In preparation for this June’s fro-yolympics, I’ve been checking out some of the new frozen yogurt spots that have recently popped up in Manhattan. I was really excited to hear about Yogurtland’s opening - a transplant from LA, they offer Pinkberry-style plain frozen yogurt, but they are completely self-serve and have a large variety of flavors and toppings (I counted 16 different flavors the day I went). I asked for a sample container (they only have large and super-large containers to put frozen yogurt in), and I sampled all 16 flavors Here are the frozen yogurt dispensers:

The flavors in rotation on the day we went were the following: Vanilla (pretty good), chocolate (pretty good), cookies and cream (awesome), New York cheesecake (okay), cappuccino (awesome), plain tart (very icy and sweet), peach (very artificial), peach tart (very artificial), mango (not bad), mango tart (not bad), green apple tart (extremely artificial), taro (chalky), strawberry (very artificial), strawberry tart (very artificial), blueberry tart (very artificial), and green tea (not bad).

Yogurtland also had a lot more toppings than any frozen yogurt store I’ve ever visited:

Some of the toppings include: pomegranate seeds, gummi bears, mangoes, blueberries, cookie dough, NY cheesecake chunks, and granola.

Dispensing the frozen yogurt was harder than I thought (so credit to the fro-yo experts that work at Pinkberry, Red Mango, Flurt, etc), but I also think the Yogurtland mixture was a lot icier than other frozen yogurt shops. We ended up getting half mango frozen yogurt and half plain (tart) frozen yogurt with blueberries and mangoes:

Most of the flavors tasted a little artificial (I spoke with an employee and he said that everything is sent over in large milk cartons that are poured into the machines - it’s similar to the way Red Mango and Pinkberry make their frozen yogurt). The price of the frozen yogurt is only $0.39 cents/ounce, which is really cheap (if you remember from the Fro-Yolympics, most of the frozen yogurt shops charged around $0.60 cents/ounce).

I think Yogurtland will do really well - not only are they competing with plain frozen yogurt shops (Pinkberry, Red Mango, and Yolato are all within walking distance), they’re also in the same playing court as Tasti-d-Lite and Frogurt (the brand of yogurt served at Bloomingdales, Zabars, Cafe Lalo, and Lord and Taylor). I didn’t see any health information nearby, but an employee told me that they just signed a contract with Danon to

Tip: Definitely ask for a sample container because their flavors don’t taste the same as the stuff you get at other yogurt shops in the city!

How to get to Yogurtland:

Yogurtland
267 Bleecker Street
New York, NY 10014
212-206-1824

After a day at the Guggenheim, Chris, Ariel, Joe, Nita, and I headed to Ditch Plains for a relaxing dinner. Joe flew to New York for the weekend to meet up with his new co-workers (he’s moving from Chicago in July!). I also met his co-worker, Nita, who is super cute and hilarious. Since we were a group of five, we decided to eat family style (ordering a bunch of different items off the menu so we could try everything). I got a general idea of what everyone wanted and then decided to order the following dishes:

Chicken pot pie:

Chicken pot pie with a biscuit on top - lots of juicy chicken meat, vegetables, and a biscuit on top. The biscuit was homemade and added a nice texture to the soupy chicken pot pie, but the chicken/veggie combination didn’t have enough flavor. Ariel said this was his favorite dish of the night (originally, Ariel wanted to order a skirt steak, but he said he’d order the chicken pot pie so we could also get a taste of the homemade biscuit).

Fish tacos:

Nita and Joe were checking out the fish tacos when we were going through the menu, so we ordered it. I don’t think anyone really LOVED the dish; there were too many different flavors and none of them were really distinct, so it was just like eating a pile of mush. The sauce on top didn’t taste very good, either, making this dish a total disaster.

Mussels and fries:

Chris and I wanted to order the mussels and fries (even though no one else wanted them) and the mussels were okay (the white wine sauce needed lemon), but the fries were AMAZING. They were thickly cut and had a great crunch to them - Ditch Plains might have the best fries in NYC!! They kind of reminded me of Les Halles’ fries, but the crunch was more similar to a curly fry than anything else. The mussels, on the other hand, weren’t memorable and I wouldn’t order them again.

