First off, a few admissions: I’ve never liked frozen yogurt, and despite the buzz, I hadn’t been to YoLo until Friday night.
My daughter, on the other hand, is crazy about the stuff and had read about YoLo even though she lives in New York. Back in Memphis for a visit, she talked me into stopping by the new YoLo in Park Place. It’s next to Amerigo’s in the former Cold Stone Creamery space.
Turns out, it was opening night for YoLo’s sixth location, and Anna’s longtime pal, Emily Centko, was hard at work along with store manager Lauren Times. (That’s Emily and Lauren behind the counter in the photo above.)
At first, I was dazzled by the store’s colorful retro tile but put off by the remarkable buffet of toppings. (Decision-making is hard for me.) A dozen toppings are locally sourced (Dinsthul’s cashew crunch!). From there, they run a colorful gamut from expected (rainbow sprinkles) to unexpected (homemade blackberry puree). I went for the less is more approach: a mix of strawberry and vanilla yogurt topped with blueberries, chocolate Nonpareils, and toasted pecans. Anna did the complete opposite: expresso yogurt with so many different toppings she couldn’t name them all.
I asked Emily for her favorite mix, and she reeled off this combination: expresso, Reece’s cups, fresh bananas, and a dash of chocolate covered oats. Her advice to newbie’s like me? “Mix it up and don’t be boring,” she said. “There are too many toppings to always get the same thing.”
I was a skeptic when I walked into YoLo, but I left a believer, scooping up spoonfuls at stoplights as we rushed home to get Tony his yogurt before it melted. As Anna ran his dish inside, I sat in the car for a few more minutes, drinking the last of my dessert which had turned into a lovely strawberry shake with bits of chocolate and a final plump blueberry. All I can say is yum.YoLo, 1243 Ridgeway (yolofroy.com)
