after dinner sneeze

t says: When I used to think of frozen yogurt, I thought of TCBY.  Essentially, I thought of custard (or “soft serve” as most people call it) that never tasted quite as good as ice cream (also, the texture was less “creamy” and more “frozen”).  Well, Yogorino apparently recognized the taste disparity, gave ice cream the middle finger, and shouted defiantly, “we don’t want to taste like ice cream”.  The end result was a super-creamy soft serve creation that tasted liked … yogurt!  It’s actually quite stunning how much like yogurt it tastes – especially upon your first bite when your mouth and brain expects “oh, vanilla soft serve” but bam! it gets that yogurt twang instead (yea, there’s creamy vanilla and sugar, too, but the yogurt flavor is what makes the biggest first impression).

Yogorino has this one shtick: yogurt.  They only have one flavor of yogurt: “vanilla” (or more accurately “vanilla yogurt”).  The Yogorino experience is with the variety of interesting toppings – they have dry (including chocolate shavings, nuts, other candies), fresh fruit (changes frequently), fake fruit (fruit sauces), and wet (other sauces, like chocolate and caramel).  I’d be willing to bet that fresh strawberries and either chocolate shavings or chocolate sauce is the most common combination – makes sense to me – they taste good together!

Now, g and I have been there a few times, but I never felt particularly “moved” by it.  Personally, I like the taste of yogurt, but mostly with my Indian food or for my breakfast.  For dessert, I’d rather go to the nearby Capo Giro, where if I order something vanilla … it tastes like vanilla!  But tonight … Yogorino changed it all for me … and for the better!  Maybe it was the company?  Maybe it was the beautiful weather?  Maybe it was the peace of Rittenhouse Square at night?  These were great … but I’m pretty sure it was the yogurt.  Or should I say, the toppings?  I ordered a small with chocolate sauce and pistachio sauce (not the nuts … a green sauce).  The end result was an interesting brown-green puddle atop a mound of white.  It looked atrocious, but it was SO tasty.  The pistachio flavor was light, the chocolate was inviting, and the yogurt twang actually tasted like the sour you would get from fresh fruit, not from yogurt.  According to my brain, I had a chocolate-pistachio-fruit soft serve … it was awesome!  Plus, with the “probiotics”, it’s good for me … right?

g got caramel sauce on top of hers, and she said it was the best topping she’s ever had on top of Yogorino.  I disagree … mine was.  But hers was a close second …

In the end, I’m glad I’ve come around to liking Yogorino.  I’ve heard so many people talk about how it’s the greatest thing ever, and now I feel like I can at least join the conversation with the aspects that I like about it.  But … will I ever choose it over Capo Giro?  Maybe … it depends how close I am to Capo Giro …