Macaroni and cheese:

Nita and I really wanted to try the macaroni and cheese (it ended up being my favorite dish of the night). The layer of crusted cheese was amazingly delicious because it added just the right amount of texture to the noodles. The mac and cheese was Chris’ favorite dish of the night as well.

Lobster roll:

The lobster roll was my second least favorite dish of the night. I basically compare all lobster rolls I’ve ever eaten to Pearl Oyster Bar’s lobster roll; does it have huge chunks of lobster meat? Is there enough mayo? Enough butter on the bun? The lobster roll at Ditch Plains had too many onions, celery, and other weird chunks of vegetables that didn’t match the soft, sweet wonderfulness of the lobster. Thumbs down. The sweet potato fries were okay (they were homemade), but a little too crunchy (maybe I have soft teeth like Michael from The Office).

Ditch Plains was very accommodating for the 6 of us and getting a large table wasn’t difficult for a busy Saturday night (we got there around 7:30 right before the dinner rush). Their menu has a variety of dishes to please every type of palette, but they don’t prepare their plates well enough for a repeat visit from me.

How to get to Ditch Plains:

Ditch Plains
29 Bedford Street between Carmine Street and Downing Street
New York, NY 10014
212-524-6800

La Focaccia, a small Italian restaurant on the corner of Bank and west 4th, is the perfect place to people watch in the west village. Sex and the City thought it was popular enough to put in their movie (I watched the trailer and noticed the blue La Focaccia awning in the scene where Jennifer Hudson meets Carrie/Sarah Jessica Parker). Their dinner is nothing to write about (I thought the noodles were overcooked and the sauce was bland), but their brunch menu has some wonderful options. Chris and I went for a quick bite to eat and ordered the French toast sandwich and the omelet.

I ordered the French toast sandwich:

The French toast sandwich combines all of the great breakfast foods in one compact sandwich. 2 French toast pieces (scrambled eggs * ham slices * cheese = pure deliciousness). I suppose it would be similar to a McDonald’s McGriddle cake (a combination of sweet and savory), but I’ve never had one so I can only assume.

Chris ordered the large omelet:

Lots of ham, green peppers, onions, and tomatoes plus two potato wedges. The omelet tasted a little rubbery, but it wasn’t terrible.

We gave La Focaccia a couple of tries and decided that we won’t go back because the food isn’t that good, but sometimes I get cravings for the French-toast sandwich that I ordered. I’ll probably try to re-create it soon (and then I’ll post my findings on here!).

How to get to La Focaccia:

La Focaccia
51 Bank St
New York, NY 10014
212-675-3754

For a while, I was really obsessed with Philly cheese steaks. So obsessed, in fact, that on Friday nights, I would take the Acela from Penn Station to Philadelphia so I could get my hands on a cheese steak from Geno’s. Since riding the train for 3 hours is not something I’m going to do on a regular basis, I need to find a place the satisfy my cravings for globs of cheese, meat, and white bread. 99 Miles to Philly is one of my favorite places to go, but since it’s not in a good location for me (and delivery is sometimes too slow), I need to find something closer and more convenient. BB Sandwich Bar, located in Greenwich village, is walking distance from Chris’ house, so I was really excited to hear they have great (but unconventional) cheese steaks. The place is owned and operated by Gary Thompson, who came up with the idea after closing his upscale restaurant following 9/11. Thompson only sells one thing - cheese steaks:

However, he shares the space with Tonnie’s, a cupcake store:

We were there for the cheese steaks, but the cupcakes were tempting (another time, I had to tell myself, another time).

