Frogo Waffles!

Last week I stopped by Frogo to see if they had any new flavors. Alas, they only had their usual (Tart, Green Tea, Death By Chocolate, White Chocolate Mousse, and Wild Mountain Strawberry). I ordered my favorite: White Chocolate Mousse with M&Ms. I found out that their yogurt is made from all natural fructose instead of high fructose corn syrup. So that’s good news; the less high fructose corn syrup in life, the better! I also learned that they just added waffles to their menu. The people behind the counter were kind enough to give me a sample too. I chose Wild Mountain Strawberry to pair with my warm waffle which was then topped with strawberries, syrups, and powdered sugar. I never combine yogurt/ice cream with cookies/cakes/waffles, so the warm waffle and fruity yogurt teamed up to be a pleasant treat.

Frogo
1300 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90403

Get Directions(310) 395-6794

Sherman Oaks: Humphrey Yogart

Like a zombie for brains, I craved frozen yogurt last week. I did not want to go to my usual yogurt stomping grounds, but wanted to try some different “brains”. I searched online and found positive reviews for Humphrey Yogart in Sherman Oaks and that was all I needed to justify a trip to Sherman Oaks. The location is conveniently next to a Gelsons grocery store in a plaza. Although the reviews said parking was ample, the lunch rush made the lot packed. However, parking farther away is not as bad as having to find street parking, paying for parking, or waiting for someone to leave to find parking.

Humphrey’s is quite small inside and also sells sandwiches, salads, and random Atkins-friendly products (low carb, high protein of everything: bars, dressings, ice cream to go, etc). They have 3 standard “yogart” flavors: Sweet Vanilla, Tart Vanilla, and Chocolate (made from the sweet vanilla and premium chocolate). On a daily basis they rotate flavors of carbolite and sugar free. They also offer regular ice cream and a soy option. I sampled some of their carbolite yogurts, but opted for the regular nonfat yogurt. You select your ice cream “base” and choose a topping (they have over 30). The method of mixing them is not like Cold Stone’s or 21 Choices, but is all done by a machine. I chose the sweet vanilla with blueberries. The result was an icy textured refreshing delight. It is like a thicker Jamba Juice smoothie (when it is just prepared and still really icy) than it is creamy and smooth like 21 Choices. It was light and enjoyable, making me feel like I was being healthy. I would go again.

Humphrey Yogart
4574 Van Nuys Blvd
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

Get Directions(818) 906-2490

21 Choices

Last Thursday, I visited 21 Choices with my roommate and friend. I was so happy to see that this time they had all six flavors and none were of the tart variety on the menu! I’m tarted out.

The flavors of the day were:

French Vanilla (98% fat free)
Dutch Chocolate (Made with semi sweet dark chocolate)
Iced Bailey’s (Made with coffee and Bailey’s; 1% alcohol)
Blushing Peaches (Made with peaches and strawberries; nonfat)
Junior Mint Chip (Made with Junior Mints, chocolate chips, and mint)
Oatmeal Cookies (Made with granola, cookie dough, and cinnamon).

They were also offering organic bananas and strawberries for toppings. I ordered the Oatmeal Cookie with chocolate sprinkles. It would have been even better if I chose cookie dough as my topping, but I figured the cookie dough taste was already in the mix. It was exactly like eating an amazing homemade oatmeal cookie. Thankfully, an oatmeal cookie without raisins. I also sampled the Jr. Mint Chip and had a tough time not ordering it. Ultimately, I decided that it was great as a sample, not overbearing in mint taste, but having more might be too much mint for me. Besides, it is hard to beat anything with cookie dough.

Note: Don’t be deceived by it’s sloppy look, it was delicious.

21 Choices

85 W Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91105

Get Directions(626) 304-9521

Frogo Before I Go

My roommate and I stopped at Frogo for a little treat today. Since it was in the afternoon and I am going to be on a red eye flight tonight, I was unable to try the coffee even though I heard it is good. I promise someday soon I will!

The flavors for the day were: Death By Chocolate, White Chocolate Mousse, Green Tea Froyo, and a Froyo (FrogoTart). I sampled both the White Chocolate Mousse and the Green Tea. I saw that they offered mochi (Japanese rice cake) as a topping, so I ordered a small Green Tea with mochi. My roommate ordered the White Chocolate Mousse with chocolate chips. The service was great, but that just might be because they recognized me from last time. Either way, the two people behind the register have always been pleasant and friendly. Both yogurt flavors were quite tasty. I still stand by my earlier review of the green tea; that it is smoother and sweeter than Pinkberry. I would like to add that the mochi was nice and soft, not too chewy. The White Chocolate Mousse is also soft and sweet, but with a more traditional yogurt taste than the tart Green Tea. I hope they rotate more flavors in soon, because it is always fun to sample new flavors.

