Anita Gelato’s New Hours & Acai News

Fro-yo girl here. Anita Gelato was founded in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2002 and opened in Tarzana in 2022, was closed on a Friday afternoon. I thought that was odd, but then I saw that the shop is now kosher certified. According to the sign posted on the door, this certification means that they will be closing every Friday two hours before sundown and reopening Saturday one hour after sundown (to observe Shabbat). This means no froyo on Friday nights.

I noticed that they stopped serving the soft serve acai. I never tried it. Fortunately, you can still get their luscious plain froyo with unlimited toppings. The small froyo ($9) is huge! Anita has the best sauces like pistachio, tahini, cookieman, and pretzel. Now that they aren't one side of the soft serve machine, they could introduce a different soft serve...maybe even another froyo flavor. Fingers crossed.

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.

2023 Froyo Wish List

froyo machine & toppings, Anita Gelato, Tarzana

Fro-yo girl here. Happy Froyo New Year! And the new year means a new froyo wish list. But before I get to the new wishes, let’s see which of my 2022 froyo wishes came true.

Recap of 2022 Froyo Wishes

Purple Rice as a Froyo Topping: This didn’t happen. In fact, purple rice yogurt drinks didn’t catch on in the US and many of the Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt shops have closed or changed names. Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt in Arcadia became Der Tea. Yomie’s Temple City became Zhen Tea. Yomie’s San Gabriel closed. The only Yomie’s shops left in the area are in Rowland Heights and Tustin. The last few times I visited Yomie’s, the rice was hard. Other purple rice yogurt shops like From Yogurt in Alhambra, CA have also closed.

Trying Israeli and Australian Froyo: Anita Gelato, which started in Tel Aviv, opened in Tarzana in September and they brought their froyo! The frozen yogurt was silky smooth, dense, rich, and moderately tangy; a high quality froyo. The toppings were excellent and also truly unlimited (you can ask for topping refills). They make their own jams and sauces.

Pinkberry Pops: Pinkberry Pops (popsicles) are still available in other countries but not the US. While I didn’t have a Pinkberry Pop, I did get Pinkberry from a vending machine for the first time. Back in April, I got a cup of Pinkberry Original Tart from a vending machine in Arcadia, California. Eight Pinkberry vending machines were installed around Southern California this year. Most are in shopping malls and two at the Ontario International Airport. The first time I wished to be served by a froyo robot or vending machine was back in 2013!

Boba Froyo: I didn’t see any pints of froyo with tapioca pearls but L’Moon Creamery opened in Pasadena and they offer soft serve ice cream with tapioca pearls as a topping. Yogurtland offered brown sugar crystal boba as a topping this year! On another note, I lost interest in boba ice cream bars.

2023 Froyo Wishes

Many of my froyo wishes do eventually come true but they often take a few years. I feel like I’m running out of froyo wishes, so I’m going to share some old wishes that haven’t come true yet.

Erewhon starts stocking Yoga-urt: This could happen by offering pints of Yoga-urt or better yet, offering Yoga-urt at the Erewhon Coffee Bar. Perhaps they could even have an Erewhon exclusive Yoga-urt flavor!

Llaollao opening in California: llaollao is Europe’s largest froyo chain and I think the largest in Asia as well. They have one location in the US, in Houston. I’m still hoping to try it. Or maybe they’ll open one closer to me.

Souvla opens in Los Angeles: Souvla is conservative about opening new locations. They’re still only in the Bay Area but it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to open in Los Angeles. This is a new wish that I’ve had on my mind for years but never included on a froyo wish list. Souvla has inspired many Greek/Mediterranean cafes to offer plain Greek froyo with Greek toppings but Souvla still does Greek froyo best. 

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.

October 20, Blogiversary Number 14

Amazon Go, Whittier

Fro-yo girl here. I’m celebrating blogiversary #14 today, October 20, 2022 by reflecting on the previous year. Self-serve froyo is back and most people no longer wear masks indoors. A few froyo shops still offer hand sanitizer and gloves. There have been a few froyo shop openings and closings in California, but nothing in Los Angeles – unless you count non-froyo shops like Israel’s Anita Gelato in Tarzana and Amazon Go, the new convenience store in Whittier that serves Pinkberry. Also, iCream has installed five Pinkberry vending machines in Southern California with a sixth location just announced.

Yogurtland in downtown Burbank closed and so did Menchie’s in South Pasadena. It’s still easy for me to get to multiple Yogurtland locations but harder to get to Pinkberry and Menchie’s now. More new flavors and new froyo spoons have come out compared to 2020 – 2021.

Noosa finally introduced their frozen yogurt gelato. I first heard about it five years ago. Well, their yogurt is better than their frozen yogurt gelato. The latter is more like gelato than yogurt.

I’ve been to one froyo shop grand opening, Golden Spoon in Valencia, but they didn’t seem to be celebrating. Maybe it was the soft opening?