BB Sandwich Bar’s cheese steaks aren’t served on a baguette or hoagie bread, it’s served on a poppyseed kaiser roll (it’s round! blasphemy!). The special ingredients of Bb’s sandwich are the caramelized onions (which are marinated for a minimum of FOUR hours) and Thompson’s “special sauce,” which is a ketchup-based relish that he makes himself. The result is a tasty sandwich:

It’s definitely not a conventional cheese steak (I wouldn’t even CALL it a cheese steak), but it’s satisfying and the flavors work together really well. The white American cheese is creamy and tastes so milky and delicious and brings the sandwich’s different flavors together. If you want to try recreating the recipe, go here.

BB Sandwich Bar is cheap ($5.00) and they make it even cheaper for NYPD/FDNY/NYU students ($3.50). I’ll definitely be calling again to satiate my cravings for cheese steaks.

How to get to BB Sandwich Bar:

BB Sandwich Bar
120 W 3rd Street between 6th Avenue and MacDougal Street
New York, NY 10012
212-473-7500

Luckily, three yogurt shops were all in the same area so we didn’t have to walk too much (it was SOOO cold!! Whose great idea was it to plan the FRO-YOLYMPICS for December?!). After our disappointing trip to Red Mango, we walked to Yolato, a hybrid of yogurt and gelato. Yolato is gaining populartiy in New York (there are currently 5 locations in the NY/NJ area with plans to open 3 more in 2008). They carry a lot of different items - all kinds of gelatos, crepes, and coffees/teas. I like how their diverse menu, but I’ve never gotten around to trying anything except their frozen yogurt!

Yolato’s bright storefront:

1. Size of the hole:

The hole was an acceptable size and no one complained of hollowness.

2. Tanginess vs. creaminess: On a scale from 1 to 5 (one being tangy and five being creamy), Yolato scored a 3.5, being slightly more creamy than tangy.

3. Topping Variety:I would’ve taken a picture, but everything was in the back (there are 5 fruit options and 5 cereal/dry options). They used to have cherries on the list of toppings, but they never had them in the store. Their special topping is toffee, but I prefer fruit on my frozen yogurt.

4. Fruit Quality: On a scale of one to five (one being over/under ripe and five being perfectly ripe), Yolato scored a 3.5 - toppings weren’t superb, but they were better than average.

5. Calories per ounce: Yolato had 26 calories/ounce.

6. Price per ounce: Yolato clocked in at 90 cents/ounce.

7. Atmosphere/quality of service: There was no music playing at Yolato and there are only three or four seats in the shop, so it seems like it’s more of a take out place. They deliver, but I’m not sure frozen yogurt/gelato travels well!

8. Iciness vs. Smoothness: On a scale of one to five (one being icy and five being smooth), we rated Yolato a 4; Yolato is more of a gelato-frozen yogurt hybrid and retains a lot of the smoothness from gelato.

9. Number of flavors: there is only ONE flavor at Yolato (plain) but they do offer lots of gelato.

10. Resilience to heat:

Yolato was VERY resilient to heat and didn’t melt at all!

11. Topping Quantity/Presentation:

Even though there were only 5 blackberries (like Red Mango), we all felt like we were eating more (probably because our bowl had so much frozen yogurt we overlooked our stingy portion of blackberries).

Ariel and Gloria were NOT impressed with Yolato’s frozen yogurt, however, the rest of us thought it was pretty good. Gloria though it tasted like expensive soap, but I’m don’t think anyone else felt the same. The spoon size was unacceptable (they were gelato spoons) and it was SO difficult to grab fruit with the small spoons. Overall, Yolato scored a 2.75/5.0, which was a little unexpected (I’ve never thought Yolato was SUPERB, but 2.75 is disappointingly low). We’ll be taking a break for the weekend, but will return on Monday to head to 40 Carrots!

Here are all of the entries in order (in case you wanted to jump around):

Day 1: Oko
Day 2: Pinkberry
Day 3:Red Mango
Day 4: Yolato
Day 5: 40 Carrots
Day 6: Very Berry
Day 7: Flurt
Day 8: Berry Wild Smooth and Kindy Icy
Day 9: Crazy Bananas