FRO-YO BATTLE: PINKBERRY VS. RED MANGO

The battle of the “fro-yo” companies is a war that has been waging on for years and years now. From the early days of Dannon’s foray into the frozen yogurt world, to the emergence of giants like TCBY, Penguins, and Golden Spoon, fro-yo was a phenomenon that swept the nation. That is until the whole “juice/smoothie” thing came along (but that’s another story in itself…).

As pop culture continues to spin its ugly head, the masses continue their battle to find simple pleasures with less guilt. Sure, the cupcake craze has maintained a steady hold on trend-scathed America (think Sprinkles, Crumbs, Magnolia Bakery); so has the rage for foreign-based pastries and sweets (Japan comes to mind with Beard Papa cream puffs, and crepes by Genki). But the latest fad to hit the fan in recent years: the resurgence of frozen yogurt; but not your typical TCBY-esque fro-yo. I’m talking the likes of Pinkberry and/or Red Mango.

These new-school fro-yo hot-spots have brought the frenzy of tart-tasting yogurt back to the forefront of mainstream pop-culture. Even MTV has been smitten, featuring Pinkberry as one of several different “spots” on The Hills. In L.A., especially, Pinkberry stores are popping up on every corner – almost comparable to seeing a Coffee Bean or Starbucks; it’s sort of like a fast-spreading disease. For the longest time I vowed not to allow myself to be infected. But being the trend-victim that I tend to be, I marched into the Beverly Hills store one day and have since found it hard not to get my fix. I have been fro-yoed.

Just as I started to come to terms with my addiction, I began noticing the faces of new places popping up while on my many drives around town: Red Mango… Kiwi Berry… Yogurberry… (even Loveberry in The Bay). It was as if I was being thrown into a deluge of brands all beckoning me to their stores… kind of like that nightmare where I’m drowning in a sea of Rock and Republics, Citizens, Chip and Peppers, Trues, etc. (OK, so I never had that nightmare… but I often day-dream about that happening. Now that’s the way to go, if ever you had to go like that…) I resolved to stick with one (Pinkberry) and call it quits. But the inquisitive monster inside of me started to play mind-games. I had to know which of the fleet was the better fro-yo: Pinkberry OR Red Mango!?

While visiting The Bay over the weekend, we happened to drive through Palo Alto after I was scooped up from SFO. Originally, I was looking for coffee. But we drove past a Red Mango, and I seriously made my friends stop the car. There was only one mission at hand. So we nixed the coffee idea, walked right into Red Mango, I ordered a regular yogurt with mochi, and was instantaneously sold. Red Mango wins! Not that there’s a serious difference or anything. If you were to dissect a Pinkberry and Red Mango side-by-side, you’d probably get the same shit: hip/mod/minimalist décor, loungey surroundings, basic yogurt flavors (RM: regular and green tea; PB: the same PLUS the new coffee flavor), and a plethora of toppings including fresh fruit (mango, kiwi, strawberries, raspberries, etc.), Cap’n Crunch, Fruity Pebbles, mochi, etc.-etc.-etc. The only difference that I could ascertain: PB -–just a tad more tart (more yogurt-ish), RM –-just a bit less tart and slightly creamier.

But the winner in my book: Red Mango. Not for taste or what have you – but because between them, it’s the first among the two ---originating in South Korea back in 2002. Pinkberry was started later (2005) by Korean Americans, who were both probably enthralled by RM during a visit to the motha’land. I'm all for whoever got to the finish line first. Ha.

So. You may choose your own adventure, and decide for yourself which one is better. I, on the other hand, have spoken. The word of Wen. Thanks be to me.

THE WEATHER HAS JOKES

Fuck SoCal weather this time of the year. While the rest of the country is in full summer-mode, we're teetering between super hot and annoyingly cold. And as past experience suggests, this will last pretty much ALL of June. The damn "June Gloom" came just as the "May Gray" was on its way out. And while there will be pockets of hot days, they come in-between all of these weird-ass cold days. I seriously go to work wearing sweaters in the AM, and - more than likely - I'm wearing the damn thing again when I'm leaving the office. This is messing with my head. My body feels the cold, and instantly I'm lazy. I don't know what the gym is anymore, and the food keeps flowing into my mouth as if I'm about to fucking hibernate for a long winter. (Yeah, as if someone is holding a gun to my head as I stuff my face every hour on the hour... Right.)

