Weirdest Places for Fro-yo

Fro-yo girl here. Fro-yo can happen anywhere. All one needs is the space for a fro-yo machine, a refrigerator, a sink, an area to chop fruit, and room for toppings.

Here's a look at some of the unusual places that offer fro-yo in the Bay Area.

1. CLEAR OPTOMETRY: 138 E 3rd St., San Mateo, CA. One side of the store features a swanky eyewear store with frames from Chanel and other brands, the other side features a dessert bar with delicious fro-yo and several flavors of mochi toppings. Yum. This is my favorite "weird" place for fro-yo. Get your eyes examined there or buy eyeglasses, get free fro-yo!


2. KIWITIWI: 569 High St., Oakland, CA. Part car wash, part convenience store, part fro-yo shop. It would qualify for the strangest place if it didn't have the convenience store as well. While people who are waiting for a car wash have time to sit around and enjoy fro-yo, the fumes from the car wash are less than pleasant.


3. MICHAELI'S WINE & SPIRIT: 2198 Union St, San Francisco, CA. It's not unusual for liquor stores to have delis but this is the first time I've seen one with fro-yo too. What a great idea! I'd rather have a corner fro-yo shop than a corner liquor store.


4. BLONDIE'S PIZZA: various locations. Greasy, cheap pizza and now fro-yo? Blondie's reminds me of college and certainly college students are among those who enjoy fro-yo. I didn't like their tart fro-yo but the sweet flavors might be better.

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

Tuttimelon Open on Thanksgiving Day!

To my surprise, Tuttimelon on Irving St. was open for business today. I drove by and saw a couple of people enjoying fro-yo.

With any luck they'll be open for Xmas too!

No Fro-Yo on Thanksgiving

Fro-yo girl here. With fro-yo shops closed on Thanksgiving Day, what's a fro-yoholic to do?

1. Buy Cyclops Greek Style frozen yogurt at Whole Foods ($4.99 a pint, flavors include mango, banana, coffee, raspberry). There isn't a plain or honey flavor. I tried the mango flavor.

Cyclops organic fro-yo is made in New Zealand and contains egg yolk. The texture is firm and creamy, very similar to ice cream. It isn't tart but it is sweet and somewhat tangy. The tangy flavor is different from the tanginess of most tart fro-yos I've tried. It's hard to describe but reminds me of goat cheese. It had a few chunks of mango. I wasn't too crazy about the product and wouldn't get it again. I prefer Haagen Dazs's sweet fro-yo, particularly vanilla with honey and granola.

2. Buy fro-yo to go from your local fro-yo shop. Some fro-yo shops offer to go containers (usually family size). I bought a quart of pumpkin tart fro-yo from my favorite fro-yo shop, Culture Organic Frozen Yogurt in Palo Alto. They have insulated bags and the fro-yo survived my one hour drive home.

I was also worried about what freezing would do to the texture of the fro-yo. In this case, it does firm up and it brings out the iciness of the fro-yo. Still delicious! It keeps in the freezer for a week. I'm bringing some to Thanksgiving dinner.

Some fro-yo shops sell "yogurt pie." I've never had fro-yo pie but I'm definitely curious about it.

3. Freeze regular yogurt. I've tried this with many brands. The end result tends to be too hard and icy, but it's still nice to have a fro-yo fix on hand. I prefer YoPlus for the wider cup (easier to scoop out the fro-yo).

4. Make your own fro-yo. I'm too lazy to do this.

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

Grand Opening Weekend at Swirl Culture, Nov. 22 & 23

Swirl Culture's second location in Union Square is now open. To kick things off, they have a bogo, 2 for 1 deal this weekend (Nov. 22 & 23).

* SWIRL CULTURE: 211 O'Farrell St. @ Powell, San Francisco, CA

2-for-1 at Chill Desserts on Nov. 28 - 29

Fro-yo girl here. Just in time for the crazy holiday shopping weekend...Chill is offering a 2 for 1 deal for their desserts. Bring a friend or loved one for a fro-yo shopping break. Chill is on the same block as Loehmann Shoes.

They updated their website - it has the menu now: http://www.chilldesserts.com/dessert/san-francisco/chill-menu-sf/

I know I definitely want to try a made to order crispy crepe cone with original frozen yogurt, black sugar and fresh berries.

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

* CHILL: 125 Kearny St., San Francisco, CA

Thoughts on Fro-Yo Flavors

Fro-yo girl here. Since flavor seems like an obvious way for fro-yo shops to differentiate themselves, it’s interesting that so many shops have the same flavors. Perhaps this is because of the limited number of suppliers of fro-yo mixes (e.g., YoCream, Cielo) but I know YoCream offers custom mixes so that doesn’t explain away the lack of variety. I can understand why the original/plain tart flavor is the most common as it usually serves as the base for other tart flavors. Berry fro-yo perhaps is perceived as a better counterpart to the popular fresh berry toppings.

I'm puzzled by the absence of citrus tart fro-yo. Since citrus fruits are tart, I think they would make for wonderful tart fro-yo flavors. I’d love to see the following fro-yo flavors one day:
* Tangerine
* Grapefruit or pomelo
* Blood orange
* Meyer lemon
* Yuzu
* Kumquat
* Kaffir lime

Spices like ginger, cardamom and lemongrass would make for wonderful tart fro-yo flavors as well.

Finally, a honey tart fro-yo seems like a natural flavor extension since honey is a popular fro-yo topping and honey tastes amazing with plain fro-yo.

If I had to give an award for innovative fro-yo flavors, it would go to Chill for black sesame and red rooibos tea tart fro-yo flavors.

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

* CHILL: 125 Kearny St., San Francisco, CA

Tuttimelon Irving 99 Cents Promo Ends

Fro-yo girl here. Sadly, all good things come to an end. The 99 cents special for the small original fro-yo is OVER. Finito. Time to cry. The promotional price lasted for eight months, so thank you Tuttimelon for making these past few months a little happier for so many people (including me). I remain your loyal fan and I'll continue to collect stamps on my Tuttimelon card. Plus, I look forward to your future grand openings on West Portal, Broadway, 24th St., San Mateo, etc. Thanks for the memories.

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

* TUTTIMELON: 2150 Irving Street, San Francisco