Frozen Yogurt, Past & Present in Berkeley, CA

Photo by Danster L., Yelp

Fro-yo girl here. How time flies and froyo scenes change…this is particularly true for Berkeley, CA which had such a huge froyo scene years ago. I named Berkeley as one of the best cities for froyo in 2008. At that time, I wrote: “4. Berkeley - started out strong with Ryno's, Yogurt Harmony, Papamingo and Michelle's Yogurt but new fro-yo shops have been slow to open. Of course, Berkeley will forever be known as the home of Yogurt Park (known affectionately as YoPa). Though they specialize in soft serve ice cream, Sketch has fabulous tart fro-yo. The new year should see the arrival of Tuttimelon and other shops.”

Of the businesses mentioned in that post, only Yogurt Park is still around. As the oldest froyo business in the Bay Area, Yogurt Park opened in 1977, long before the second wave of froyo. Menchie’s the only other froyo shop left in Berkeley. Freshens is still open but I’m not sure if they still offer froyo (they might). Tuttimelon never opened in Berkeley. Pinkberry abandoned its plans to open in Berkeley. The chains were slow to arrive in Berkeley.

My favorite place to get tart froyo in the early days was Yogurt Harmony. I named it as one of my top 10 Bay Area froyo shops in 2008. Their froyo didn’t taste like the froyo from every other place. The tart yogurt was denser and creamier. It was counter served in eco-friendly cups.

Berkeley froyo shops and non-froyo shops that served froyo:

• Berkeley Bowl West: When Berkeley Bowl West first opened in 2009, the store café carried organic soft serve froyo from Straus. I’m not sure how long it was offered – not too long, I think.
• Bette’s To Go, 2009-2011?: The popular Berkeley 4th St. Marina deli started serving Straus organic plain froyo around 2009. I’m not sure how long they served it but they did stop serving froyo at some point and they’re still open.
• Blondie’s Pizza, 2008-2013: Blondie’s Pizza had been open for decades before they started serving froyo in 2008. They served froyo until 2013, when the froyo was replaced by ice cream sandwiches. It was counter serve and not very good but their pizza wasn’t so great either. College students ate there because it was cheap, fast, and close.
• Buona Vita, 2016-2017: Nice gelato and self-serve froyo shop that also served baked goods
• Freshens on the UCB campus, 2011-present: Freshens was remodelled in 2011, which is when they added froyo machines. UCB students don’t have to leave campus to get froyo with Freshens in the food court and they can use their meal plan points.
• Frozen Creations, 2009-2012: Self-serve froyo shop, had lots of tart flavors
• Honeyberry, 2013-2015: This was chain known for freshly baked roti buns, but they offered much more like snow cups, smoothies, gelato, milk tea, and coffee.
• Menchie’s, 2013-present
• Michelle’s Yogurt & Sweets, 1997: This candy shop across the street from Yogurt Park was the first tart froyo in Berkeley back in 2007. They stopped serving froyo before closing for good in 2015.
• Papamingo, 2007-2011: An early counter serve froyo shop specializing in tart froyo, Papamingo definitely had some loyal fans. People say that it went downhill after the management changed.
• The Pho Bar, 2011-2014: The plain tart froyo was made with Sketch Ice Cream’s recipe.
• Ryno’s, 2007-2009: A tiny shop on Telegraph that was taken over by other froyo shops (Honeyberry, Tutti Frutti) and now it’s a boba tea shop called Rare Tea.
• Sketch Ice Cream, closed, then reopened in 2012-2014: A beloved artisanal soft serve ice cream spot with house-baked goods and a great plain tart froyo which was later served by the Pho Bar
• Tutti Frutti, 2011-2013: Tutti Frutti replaced Ryno’s. Though the space was small, they still offered self-serve froyo and the cheapest price in town, 29 cents an ounce
• Yogofina, 2016-2017: This self-serve chain had consistently terrible frozen yogurt and lots of candy toppings.
• Yogurt Harmony, 2008-2011: My favorite place in Berkeley, RIP
• Yogurt Park, 1977-present: The first place that I ever had froyo!
• Yogurtland Bancroft, 2009-2017: This was the smaller location across the street from UCB with fewer machines. The one on Shattuck was bigger and better.
• Yogurtland Shattuck, 2009-2017: The better Yogurtland location in Berkeley.
• Yoloberry, 2014-2016: This was the second location for Yoloberry, which started in Davis, CA.

