Stroll through Westwood on a sunny day, and you’ll find lines of people waiting to get into one of the frozen yogurt shops that have taken over the town’s dessert scene. With each store carrying similar fruit toppings and claiming to carry the best or the healthiest yogurt, it is hard to distinguish one place from the next. So here’s the scoop on the
chillest trend in town.
Pinkberry
Yogurt flavors: plain and green tea
Unique toppings: mochi. Seasonal toppings include lychee and pomegranate.
Price (medium): Plain is $3.50, add 3 toppings for $4.95; Green tea is $4.50, with 3 toppings for $5.95.
Best: Pinkberry has scales sitting on their yogurt machines so you know you’re getting what you paid for. As for the flavor, which has been hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “the taste that launched 1,000 parking tickets,” it is the tangiest out of all the yogurt stores in Westwood, yet with notes of honeyed sweetness.
Worst: “The taste that launched 1,000 parking tickets” is also very watery and diluted. It’s runny from the moment you get it ““ do not expose to direct sunlight.
Health factor: Pinkberry carries nonfat frozen yogurt. The chain came under scrutiny for allegedly not having live and active cultures in their products. However, recent lab tests have proven there are in fact active cultures.
Interesting facts:
““ Cofounder Young Lee was inspired to perfect a frozen yogurt and fruit combination when he had soft-serve frozen yogurt with pineapples at an old pineapple plant in Hawaii.
““ Pinkberry has an incognito menu. With a large, you can get the swirl option: half plain, half green tea.
““ Pinkberry is also called Hollowberry by some, because of the little hole customers find in the center of their yogurt. But you’re not being tricked ““ the hole is the result of the way the machines churn out yogurt.
Snowberry
Yogurt flavors: plain, green tea, peach and mango
Unique toppings: marshmallows and mochi
Price (medium): Plain is $4.50, and add 3 toppings for $5.45.
Best: Snowberry’s yogurt has more of a milky, dairy taste than those of Red Mango and Pinkberry. The consistency is light and silky. Unlike other stores, which generally only carry “fro-yo” ““ frozen yogurt ““ Snowberry also serves a vast selection of hot teas. The interior decor, based on a palette of mellow blue and green, is not a direct replica of Pinkberry, which is refreshing to see.
Worst: Seating is minimal ““ there are even less tables there than at Pinkberry. Also, Snowberry is hard to find. It’s located right in front of Bebe on Weyburn Ave, its dark gray sign and black exterior hiding it from view. The mango-flavored yogurt is also too sweet.
Health factor: Low-fat yogurt with 17 calories per oz.
Interesting facts:
““ Snowberry was the second frozen yogurt store to open in Westwood, after Pinkberry.
““ If you buy seven cups of yogurt you’ll get the eighth free.
““ Snowberry sells decaffeinated tea, black tea, green tea, organic tea and herbal blends.
Berry Best (Inside Damon and Pythias)
Yogurt flavors: plain
Unique toppings: white chocolate chips
Price (medium): Plain is $3.50, add all the toppings you can fit for $5.00.
Best: There is no limit to the toppings here ““ just pile them on and pray they don’t suddenly avalanche off. The flat rate for never-ending toppings is a great (and economic) way to get your fill of healthy fresh fruits. Also, Berry Best opened only a few weeks ago, so it’s relatively under the radar with no long wait in line.
Worst: After buying your fro-yo, there’s no place to sit aside from the main restaurant area, so you either have to go out or crowd around with Damon and Pythias’ customers at the tables.
Health factor: It’s nonfat yogurt.
Interesting facts:
““ Buy nine cups of yogurt and get one free.
Polar Monkey
Yogurt flavors: plain and tomato
Unique toppings: crushed Pocky sticks, mochi and jelly candies
Price (medium): Plain is $3.95; tomato is $4.25
Best: The taste of the tomato flavor is distinct, both sweet and tart while very creamy. Not carried at any of the other fro-yo shops, the tomato-flavored yogurt also includes small pieces of the tomatoes in its yogurt. The three partners who own the store, one of whom is always present in the Westwood location, are friendly and give free toppings if you come often.
The upgrade from small to medium to large cup sizes is exponential ““ small is about the size of your palm, medium is the size of your entire hand stretched out, and large is enough to satisfy a month’s cravings.
Worst: The plain yogurt is a little bland, although it has a crisp aftertaste that surprisingly carries a hint of Sprite soda. The interior is small with minimal seating.
Health Factor: Polar Monkey’s yogurt is low-fat. An 8 oz. cup has 200 calories.
Interesting facts:
““ Their tomato option is made fresh everyday using Roma tomatoes.
““ They’re one big, UC family: One of the partners went to UCLA and another went to UCSD.
Red Mango
Yogurt flavors: original and green tea
Unique toppings offered: Mochi will arrive soon. Toppings change seasonally.
Price (medium): Original is $3.50; Green tea is $4.50. Add 3 toppings for $1.50 extra.
Best: The green tea flavor has a strong matcha (powder made out of ground tea leaves) overtone that creates a bittersweet, seductive experience on your palate. It has an iPod booth where you can play your favorite music, chow down, and talk to your friends at the same time.
Worst: No special toppings yet, so what you see on the counter is what you get.
Health factor: Red Mango has been certified by the National Yogurt Association to be authentic yogurt with live and active cultures ““ the first fro-yo store to receive the title. There are 90 calories per serving.
Interesting facts:
““ Red Mango is the most popular yogurt chain in South Korea and just made its debut in the U.S. ““ in Westwood ““ this past July.
““ Linda Chang
E-mail Chang at lchang@media.ucla.edu