"I thought we did the frozen yogurt thing 15 years ago," my friend said to me recently. We had fond memories of calling the Malibu Yogurt hotline on a daily basis while in college to find out the flavors of the day, always hoping for peanut butter.
Frozen yogurt, it seems, is back in Southern California. With the entrance of the wildly popular Pinkberry into the culinary scene in the past couple of years, the area has seen over 20 Pinkberry stores and many Pinkberry imitations sprout up.
Pinkberry is not the frozen yogurt of my college days. Though there has been a dispute about whether it is "real yogurt", the yogurt is a more sour, less sweet version of the sickly sweet frozen yogurts that I used to eat. I personally like it -- really like it -- but I wouldn't stand in super long lines for it as happens in some Los Angeles locations. The Pinkberry yogurt comes in two flavors, plain and green tea, and can be adorned with fruit or other toppings.
In a series that Eater San Francisco (have you added Eater SF to your RSS feeds yet? You must.) is calling "The Fro-Yo Wars," the editors are tracking the new yogurt stores that are coming to San Francisco, presumably because of their success in Los Angeles and New York.