Froyoyo

If you hadn't noticed, lots of frozen yogurt shops have been popping up all over town. For ages, all we had was TCBY near the Drag, but now it looks like every area of town has at least one. And there's at least one franchise that is trying (and I think succeeding!) in setting themselves apart: Froyoyo on Bee Caves in the Westwood Shopping center. 

I chatted with owner Joan over multiple samples of their different yogurts. They offer three distinct varieties: 1) uber-creamy, 2) a low calorie/carb, fat free, no gluten version called Only 8, and 3) a tart one (and here's where they are leading the pack) produced with locally made White Mountain yogurt. I love tart yogurts, such as the White Mountain (which is made with a lot of probiotics in it) and Greek yogurt, so it was no surprise to me that I found the original tart and pomegranate tart flavors to be absolutely delicious. Pomegranate actually tasted like the fruit, and Joan said they do other fruit flavors like mango and passion fruit. Many other yogurt shops have a tart yogurt, but it's made from a pre-made mix, rather than from real yogurt.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Only 8, in that it didn't taste like something made with artificial sugar (which I am very taste-sensitive too).... because it's not! It's named Only 8 because there are only 8 calories per ounce of it, and usually they have 3 flavors available. It's certainly not as rich as the creamy yogurts, but really, if you didn't have the regular in front of you to compare it to, you wouldn't really know the difference. All of their flavor selections vary -- they've got a huge range they can choose from, but typically, they'll have vanilla and chocolate in the Only 8, and the original tart flavor.

At Froyoyo, you pay by the ounce, rather than by a standard cup size. So you can get a little bit of yogurt with a ton of toppings on it (and, yes, there ARE a ton of toppings!) or you can get a lot of yogurt with just one topping, and still pay the same price per ounce. And in this hot weather, we can all use a little extra something to help cool us down without weighing us down! 

Ooops, I forgot to actually take a picture of the yogurt! That's ok, you can use your imagination. Or better yet, go try some yourself!