Note: I interrupted my San Diego reviews with this Frogo review because a lot of people seemed interested in my first trip there (so I went back today to try more). Yum! Tomorrow I will resume with reviews of my San Diego trip!

Frogo

1300 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90403

Get Directions(310) 395-6794

Frogo Yogurt

If you don’t live in Los Angeles then you might not know, but frozen yogurt has become like the new Starbucks or the new cupcake. Ever since Pinkberry opened, frozen yogurt places are popping up all over the place. A lot of Pinkberry copycats have appeared throughout the city such as Red Mango, Kiwiberry, and Berri Good! All of which I have never been to before because I live within half a mile of 2 different Pinkberry locations (seriously, one to the north and one to the south). However, I am not as in love with Pinkberry or tart yogurt anymore. I find myself enjoying the more traditional style of frozen yogurt. My two favorite places to go are Bigg Chill and 21 Choices. Since 21 Choices is so far away, I go to Bigg Chill more often. However, it can be a pretty stressful experience at Bigg Chill because it is always packed with people.

As if the Jenny Craig location on Wilshire did not have it hard being next door to a Pizzeria and across the street from a Krispy Kreme. Now they are faced with more temptation, although a little healthier, by Frogo Yogurt on the corner of Wilshire and Euclid in Santa Monica. The yogurt shop is different than most yogurt places around because they also offer organic coffee drinks. The layout of the store is nice and simple. The modern orange chairs you see in the picture can be found throughout the whole establishment. Their menu is on TV screens behind glass on the walls, which made it a little inconvenient for me to read because the sun was causing a glare. They have about four flavors which rotate, but I do not know how regularly or consistently. The flavors they offered on my visit were: chocolate, white chocolate mousse, mango, and tart. I sampled the chocolate and tart. Frogo’s Tart is a sweeter and softer (as in probably melts faster) yogurt in comparison to Pinkberry’s distinctly tart taste and firmer consistency of yogurt. If I were in the mood for tart yogurt, I would probably choose Pinkberry over Frogo. I ordered a small chocolate with Reese’s Pieces. The chocolate tasted like traditional chocolate yogurt, but kind of got boring after a few bites. In the end, it was good, much better than the TCBY in the area, but not as tasty as Bigg Chill. It is definitely a more relaxed and refined place to go to if you’re on that side of town and want to eat traditional yogurt.

I thought about tasting the coffee, but I was hesitant. The coffee was staying warm in a pump pot, which in my mind means the coffee is most likely not at it’s freshest (unless of course the coffee is so popular that they are constantly making some, but this was not the case). It was also pretty late in the afternoon, so caffeine was the last stimulant my body needed. Maybe some other time.

Frogo Yogurt

1300 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90403

Get Directions(310) 395-6794

Bigg Chill

10850 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064

Get Directions(310) 475-107

This Side of Paradise

I strongly recommend visiting The Hungtington’s current exhibit, This Side of Paradise: Body and Landscape in L.A. Photographs. Go before it ends on September 15, 2008! I think if you have a Bank of America card, you get a discount (at least that is what I saw happen to a fellow patron). The photos definitely encourage thoughts about what has changed and what will remain the same in this crazy city. If you never do get a chance to see the exhibit, there is a book you can buy, which I am pretty sure includes the majority, if not all, the pictures found in the exhibit. It would be a great coffee table book.

I also recommend checking out the Conservatory while you are there, which includes four separate and distinct environments to walk around in: Tropical Forest Rotunda, Cloud Forest, Carnivorous Plant Bog, and Field Lab. (My favorite is the Tropical Forest Rotunda).

My boyfriend and I hung out in Pasadena after leaving the Huntington. Is it just me or is 21 Choices not offering as many flavor choices as they used to? Not only were there only 5 flavors instead of 6, 4 of the flavors are very simple such as chocolate, vanilla, a nonfat fruit, and the tart. This leaves room for just one crazy fun recipe instead of several. Oh well, they get points for using organic fruits.

After Pasadena, we went Downtown to MacArthur Park for a free Kung Fu Theater show at the Levitt Pavilion. We did not realize until we were already there that the targeted audience was children and not adults. It was amusing though, but sitting on the ground for so long was not.