Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt

All-Natural Frozen Yogurt

I have this little Friday afternoon ritual: Manicure at Planet Nails (great nail salon, by the way), followed by frozen yogurt at Pinkberry just across the street.

The day Pinkberry opened was a magical day for me. I had seen it in construction for a few months, and the architecture looked really cool and cute. But the yogurt. OOHhhhh, the yogurt!!

Check online and you'll see people describe Pinkberry as "crackberry," "frozen heroin juice," etc. It's an addictive substance, I'm warning you!

Why? Well first of all, Pinkberry's frozen yogurt is made from REAL yogurt.
Which means we need to backtrack a second and define what REAL yogurt is, since most of America has never tasted it. Real, unadulterated yogurt is not Dannon, Yoplait, or Go-Gurt (the horror!). Real yogurt is made from fermented milk... and that's it. Think brands like Fage and Pavel's. It's sour and tangy, creamy and delicious.

Note - If you're really into yogurt, this is a great article that sums it all up: Yogurt Article. And of course, there's always Wikipedia for an in-depth description.

So Pinkberry starts with REAL yogurt, which is mixed with a little sugar and frozen into soft serve. The texture is firmer than soft serve, almost a bit icy, and creamy. The taste is sour, tangy, and just sweet enough to feel like a dessert. I remember my first bite of Pinkberry felt distinctly sour (I guess I was expecting the usual cloying sweetness of fro-yo). But the sweetness creeps up on you by the second or third bite and it starts to taste, well… simply amazing.

They have two flavors of frozen yogurt, plain and green tea. I like the plain much better than the green tea, but they’ll give you samples of both and you can decide for yourself. They also have a shaved ice and fruit concoction that I’ve never tried.

Once you choose your yogurt, they have a selection of toppings and fresh fruits. Fruit toppings include: strawberry, mango, pineapple, blueberries, kiwi, raspberry, pomegranate, blackberry, and sometimes others depending on the season. Dry toppings include: granola, yogurt chips, chocolate chips, captain crunch, fruity pebbles, cocoa pebbles, coconut, almonds, walnuts. I’d advise you to stay away from the sweeter toppings (they sort of clash with the sourness) and choose among the fruit, nuts and granola.

Normally, I just get a small size plain for $2.50. But today I was feeling a little bolder, so I went for Blueberries and Granola (toppings are $0.95 each, so the total was $4.40).

It was deliciously crunchy and fruity, but it also reminded me that my favorite still is: plain, no toppings.

Pinkberry is getting a lot of press these days, so the lines tend to be longer, but the wait is worth it. And if you go on Friday's around 3:45PM, I'll see you there!

Pinkberry
868 Huntley Dr (right off Santa Monica Blvd.)
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(310) 659-8285
Hours: 12PM-11PM daily

Read my other posts on Pinkberry and the L.A. Frozen Yogurt scene here:
Pinkberry Koreatown Opens
Pinkberry Open at La Brea/Melrose
Sprinkles Bites Pinkberry's Dust
Pinkberry vs. Fiore vs. Kiwiberri
Fiore Frozen Yogurt
Kiwiberri