Yogurtouille
In theory, moving to California (as I just have) should make it easier to eat healthfully. Amongst other things, the Golden State is known for its population of health nuts.
But it is also home to some of the best, most tempting food around. One of the biggest trends of the last couple of years has been an explosion in frozen yoghurt shops. (I’ve blogged previously about Pinkberry.) While yoghurt sounds healthful – and these establishments certainly oversell the supposed health benefits of yoghurt – it’s usually loaded with sugar and fat. The non-fat varieties are especially full of sugar.
After catching an afternoon film on Friday (Baby Mama, which I liked but did not love), the Greedy Girls of Silicon Valley stumbled upon Yogurtouille in San Mateo. I quickly deemed it “the great place with the awful name”.
I love the way this place works (click here for my video tour and explanation): You take a cup or bowl (or sugar cone bowl for 50 cents extra) and then serve yourself as much yoghurt as you want, choosing from a dozen or so flavours. Then you move on to the toppings station, where you can pile on as much of as many as you’d like. They have confectionery toppings like Kit Kat pieces, mini M & Ms, crumbled cookies, granola, graham cracker crumbs, hundreds and thousands, and chocolate chips, plus a variety of fresh fruit and nuts: blackberries, kiwi, strawberries, pineapple, mango and more. You can take as much or as little as you can pay for, and the total cost is 35 cents per ounce.
I especially like this because you can take a tiny amount if that’s all you want. As I found out, though, taking a tiny amount just makes you want to go back for seconds. I tried a bit of the marshmallow flavour, a bit of the chocolate flavour, and a bit of the peanut butter flavour yoghurts. They also had green tea flavour, a variety of fruit sorbets, and a rather nice but mysterious flavour called “original tart”. Too many jokes…
This place will be hard to walk past again without going in and indulging. They do have a no added sugar blueberry yoghurt, which I sampled (they are generous with the samples), but I know I won’t be truly satisfied unless I indulge in the non-fat, sugar-heavy varieties. Against my better judgment, I know I’ll return.