Domo arigato Mr. Yogato

Bolton Hill has a great neighborhood cafe called On The Hill.

where Eclectic Elements was

Eclectic Elements closed? Where am I going to get crepes after kayaking?

323 Park...lot of new places opening the past year around the library.

How about the Spro coffee bar at the Towson library, which has the best espresso in town, and served by real baristas?

I can't wait for yogato. finally a good frozen yogurt shop in Baltimore. I hated driving to olney or even northern va for one.

Matt, you drove to northern virginia for frozen yogurt?

What?

Kilroy was here.

This will date me. I remember when Park Avenue was all Chinese vendors. It was so much fun to go into these little stores and see their wares. I think my brother got a small jade looking turtle one time. Mom went there to buy certain herbs to put into her tea. It was sooo neat! (I am not asian, I wonder what they thought when mom and 4 kids came in!)

See?! E61 Closed like always. No hours on the door either. My boyfriend did walk by one of the seemingly rare times they were open for business and said that he heard a woman yelling in the back, upset over something. The man tending to the shop excused himself and when he came back out said she was mad and they'd have to close and everyone had to go. He did say his espresso was good and the experience up until that bizarre moment was also pleasant. I hope they are able to maintain consistent hours. It's nice to have another place in Federal Hill to go that isn't a bar.

And PS- Can't wait for Mr Yogato! Any news on when it's opening?

EL,

Distance from Baltimore to Kampala: 7228 miles.
Distance from Nashville to Kampala: 7821 miles.

You're closer here.

How about Knoxville? EL

Mee Jun Lo. Best chinese restaurant on Mulberry. If you look carefully driving north on Park, you can still see reminders of the old Chinatown that was there.

Knoxville to Kampala: 7674 miles.

How is frozen yogurt different than ice cream or gelato?

Nothing on the BBC webpage about Uganda today.

If you guys have ever had "Mr. Yogatos" then you would drive further then Onley for it.

I had some while on a trip to DC. Its nothing like your parents TCBY, its tastier and much more healthy. Toppings like REAL fresh fruit, cereals, syrups, I think I even saw old bay. There was also something about naming your own flavor. Discounts for getting your head stamped. They even had an old school nintendo you can play.

You and your kids will love it, i do!

Does anyone know when the one in Fells opens?

Andrew- In the pic above you can see it says "April" really small at the bottom. I hope they bring the mochi topping up this way too.

Sam- If you are a froyo fan (zealot in my case), ice cream and gelato just won't do the trick. It has to be the real deal. Not everyone has a taste for the tanginess/tartness of it vs. ice cream

Fro-yo, mochi, and a wild & fun yogurt wonderland will be showing up in Fells in mid-April! Check back for grand opening updates at www.mryogato.com. The link to the Fells Point store isn't there yet - but I promise, it will be soon!

And just remember that Mr. Yogato is not your typical franchise...in fact, Mr. Yogato doesn't really like that word, so this store will have it's own local flair - while of course keeping the fun and ridiculously delicious yogurt and fresh toppings!

Oh and one more comment to answer Laura's question -

Frozen yogurt is much lighter than ice cream or gelato and it generally has a lot less sugar. Mr. Yogato's yogurts are also non-fat. If you've ever had that really full feeling from ice cream and wished there was a treat that tasted just as good but didn't overfill you, then frozen yogurt may be your salvation! It has a different taste than ice cream but most people love it. Come by Mr. Yogato in about a month and take a taste. Mr. Yogato loves giving out free samples.

Just for fun I compared Haagen Daz Vanilla Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt

Haagen Daz
Serving Size 1/2 CUP

Vanilla Ice Cream
Calories 270
Total Fat 18g
Saturated Fat 11g
Total Carbohydrate 21g
Sugars 21g
Protein 5g
Vitamin A 10% Calcium 15%

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
Calories 200
total Fat 4.5g
Saturated Fat 2.5g
Total Carbohydrate 31g
Sugars 21g
Protein 9g
Vitamin A 4% Calcium 25%

Mr. Yogato! I am SO excited. This is fantastic news.

Out here in the wilds of northern Baltimore Co., we have a place called "The Cow". They have frozen custard that is so rich and delicious that I get a kiddie cup and am totally full and satisfied. And, Santonis Market of Glyndon has gelato that is to die for. Oh - and the Cow's "also has Italian Ice which I'm told is very good but I'm kinda not into it. There is also a little walk up Twin Kiss further up on Rt 140 which is a typical Twin Kiss but a nice snacking place on a hot day and some kind of sub/market a bit further out towards Finksburg that I haven't been to but hear good things about.

JJ is considered polite around here to openly say if you are being paid by the company you are praising. Otherwise, we tend to write you off as a clueless PR hack, at best.

