Fro-yo Hot Spots, Part Two

Fro-yo girl here. Back in January 2009, I selected four cities in the Bay Area as fro-yo hot spots. Based on the quantity of fro-yo shops, quality of fro-yo shops and innovativeness of fro-yo offerings, I selected (1) Palo Alto, (2) San Francisco, (3) Cupertino and (4) Berkeley. 2009 was a very busy year for fro-yo and I'd like to welcome a new batch of cities to the fro-yo hot spot list. This newer group isn't as innovative as the original four but they've come on strong in terms of quantity of fro-yo shops.

The winners are:

San Jose
Pleasanton
Fremont
San Mateo

1. San Jose became the first city in the Bay Area to get a Pinkberry. A long list of self-serve shops also opened their doors including two Yogurtland locations, Whimsical, Toppings, Sweet Soleil, Yogurt Village, Yogurt Paradise, Green Cup and Sweet Sundays. Downtown San Jose welcomed several fro-yo shops including Penguin, Cafe Yolicious and Chillfactor.

2. Downtown Pleasanton became the battleground for Yolatea, Cafe Delatti, and Yogofina. Tuttimelon opened its first location in Contra Costa County at Stoneridge Mall. Viva Yogurt Cafe and Yogoholic opened their doors as well.

3. Fremont is now home to Fro-ggie, YoSwirl, So Frais Frozen Yogurt Cafe, Cafe Verona, Yogurtouille, Sweet Orchid, Yogurtastic, Pink Swirl, and Yogurt Bees. Old s school Yogurt Delite is still around. I get the feeling more fro-yo is on the way.

4. San Mateo. There is no shortage of fro-yo in downtown San Mateo with Yogurtouille, Tuttimelon, Happy Yogurt and Clear Optometry all within a few blocks of each other. Snowee, Maqito and Harmony Frozen Yogurt opened their doors in 2009 in other areas of San Mateo. I still have a soft spot for Yumi Yogurt.

Support your local fro-yo shop in 2010.

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