Fro-yo Alternative: Ice Cream Wins

Fro-yo girl here. I recently posed the question to my readers, which frozen dessert do you like best when fro-yo isn't available? Ice cream and gelato were the clear favorites, clocking in with 40% and 36% of the vote, respectively. Ice cream and gelato were far preferred to sorbet (6%), shaved ice (6%) and frozen custard (10%).

I always assume that the people who respond to my poll really love fro-yo and it's interesting that they chose the higher fat, creamier alternatives, but not frozen custard (which is the most similar in form to fro-yo). I have heard that fro-yo sales were primarily affecting ice cream sales, so the findings are consistent with that. Toppings for ice cream and fro-yo share the greatest similarity. Fro-yo was originally positioned as a low fat substitute for ice cream.

I've noticed a trend of fro-yo shops starting to carry ice cream as well and vice versa (e.g., Baskin Robbins, Coldstone). But then some fro-yo shops also have sorbet, shaved ice and frozen custard. Next month, we'll find out how readers feel about organic frozen yogurt.

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

Fro-yo Chicago Report: In the Neighborhoods & O'Hare

Fro-yo girl here. My last Chicago fro-yo report covered the downtown area. This one focuses on the neighborhoods of Chicago. I heard about the car driving into Forever Yogurt. FY sorry to hear about that. On the positive side of things, they're supposed to open 3 additional shops this month with 12 locations planned for 2011.

I've had good yogurt gelato and yogurt ice cream (if that makes any sense) but I still haven't had good custom fro-yo. I'm talking about places like iCream where they make the ice cream or frozen yogurt after you order it...using liquid nitrogen. iCream's frozen yogurt ranks among the worst I've ever had. The texture was lumpy and sticky and the taste was like a bad pear syrup. Horrific.


Things are looking up food-wise at O'Hare, thanks to the Red Mango kiosk. They're at Midway Airport as well.

In Evanston, Northwestern students can choose between Red Mango, 38 Degrees, and a couple of non-fro-yo only shops. Having tried 38 Degrees, I would choose the creamier and better tasting Red Mango shop.

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

* iCREAM: 1537 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL
* 38 DEGREES: 940 Church St., Evanston, IL
* RED MANGO: 809 Davis St., Evanston, IL
* RED MANGO: 1000 W. O'Hare Airport Terminal B5, Chicago, IL

Yogurtland's New Flavors for March

Fro-yo girl here. The little fro-yo elves at Yogurtland have been busy concocting limited edition flavors. The current new, limited time flavors are Honeycomb Tart and Devil's Food Cupcake Batter.

* Honeycomb tart: Tart honey fro-yo has been on my flavor wish list for a long, long time, so thank you Yogurtland, for creating this flavor. Since I enjoy honey flavored yogurt (the non-frozen refrigerated kind) and honey goes so well with yogurt, I always wondered what honey fro-yo would be like. Yogurtland's honeycomb tart flavor does not disappoint. The honey flavor can't be missed. It's natural tasting with a smooth, icy texture. It isn't that tart and it isn't sour but it's not as sweet as sweet fro-yo either.


* Devil's food cupcake batter: If you like chocolate fro-yo and cake batter fro-yo, I'm sure you will like this flavor. It's rich and sweet with lots of chocolate flavor.
I also spied some crushed Girl Scout Tagalong cookies in the toppings section.

P.S. I heard rumors of a new Yogurtland spoon coming soon...

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

New Reusable Monster Fro-yo Bowl

Fro-yo girl here. I have a new reusable fro-yo bowl! It looks like Mike from Monsters Inc. I found mine (the green one) at the eco-friendly green business, Culture Organic Frozen Yogurt in Palo Alto. They had three colors - lime green, orange, cosmic purple.

The monster bowls have feet and come with a matching spoon. They're dishwasher safe. The bowls are $3.99 each. Use the bowl at Culture and you'll get a discount on your fro-yo purchase.

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

* CULTURE ORGANIC FROZEN YOGURT: 340 S. California Dr., Palo Alto, CA

Future Yogurt Shop Picture: Yogurtland Walnut Creek

Fro-yo girl. Coming soon...Yogurtland's doors were open and it looks like they are close to finishing the interior. The exterior Yogurtland sign is up. The tiles have been put in. I didn't see any fro-yo machines but I don't think it will be much longer before they open.

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

* YOGURTLAND WALNUT CREEK: 1247 S. California Blvd., Walnut Creek, CA 94596

Pinkberry Pueblo Plaza San Jose Grand Opening Coverage

Fro-yo girl here. PPP (Pinkberry Pueblo Plaza) opened tonight. I missed the opening of the doors at 6 PM tonight. The festivities took place from 6 - 10 PM. Guests were treated to fro-yo samples while waiting in a slow moving line. The samples went quickly. They also set up a few tents with tables decked out in pink tablecloths and floating candles. The DJ was Evan Taubenfeld, the lead guitarist for Avril Lavigne.



Once you reached the head of the line, the PB employee explained their offerings, offered samples and made each guest feel welcome. Another employee tracked your fro-yo choices (adding to the wait time).

Guests were treated to a small cup of fro-yo customized to their liking. They had all the toppings out tonight, including the Luxe ones and Swirly Whip. There were 6 flavors of fro-yo to choose from and the poster promoted their seasonal Blood Orange fro-yo. I tried out the honey roasted sunflower seeds for the first time, thanks to Tracy T.'s recommendation. That girl knows fro-yo and her toppings suggestion didn't let me down. The seeds were pleasantly nutty, crunch and sweet.



Fro-yo flavor lineup: Blood Orange, Original, Pomegranate, Coconut, Mango, Chocolate.

The menu includes smoothies, fruit bowls and parfaits.

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

* PINKBERRY PUEBLO PLAZA: 1110 Blossom Hill Road, San Jose, CA

Yumi Yogurt Clothing!

Fro-yo girl here. Do you or someone you know love Yumi Yogurt? Have you ever filled out your Club Yumi card before it expired? Yumi Yogurt clothing is now available. I spotted quite a few colors of camisoles and t-shirts with red lips at their San Mateo location. The shirts start at $8. Yumi has five locations in the Bay Are (Los Gatos, Santa Clara, Millbrae, San Mateo, Redwood City).

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

* YUMI YOGURT: 3955 El Camino Real, San Mateo, CA