A View From the Sears Tower's Ledge
Illinois Is Getting Fatter
Mayor Blames Violent Holiday Weekend On Booze, Heat
Kuma's Pats Itself On Back With Block Party
Chicagoan Involved In Mount Rushmore Ruckus
The dropping temperature and pouring rain didn't stop us from getting excited when we read that three new frozen yogurt places will be opening up in Chicago in the near future. Frozen yogurt? Like TCBY? Yes, but better. This isn't just any fro-yo, as Chicagoist likes to call it. We're talking about Pinkberry (A.K.A Crackberry), which is either the best thing since sliced bread, or a huge crock of marketing shit.
Our coastal friends have been keeping us up to date on the Pinkberry craze while we waited for one to come to the Windy City (which will arrive as "soon as next year"). Pinkberry offers a type of frozen yogurt/dessert in two flavors; vanilla and green tea. Reading a few descriptions of it, we aren't quite sure what to think. Does "slightly tangy, slightly salty, and ringing in at a mere 20 calories per ounce" sound appealing?
Further adding to the confusion is the question of whether Pinkberry products can actually be called frozen yogurt. Pinkberry refuses to release its ingredients list; though the company says the product contains yogurt, questions of how much, and how much is needed to call something frozen yogurt remain. The Trib clued us in that the company's website eschews the term "frozen yogurt" in favor of "dessert reinvented." It all sounds strangely reminiscent of a certain Seinfeld episode.
Joining Pinkberry in the frozen yogurt invasion are Starfruit and Red Mango. Starfruit is the new endeavor of Morton Grove-based Lifeway and will feature a variety of kefir products. Kefir is a product similar to yogurt; the first Starfruit will open on 1745 W. Division St. next month. Red Mango is a South Korean firm that opened its first U.S. store in Los Angeles in July. It plans to set up shop in Evanston, Naperville and Lincolnshire this year. Judging from its website (and website alone), it looks like it might give Pinkberry a run for its money. Despite our excitement and first impressions upon hearing about the fro-yo invasion, we'll hold out on judging until we've tried all three.
Image via Pinkberry.
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
i experienced exactly what i read in an LA times review--you take a bite and think "huh--that's not bad, i guess"...and then you take another. then, suddenly, you've eaten the entire thing. and then, about three hours later, you find yourself thinking that another helping would be great.
so yeah, it is appealing...yogurt-derived powder or no.
God, if you call it "fro-yo" anywhere within arm's reach of me, I'm going to punch you. Of all the stupid ...
This stuff tastes like sourcream. It's awful.
salty yogurt? eww.
that seinfeld episode irks me, in that they could have just sold the good yogurt and dropped the non-fat advertising, instead of selling the crappy non-fat yogurt. but lord knows that wouldn't be funny.
for my money, yocream frozen yogurt is bliss. in fact, i think i'll get some right now...
Whatever to all that since the crack that is Love's Chicago Peanut butter fat free has been taking care of my frozen yogurt needs for years now.
kristina, tell me more...
I love Lifeway's Kiefer...
I like kefir too... but I'm not sure it has the following to support an entire store. It will be interesting to see if the neighborhood that can support a shop that tells you how to coordinate wine with flowers (A-Vision) can also sell people on drinking their yogurt.
Seems to me that there are lots of businesses that aren't supported in that neighborhood. Boutiques seem to dissappear almost as soon as they open up on Milwaukee.
Just my two cents. In the mean time, I'll be drinking my blueberry Kefir straight from the bottle on my way home from Jewel!
Check out Scooters on Belmont, they have frozen custard, fresh batches everyday and the flavors change daily too. Pretty good stuff, and it's not a chain.
That picture makes me crave frozen yogurt.
I'm lactose intolerant, but I still have a masochistic side loves to eat ice cream. I pay for it a couple hours later, but man, it's worth it sometimes.
lol at kookybites...
I'm there with you...
(or maybe just in the stall next to you)
had it in new york. it's pretty good.
who is doing their real estate?
didn't pinkberry, ny just have a rodent infestation, similar to the rat-circus incident at the KFC, in the same said city?
I don't think so. Nothing comes up when I google news search it. Did it happen a while ago?
See here.
as a chicagoan for all of my 24 years, who is now moving to LA, i can say it'd be hard to worry about a rat infestation in a pinkberry and it being a deterrent. there are hundreds of these places in LA. everywhere you turn a pinkberry or knock-off version of it. such as "yogurtberry" and the like.
pinkberry is pretty good. i found it's wannabe, who is only one store and not a chain, much better. that store is called Cantaloop. If only THAT became a national chain. check it out at hollywood & la brea.
Lifeway's Kiefer is a great HEALTHY local product. For that reason alone, I'll support them over some crappy LA/NY overhyped garbage.
holy shit! coming back to chicago after college in la, this will satisfy many withdrawals. i love pinkberry and could care less if it's a chain.
I think what's being glossed over here is that Starfruit will be selling frozen kefir -- an interesting and supposedly more healthy version of "fro-yo", so I think it could certainly hold its own in hipster central.
i currently live in LA (fortunately, hail christ, I'm moving back home to Chicago in October)and Pinkberries are sprouting up at an early-2000's Starbucks pace. They are everywhere.
Not good. Sour milk tasting, overpriced shit. Toppings are semi, and overall, your better off getting a pint of baskin robbins choc. peanutbutter.
go bears.