Ah yes Lissa, I should have said who I was. I am actually the owner of the coming Mr. Yogato. So, nobody is paying me to write anything but I can see how it would get annoying when people try to advertise on blog posts. That wasn't my intent - I just wanted to answer questions that I saw posted. And this is my first shop so I got a little overly excited to see blog comments about it, please forgive me!


[It's my first shop but it's the same theme as the DC store - the owner of the DC store and I are good friends]

Thanks for owning up, JJ. We have a good relationship here with several local restaurant owners, and I doubt we'd mind more.

JJ,
When I read your first posts, I thought that you might be the owner, or at least an employee of Mr. Yogato.

That said, good luck in your new venture in Fells Point!

Thanks for the welcome! I'm pretty new to blogging but it seems like this is such a great way to find new secret spots in the city. I think my next spot to try out by the beltway is charm city cafe...could there really be a good cafe in a shopping center off 695?

This might fall into other interesting tidbits - If using 2 chilis in adobo sauce when making Tortilla Soup is really good, believe me, using 6 the next time is not really good. WOW

So JJ, your assertion that frozen yogurt is lower in sugar is a false, right? I would like to see some facts on that.

Kitkat, my secret for rescuing inadvertently over-spiced food is yogurt. Mix some in with your Tortilla Soup, and it'll calm it down. This is why they serve yogurt with Indian food.

Sour cream works, too.

Don't know too much info, but heard something about an opening at the end of Thames...Northstar Bistro? Heard anything?

Here's all I know. EL

Oops, boy is my face red. A simple Sun search led me to your article from several weeks ago. My apologies.

Don't be embarrassed. Even I can't keep up. I'm so happy for tips I never mind hearing about a place I already know about. EL

Lissa - thanks, my b_tt thanks you. Don't know why I didn't think of sour cream or yogurt myself.

I popped into E61 soon after it opened - also surprised to find it actually open since every other time it seemed to be closed! I met the owners - a couple (not sure if they are married). She is from Baltimore, he is British, both very nice. Last I heard they are experimenting with hours so I guess that's why they haven't put them on the door yet. A sign would be nice though! E61 is apparently the name of their awesome espresso-maker. Food review: the cookie was average; the hot apple cider was the BEST OF MY LIFE! Really rich and comforting, not too sweet - perfect for a chilly day while doing some shopping on Cross St.

You might want to back off the lower sugar claim. The Mr Yogato website claims that plain Mr Yogato frozen yogurt has 28 grams of sugar per 1/2 cup, which is 33% higher in sugar than Haagen Daz ice cream and that's without any toppings. I'm not putting down the product, but let's not make up facts to make us feel better. Remember what happened with the bogus fat free frozen yogurt on Seinfeld? Yeah, that's right.

wow, I could not be more excited about Mr. Yogato. AWESOME!!!

Fro-yo is a big step, but what I really need is a decent place for fruit smoothies. I can't find a decent smoothie anywhere in my neck of the woods. The only option is at the gym, and I certainly can't go get one there when I'm in search of a hangover cure...

You are right. I've been doing my research and I stand corrected. I always assumed that since it didn't taste sweet, there had to be a lot less sugar. It's just the no-fat that makes it seem so light. So it looks like it's generally about the same sugar as ice cream. I used the more popular Mr. Yogato Tangy flavor (6g sugar per oz) and that is right on par with most Cold Stone flavors and Baskin Robbins Vanilla. The 7g is on par with a lot of the heavier flavored ice creams.

Well, now I have a challenge for myself. I've tasted good low-sugar fro-yo. So I'm going to work on my low-sugar recipe.

YAY for Mr. Yogato!! I can't even begin to explain how excited I am for healthy fro-yo in B-more. Does anyone know when it opens??

Sigh ... why do I have this feeling that there will be a constant stream of brand new commenters on the super-fabulousness of Mr Yogato. Wasn't the owner already on here pretending to be a customer? Once a liar always a liar. I would rather have a wee bit o' good ice cream, as in let's share some sweetheart (he gets a bad deal there), rather than a super-sugar fest of frogirth. People tend to eat larger portions of the ultra-sugary frozen fake yogurt too. Add some toppings to the large portion and you've got a full pound of candy treat. Meow. (It's the treat-deprived girl in me that's saying these horrible things. Won't someone feed me?)

Am I missing something or wasn't frozen yogurt a big 80s thing that died an ignominious death in second-rate malls by the mid-90s? I can't wait until there's an Orange Julius in Federal Hill! YAY! I don't even know what an Orange Julius is. I just remember seeing them in sad Midwestern malls in grad school. Ah the heartland, where crap dies slowly if ever (Sorry Mom).