Thursday, August 25, 2022

Smorgasburg LA Ice Cream Alley Report 2022

 



Fro-yo girl here. Ice Cream Alley was back at Smorgsaburg LA this August. It felt slightly smaller this year, with a mix of old and new vendors.

List of Ice Cream Valley vendors:

  • Creamy Boys (NEW) – New Zealand style ice cream
  • Happy Ice – Italian ice
  • Kinrose Creamery (NEW) – ice cream inspired by the flavors of the Middle East
  • Sad Girl Creamery (NEW) – Latina owned, ice cream tacos
  • Salt & Straw (NEW) – ice cream scoops
  • Sweet & Hollow – chimney cones with ice cream
  • Wanderlust Creamery – ice cream scoops, Escape bars



Kinrose Creamery’s flavors were the most appealing (sour cherry & cream ice cream, citrus rose granita, honey walnut baklava ice cream) but I went to Creamy Boys since their New Zealand style soft serve real fruit ice cream reminded me the most of froyo.


New Zealand style ice cream is hand-crafted; the ice cream and fruit are blended together in a special “drill” machine. In New Zealand, this type of ice cream is often found at the beach, farmers market, or a fruit shop. Choose the base (dairy or non-dairy), add-ins, and cup or a waffle cone. Available flavors: strawberry, vanilla, hokey pokey, mixed berry, banana. There’s only one size.

Mixed berry ice cream ($8) made with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries: I was reminded of Yogen Fruz and more recently, Valley Swirl, Swrlies, and Loving Cup (Bay Area). Creamy Boys was certainly creamy. The hand-cranking results in an ice cream with more variation in texture and flavors. There were icy chunks of frozen berries, seeds, patches of vanilla ice cream, etc. The vanilla flavor was mild and not as strong as Valley Swirl’s. It seemed less sweet than Valley Swirl’s and less flavorful than Yogen Fruz. The portion was generous.

I noticed they had the same photo backdrop from previous years. I didn’t see any frozen yogurt but it was nice to see more internationally inspired flavors of ice cream.

Admission is free and there’s free parking too (2 hours free). Parking is plentiful.

SMORGSABURG LA: ROW DTLA, 777 Alameda St., Los Angeles

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.


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