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.

Fro-yo Seattle Report: Shy Giant Frozen Yogurt

Fro-yo girl here. I finally made it to Shy Giant Frozen Yogurt (which was closed for a couple of months during the Pike Place Market renovation), Seattle’s first frozen yogurt shop. When it opened its doors in 1976, it was the first fro-yo shop in the Pacific Northwest and the second on the West Coast (it’s even older than Yogurt Park in Berkeley, CA). Shy Giant feels like a historic fro-yo place. 

Shy Giant is on its third owner now and it still offers custom flavored fro-yo. They chop up fruit and add it to the fro-yo. 

It was interesting to see their old signs (the signs look like they’re from the 1970s). One menu board lists yogurt, tofu and yodolo. They had frozen tofu! I’m not sure what Yodolo was. They no longer offer tofu or Yodolo. Their soft serve machines look as old as the shop. They offer 4 fro-yo flavors a day, Snoqualmie ice cream, smoothies, hot apple cider and hot chocolate. 

Shy Giant does have tart fro-yo flavors. The texture is very thick, stiff, creamy and dense. It reminded me of mix-in style fro-yo even though it did come from a soft serve machine.

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

* SHY GIANT: 1500 Pike Place, Space 15, Seattle, WA

Best Cities for Fro-Yo in 2008

Fro-yo girl here. Happy New Year, fro-yoholics. For my first post of 2009, I'd like to recognize certain cities for leading the way in fro-yoland. In other words, these cities are the best in the Bay Area for fro-yo. To earn a place on the list, the city must have the following:

(1) Quantity of fro-yo shops
(2) Quality of fro-yo shops
(3) Innovativeness of fro-yo offerings

And the winners are:

1. Palo Alto - scores the highest on innovation thanks to Culture (homemade toppings, organic fro-yo of the highest quality) and Fraiche (great homemade mochi). Quality is also high with Red Mango in the mix, along with Culture and Fraiche. You can even find fro-yo on the Stanford campus at the Axe & Palm. Avoid Michael's Gelato and the future Orange Tree location.

2. San Francisco - Yogurt Bar was the first tart fro-yo shop in town but they have since been overtaken by many better tasting fro-yo shops. SF scores the highest on the quantity factor with fro-yo available all over town (with the highest concentration in the Financial District), including liquor stores (e.g., Michaeli's, New Russian Hill), pizza shops (Blondie's), malls (SoGreen, LoveBerry) and college campuses (Natural Sensations). Chains such as Yogen Fruz and Cefiore are represented along with homegrown high quality favorites, Tuttimelon, Jubili, Swirl Culture, Caffe Ambrosia, and Chill. Self-serve joints are represented as well (Yoppi, Icebee, Happy Yogurt). Chill ups SF's innovation score.

3. Cupertino - another high scoring city when it comes to quantity but not as high as SF in terms of innovativeness. Those who work and live in Cupertino have no shortage of fro-yo shops to choose from, including my one of my favorites, Red Mango, and a good self-serve spot, Tartini. For sweet fro-yo, check out I Love Yogurt for massive portions. Other fro-yo shops include the ever popular Yogurtland, Froyo? (you can eat fro-yo while watching a movie at Vallco), DIY Yogurt

4. Berkeley - started out strong with Ryno's, Yogurt Harmony, Papamingo and Michelle's Yogurt but new fro-yo shops have been slow to open. Of course Berkeley will forever be known as the home of Yogurt Park (known affectionately as YoPa). Though they specialize in soft serve ice cream, Sketch has fabulous tart fro-yo. The new year should see the arrival of Tuttimelon and other shops.

Support your fro-yo shop in 2009.

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