San Marino Gets Its First Froyo Shop, Swirlz Soft Serve Parlor is Now Open

Fro-yo girl here. This is embarrassing; a froyo shop opened in my area and I didn’t know about it until a month later. Swirlz Soft Serve Parlor (2136 Huntington Dr., San Marino, CA 91108) replaced Quenelle, the ice cream shop that sometimes had froyo flavors. Swirlz is described as “a frozen dessert parlor featuring organic and vegan options + various custards, gelato, and sorbets.”

They change flavors on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the flavors can be found on their website and on Twitter, @swirlzsoftserve. The flavors that I encountered during my visit were different from the ones posted on their website on 4/18 and on Twitter. I guess the flavors hadn’t been updated. It’s a little frustrating to not find updated flavors because it should be easy to send a tweet.

The shop is small with few signs. There are eight self-serve flavors a day, a wall of toppings, refrigerated toppings and organic sauces. Some of the toppings were organic. They had mochi, cheesecake, popping boba, jellies, fresh fruit, cookie dough, brownies, nuts, cereal, sprinkles, different kinds of chocolate chips, candy, nuts, etc. A few toppings were unusual: soybeans, quinoa, and sunflower seeds. I didn’t see the price anywhere and I didn’t receive a receipt, but apparently it’s 59 cents an ounce. They also have pre-packed quarts.

Available flavors:

• Lemon custard: Creamier and thicker but tasted like lemon candy
• Raspberry gelato
• Vanilla ice cream (organic)
• Chocolate froyo (organic)
• Coffee froyo (organic): On the icy side but it did have a strong coffee flavor and wasn’t super sweet
• Tart froyo (organic): Not tart/tangy and pretty bland, icy
• Tropical coconut milk
• Dole whip pineapple

There was only one table inside but there were a couple of tables outside. They had a case for soft pretzels but no soft pretzels.

Ask to join the reward program. Once you spend $50, you get $5 off.

The new shop has more options for people with dietary restrictions. They always have vegan soft serve. So far the flavors they’ve had haven’t caught my eye and the tart froyo needs improvement.

San Marino is such a small area (2014 population of 13,423, over half of residents are Asian) with only a few businesses that it didn’t even strike me as strange that it didn’t have a froyo shop. There are plenty of froyo shops in the surrounding areas of South Pasadena, Pasadena, Alhambra and San Gabriel.

3 out of 5 stars.

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.

Yeti’s Frozen Custard Review

Fro-yo girl here. Yeti’s Frozen Custard started out as a food truck in Austin, TX. They later built their wholesale business and recently (as of mid-February 2016) their pints became available nationwide at Sprouts. They plan to open a brick and mortar shop this year.

Yeti’s prides itself in its all natural quality ingredients and creative flavors like Cinnamon Toast and Lemon Lavender. They use local ingredients when possible. The fruits are from Texas. Their frozen custard is hand crafted and and hand packed.

The Sprouts I went to in Monrovia carried three flavors: Mint Chocolate Chip, Roasted Strawberry and Blueberry Pancake. A pint retails for $6.99. During the sale that I encountered, a pint was $3.99. The packaging with the yeti is cute and appealing.

* Blueberry Pancake frozen custard: The texture is denser and chewier than ice cream. The chewiness made it seem odd to me. However, it does taste like it’s made with good milk, cream and sugar. It’s rich and creamy. The blueberries are blended throughout. The blueberry flavor is faint and there is no pancake flavor. They did add maple syrup but that isn’t enough to make it taste like pancakes.

One serving (1/2 a cup) is 230 calories and 15g of fat. Yes, it’s rich.

Ingredients: Milk, cream, sugar, nonfat milk, egg yolk, blueberries, simple syrup, guar gum, carob bean gum, carrageenan, orange juice, orange peel

You can find a list of stores that carry Yeti’s Frozen Custard on their website: 
http://www.yetispot.com/#!where-to-buy/c24vq

4 out of 5 stars.

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.