadia and noticed they had a sign for homemade yogurt. According to the menu, they have original, blueberry, and mixed nuts yogurt. However, when I asked, they only had original yogurt. A small jar of original yogurt is $4.

Original yogurt: It reminded me of Vietnamese yogurt, which is made with whole (dairy) milk and condensed milk, but not as sweet while still flavorful. The yogurt had a smooth, custardy texture, a little firmer than usual because it’s pot set (cultured and set in individual glass jars). I’m pretty sure that it’s made with more than just whole milk but I’m not sure if they use buttermilk or condensed milk. Anyway, it’s surprisingly sour and really tasty. I’m hoping to try other flavors.

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.

Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt Finally Opens in Arcadia, San Gabriel Next

Fro-yo girl here. Yomie’s Yogurt opened in Rowland Heights in April 2021, becoming the first dedicated purple rice yogurt drink shop in the Los Angeles area. I drove over there a few weeks ago to try it and the shop was closed for maintenance that day. Very disappointing. According to the reviewers, it’s not an authentic Yomie location but a knockoff. The name is certainly very similar to the Australian chain that started the purple rice yogurt craze in Sydney’s Chinatown in late 2018: Yomie’s Yogurt vs. Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt.

The real Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt expanded into multiple countries and just opened branches in California this year. The first US location was in Bellevue, Washington. The California shops are in Arcadia, Millbrae, and San Leandro with locations opening soon in San Gabriel, Westfield Valley Fair (Santa Clara, CA), and Portland, Oregon

They say that they make the yogurt fresh in the store. I noticed there was a big refrigerator that seemed to be being used as a yogurt maker. The other places I had purple rice yogurt did not make their own yogurt.

Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt opened in Westfield Santa Anita on Friday, May 28. They took over the old Matcha Matcha space. Thought they just arrived in SoCal, they were already swamped with orders. They're known for the purple rice x yogurt drinks but also have fresh fruit tea and other yogurt drinks with durian, red bean, oats, jujube, salted egg, avocado, etc. The drinks come in one size and you can specify normal or less sugar.

Purple rice x yogurt ($6.15, less sweet): The sweet purple rice is nice and chewy and the yogurt lightly tangy. I like how the rice wasn't in tiny bits or clumped together. There was also a lot of rice, so every sip had yogurt and rice. The yogurt was a bit mild for me though (like mine tangier). It wasn't an icy slushy, so I liked that too. While I liked the drink, I wouldn't wait an hour for one and it feels a little overpriced. I'd rather have a froyo. But I'll be back to try a few more drinks.

For a history of purple rice yogurt drinks and health benefits, see IFYA’s post, Now Trending: Purple Rice Yogurt Drinks.

* YOMIE’S RICE X YOGURT: 400 S Baldwin Ave, Space 2203, Arcadia, CA 91007

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.

San Gabriel Valley Froyo Guide & History: Arcadia

 

Fro-yo girl here. If you’re looking for froyo in Arcadia, CA, your options are Yogurtland or Ace Yogurt. Ace Yogurt (160 E Duarte Rd.) is your old school froyo shop that first opened in 1990. It’s counter-serve, located in an older strip mall and serves Dannon YoCream froyo, smoothies, shaved ice, froyo pie and fruit salad. They even have Styrofoam cups. Yogurtland Arcadia (633 W Duarte Rd.) opened back in February 2009 in the strip mall anchored by Arcadia Supermarket. It was 30 cents an ounce and self-serve back then. The last time I went there, it was 49 cents/oz.

There used to be many more froyo shops in Arcadia. It was an early froyo hot spot, particularly at Westfield Santa Anita. Westfield Santa Anita had three froyo shops: Tutti Frutti, Cefiore, SweetXO, and Nubi and the Asian buffet restaurant, Kirin Buffet, also offered self-serve froyo.

Here’s the list of former froyo shops in Arcadia.

• Cefiore, 733 W Naomi Ave, Ste E, from 2008-2010: This branch was located in the same shopping center as Burlington Coat Factory and Daiso. The space is currently occupied by Lazy Bunny Tea House.
• Cefiore, 400 S Baldwin Ave, D3, from 2007-2011: Located inside Westfield Santa Anita, this was a counter-serve shop with four tart flavors.
• Nubi, 400 S Baldwin Ave, Ste 762-L, from 2009-2013: Located on the outside of Westfield Santa Anita food court, near Paris Baguette, this was a self-serve froyo shop. The space is currently occupied by Popbar. The same people own Ono Hawaiian BBQ.
• PinGo Yogurt, 633 W Duarte Rd, opened at Arcadia Center in 2007, two years before Yogurtland opened there. I’m not sure when it closed. It took awhile for the shopping center to remove the PinGo sign.
• Q Yogurt, 1220 Golden W Ave., from 2012-2019. Q Yogurt was in the food court by 99 Ranch. I remember seeing the cutout in the wall where the froyo machine used to be, but I never saw the froyo machine. I’m not sure when they stopped serving froyo but they changed the name of the shop to Q Boba. Maybe? They had froyo in 2012 and didn’t have it in 2014.
• SweetXO, 400 S Baldwin Ave, Ste 1260, from 2013-2015: This was the last froyo shop to open at Westfield Santa Anita though it was much more than a froyo shop. SweetXO carried fun gifts, candy, ice cream, frozen popcorn, cupcakes, brownies, etc. The froyo was self-serve and they had the largest toppings bar ever.
• Tutti Frutti, 1108 S Baldwin Ave., from 2008-2010. This Tutti Frutti offered self-serve froyo in the same plaza as Din Tai Fung and JJ Bakery.
• Tutti Frutti, 400 S Baldwin Ave, from 2012-2013: Tutti Frutti had a self-serve froyo kiosk in Westfield Santa Anita.
• Yophoria, 411 E Huntington Dr, Ste 114, from 2010-2011. This self-serve froyo shop also sold soups, waffles, crepes, pancakes, smoothies, milkshakes, etc.

See I told you that Arcadia was once overflowing with froyo. You could even find it at 626 Night Market (some years).

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.

Blueberry Yogurt Cake from Paris Baguette

Fro-yo girl here. I’ve been wanting to try the blueberry yogurt cake at Paris Baguette for years, but I didn’t want to buy a full cake. Recently, they started offering cake slices (yay). The whole cake is $31 and a slice is $4.50.

* Blueberry yogurt cake slice: The cake features three thin layers of vanilla sponge cake and three thin layers of blueberry yogurt cream with fresh strawberry slices, topped with fresh blueberries, a raspberry, and a blackberry. The cake was light but not moist. The tartness came from the fresh berries but I couldn’t taste yogurt. The yogurt cream was light and creamy. The frosting wasn’t too sweet. It reminded me of a strawberry shortcake from an Asian bakery.

I had a similar cake at Tous Les Jours, a Korean bakery and it also lacked yogurt flavor.

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

* PARIS BAGUETTE: 400 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007

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.