I'm waiting for someone to jump out in front of me, and throw streamers and confetti over my head singing, "This is just a joke, my friend! This is just a joke!"

Ha. The joke is on me. That's just it.

I'm cranky. Damn Celtics losing today doesn't make me feel any better. Fuckers.

DONUTS & ESCARGOT

Today is National Donut Day… or something like that. One of my boyz from back home sent out a link to access a free coupon from Krispy Kreme. I would so be on that, but I actually don’t have time to run over to the local KK. Oh well. I sent out the coupon to my buddies at work anyway, and I pretty much got chastised for not actually bringing in the “real deal” for everyone to share. Uh, I will not have that on my conscience. No sir.

One of my buddies, however, was adamant about having his donut (and eating it, too). So three of us took a little walk to Fritelli’s on Canon. First of all, we get there and it’s “Cash Only.” Who still does that besides the super cheap (and super yum) Thai places in Thai town? Secondly, who only has six (yes, count ‘em: 1-2-3-4-5-6) donuts left at like 11:00AM?! And on “Donut Day,” or whatever it’s called?! So much for the early lunch trip, huh? Thankfully, the time spent equated two of the mandatory 10-minute breaks required by CA state law. It wasn’t so much a loss. I must say, however, that their donut samples were awe-some…
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Since the donut excursion was a virtual bust, I will have to dish on a better foodie experience – both for your benefit, and my own. To re-live yum food moments is bliss. Two Thursdays ago, I met a friend at Le Petit Four in West Hollywood. This cozy French café is in the people-watchy Sunset Plaza, and it’s a great spot to dine at if you’re lucky to get a table outside facing the street. We were seated outside right next to a woman who had a botched plastic surgery job… or series of wrong plastic surgeries. And as much as I feel bad for blatantly saying so (because she was super nice/sweet; yes, we exchanged a few words here and there), it was just painful to look at. Anyway. Back to the food.

We decided to pick a few things to share: escargot, Maine scallops salad, and chicken Marsala. My friend hadn’t tried snails before, and the only time I tried them previous was at some random Chinese restaurant in DC’s Chinatown eons ago. (I skipped the time my younger brother was all over the snails that our cooks prepared for us during one of our visits to The Philippines years-years ago.) The experience at the Chinese restaurant was absolutely forgettable. I felt like I was eating something rubbery doused in oyster sauce. Same with the escargot. But this time, the little guys were already shucked out of their shells, and nicely baked in a pesto sauce; still rubbery-feeling, but tasted fine. Not sure if I’d brave the traffic on Sunset for that experience again, but it wasn’t a bad thing at all. The chicken Marsala was good… but it wasn’t any different from the versions I’ve had at other outposts (Say Maggiano’s?! But yeah, Sherlock, Maggiano’s is Italian… same difference in this case.). The chicken was nicely prepared though… thin, yet juicy. And the Marsala sauce wasn’t too sweet, and not too bland. 3.5 out of 5 stars. The mashed potatoes/beets that accompanied it, however, was outstanding. The crowned jewel of the meal, however, was easily the Maine scallops salad: nicely seared (and fat!) scallops scattered over a mix of field greens and baby spinach… winner! The balsamic vinaigrette added a nice touch, too. If there’s anything that I would go back for – it would be this salad.

Overall, the experience was a nice one. My friend’s sister actually works as a server there, and she ate with us before her shift started. She totally scored us an employee discount, so that made the whole experience all the more worthwhile…! But even without that perk, I would go again. I’d 86 the escargot, though.

PS: This photo of the scallops salad is not mine, nor am I sure if it's from Le Petit Four. But the salad I had looked just like this one. Thanks to www.taunton.com for the awesome pic!