Pinkberry

After our sushi meal, we walked over to Pinkberry, a new frozen yogurt chain that’s popping up all over Southern California. When Jeanne first told me about it, it didn’t sound too impressive. There are frozen yogurt places everywhere, so why would this one be worth a visit? And, frozen yogurt was so early nineties. I had my doubts. But, Jeanne assured me that it wasn’t that kind of frozen yogurt, nothing reminiscent of college dining hall soft-serve. That this was actually frozen yogurt, which tasted tangy like the yogurt that comes out of a carton. Upon hearing this, I was intrigued, especially after hearing about the delicate yogurt sorbet of a similar sort that the Greek restaurant Kokkari in San Francisco makes.

We made it over to Pinkberry, and there was a line out the door. It sure was popular. We played with the gadgets along the wall as we made it up towards to the counter. Jeanne ordered one medium-sized cup of yogurt with kiwi, mango, and strawberry toppings. The white yogurt was extracted from the frozen yogurt machine, which looked very much like those I saw back in my dorm-dining days, and the worker spooned on our fruit.

We took our seats at one of the tables with trendy but uncomfortable-looking chairs. The yogurt looked like any other sort of frozen yogurt / soft-serve food. It looked like what comes out of the Dairy Queen machines, what comes out of the machines at McDonald’s, and the stuff that comes out of those ubiquitous machines in college dining hall cafeterias. But, looks can be deceiving, and when I took a spoonful off the tip of the yogurt it tasted like nothing that comes out of those machines. This creamy white yogurt tasted like yogurt, tangy and slightly sweet, but colder. It was refreshing and fruit trio that Jeanne had chosen added a nice touch of juicy tartness. The yogurt and fruit was delicious and smooth and sweet and altogether perfect. And, Jeanne also mentioned that it’s fat free and good for you. I was in yogurt heaven.