The great frozen yogurt explosion of 2007 (3)
Posted 26 November, 2007 in randomness
If you live in Los Angeles, you may have noticed that recently, frozen yogurt shops have begun springing up like toxic mold. PinkBerry was the first, as far as I can tell. I find their regular-flavor yogurt unremarkable, and the green tea variety reminds me of vomit. More and more PinkBerry clones started appearing, and, of course, their names and concepts became ever more ridiculous. One shop down the street sent out flyers to announce its opening. The stylized font on the flyer seemed to proclaim that the shop’s name was Dirt Berry. When I found out it was actually called Diet Berry, it made me want to visit it even less. At least Dirt Berry would have been somewhat inventive and edgy - you know, the whole reverse psychology thing. Diet Berry just sounded as if it were frozen chemical slush rather than yogurt.
I was, then, shocked to discover that I quite enjoyed Kiwi Berri, which I only visited because it was right next door to Sushi Mac, my favorite sushi restaurant. It’s tart and sweet and tastes like what I expected PinkBerry to taste like. Plus, with the addition of fruit, you can fool yourself into thinking you’re actually eating something healthy. (In fact, at best, you’re ingesting sugar and other empty calories. At worst, since no one knows quite what is in this newfangled sour yogurt, you’re drinking a soupy mixture of high fructose corn syrup, FD&C yellow no. 5, hydrochloric acid (for tartness), benzene, asbestos, and lard.)
There are plenty of other yogurt facilities to try if you are an LA resident. Metromix has a great article comparing all of them. I’ve also put together a Google map showing the locations of all the fro-yo shops I could find. The Westside and Venice/Palms need to get on the bandwagon already and open some more of these clones. Enjoy: just don’t think about what might be in the delicious chilled treat you are ingesting.