Prices are up at froyo shops – hovering in the mid to high $0.60 cent range at self-serve shops.

The first thick cut, bite-size, frozen yogurt cube shop opened in the US – in Seattle, Washington. The shop is called YoYo & CoCo. The trend started in mainland China and spread to Australia and Asia. I wonder if yogurt cube shops will open in California.

Many of the Yomie’s purple rice yogurt shops have changed names. I’ve had hard/old purple rice a few times recently, so I’m hesitant to get more purple rice yogurt.

Several lower sugar Asian bakeries have opened. Yu Cake is the best one that I’ve tried. They have locations in San Gabriel, Rosemead, and City of Industry. My favorite cake is the yogurt cake roll. The cake has a filling of yogurt flavored whipped cream that’s tangy and tastes like yogurt. So good! Pretty too! They even have yogurt flavored cake in other forms: box cake, jar cake, and mille crepe cake.

Acai places keep opening. I went to a couple and the base doesn't have much flavor as froyo. The toppings are good though. The fruit is often fresher than the fruit at froyo shops and they have more nut butters, seeds, and healthier toppings.

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.

Anita Gelato Opens in Los Angeles and Here's What I Thought of the Froyo

 

Fro-yo girl here. Anita Gelato, which serves froyo, finally opened in Los Angeles! Anita Gelato was founded in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2002; their first US location was in NYC. They're known for their froyo and of course, premium hand-made gelato. They also serve coffee drinks and milkshakes. I heard that they were coming to LA a few months ago.

The grand opening took place on September 2 in Tarzana, a neighborhood in Los Angeles (San Fernando Valley). I called before heading over there but no one answered the phone. I made the trek and wandered in…only to be told that the frozen yogurt was not available. My next thought was that they might make yogurt gelato but alas, they didn’t have that either. I visited again last weekend and they had froyo.

They have one soft serve machine which they use for their froyo and acai. Froyo and acai swirls are also popular. They have one flavor of froyo, plain/original. The price includes unlimited toppings and topping refills. That is, once you start eating your froyo, if you want more toppings, they’ll give you some!

Froyo: Small ($7.50)/ Medium ($8.50)/ Large ($11)/ Small take away ($18)/ Large take away ($27)

The toppings include homemade sauces, homemade jams, cookies, candies, nuts, chocolate, coconut, granola, sprinkles, marshmallows, fresh fruit, and more. They’re known for their jams and sauces. Sauces: Date honey, white chocolate, honey, tahini, cherry, pretzel, cookieman, white chocolate and cookies, caramel cookies

Jams: Passion fruit, strawberry, mulberries, mango

The frozen yogurt was silky smooth, dense, rich, and mildly tangy; a high quality froyo. It’s as rich as frozen custard. Mr. Froyo found it too rich and I also missed the refreshing and light aspect one usually finds in plain froyo. The toppings were excellent – a cut above. The tahini sauce was thin and nutty. The cherry sauce added some tang.

I ordered a small yogurt and the portion was generous. They were generous with toppings too.

The shop looks beautiful and luxe with gold accents against pink and green. Find free 90-minute parking in the covered garage. There’s plenty of seating but the outside tables are not shaded.

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.

2022 Froyo Wish List

IG @koomiyoghurt

Fro-yo girl here. Happy Froyo New Year! And the new year means a new froyo wish list. But before I get to the new wishes, let’s see if any of my 2021 froyo wishes came true.

2021 Froyo Wishes

• Erewhon starts stocking Yoga-urt: This hasn’t happened though Erewhon has added more plant-based ice cream brands.
• More no sugar added froyo offerings: Yogurtland introduced a Pineapple & Greens Smoothie Bowl NSA soft serve in January 2021. And Pinkberry Nigeria introduced a Lite Chocolate NSA flavor. Those two flavors were the only new NSA flavors that I noticed.
• More tea flavors: This kinda happened. Menchie’s Canada had four Bubble Yo froyo flavors, 16 Handles introduced Chai Tea oat milk soft serve, and Yogurtland’s Milk Tea froyo.

2022 Froyo Wishes

• Purple Rice as a Froyo Topping: I’ve finally had purple rice yogurt drinks and they’re good but I haven’t had froyo with purple rice. It's a combination you can get at Koomi in Malaysia and Australia.
• Trying Israeli and Australian Froyo: Right now I’d have to go to NYC to try some Israeli froyo but I hope Anita Gelato will open a location in the Bay Area or Los Angeles…or I make it to the one in NYC. Maybe an Australian froyo shop like Yo-Chi will decide to open in Los Angeles…seems unlikely but you never know.
• Pinkberry Pops: Pinkberry Pops (popsicles) are available in other countries but not the US. Why???
• Boba Froyo: You know how boba ice cream (ice cream with tapioca pearls) became a thing in 2020 and 2021? I’d like pints of froyo with tapioca pearls.

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.