I knew that 16 Handles was planning on opening up a ton of new locations, including the Upper West Side, West Village, and even one in Brooklyn in the Midwood area! I'm happy to say that they wisened up and added the toppings they brought to the Upper East Side location, down to the East Village. These are coming soon, so stay tuned!
In the meantime, I stumbled across four new make-your-own places in the last month. Let's give you the run-down, followed by a quick list of the existing places we already knew about.
First we have Flavaboom, on 6th Ave between 17th & 18th street. They have fewer flavors than 16 Handles, but some different toppings. They had mint chocolate chips, and caramel drops. They also had a ton of baked goods, such as cookies and brownies, and vegan cupcakes in interesting flavors like bubble gum!
There's a new location of Roast Town Coffee on W 34th street between 7th and 8th Avenue. This used to be my go-to because the original location is on 6th Avenue in the high 20s (I think 27th street), and it was the only make-your-own froyo place in midtown. The yogurt isn't anything special and the toppings are standard, but it's convenient enough. There's also a location in the East Village near St Mark's, but the one on 34th street had barely any flavors and even fewer toppings. I was majorly disappointed.
Outside the city, these places are catching on too! When driving through Staten Island, I spotted Orange Leaf frozen yogurt. Since I was in my least favorite borough, I decided to make a pit stop and check it out to try to give SI some credit. They had only been open a month and were out of original flavor, losing many points in my book. But if you're going to be stuck out on SI, at least you have somewhere good to go for dessert now! Oddly enough, Orange Leaf is a chain with 98 stores across the US, but the only NY location is in Staten Island. Arkansas, Minnesota, Indiana and Kansas seemed to have a lot of locations, which made me realize that the fro-yo trend isn't concentrated to New York and California. On a trip to Chicago in 2008, I was apalled that the only ice cream-type treat available was a Dairy Queen 30 minutes outside the city center. Orange Leaf has a location in Illinois, but not Chicago. Very surprising. Isn't Chicago supposed to be a major city? For all you Staten Islanders, Orange Leaf is located at 65 Page Avenue. Enjoy!
Last, there was a Tutti Frutti in Long Beach, right across the street from the LIRR en route to the beach. I suppose this information is useless, with it being September and summer being over, but unfortunately Labor Day was my first beach trip all summer, and the discovery came quite late in the season. I have to credit Alana Leviton for not only teaching me about this place, but convincing me it was so good that it was worth the trip out to Long Beach. I have to agree, Tutti Frutti had some of the best yogurt I've tried. Their Dulce Leche flavor was amazing and reminded me of Argentina (that's a good thing), although a little on the sweet side and would have been hard to load up on Kit Kat and Twix toppings - too much sugar! The Cake Batter and Coconut flavors were delicious too. They had a wider variety of toppings than even 16 Handles, include toasted coconut, Ghiradelli chocolate syrup, and candied walnuts. Next summer, make sure to stop in here before getting on your train back to Manhattan!
Now for the round-up, since people are always asking me where the nearest froyo spots are. I will provide only the make-your-owns, because there are too many Pinkberry/Tasti Delites for even me to know about!
Financial District:
Red Mango self-serve, 111 Fulton Street
East Village:
16 Handles, 2nd Avenue @ E 10th Street
Roast Town Coffee, St Parks & 3rd Ave
There's a 3rd place on St. Marks on the block between 3rd & Astor, I forget the name but it's not nearly as good as 16 Handles and worth walking up the block.
West Village:
Phileo Yogurt, 267 Bleecker Street between 5th & 6th Ave
Chelsea:
Flavaboom, 6th Avenue & 17th Street
Midtown:
Roast Town Coffee, 6th Avenue and W 27th Street
Roast Town Coffee, W 34th Street between 7th & 8th Avenue
Red Mango, W 32nd Street between 5th & 6th Avenues
Upper East Side:
16 Handles, 2nd Ave & E 82nd Street
Upper West Side:
16 Handles, Amsterdam Avenue & W 76th Street
If I am missing any, please let me know so I can keep up to date! I am sure new things have opened while I was away that are necessary to try.
