So is desert hot the new normal now? As we all know now, it’s been a really hot year. With just one fan in our house, our family has been scrambling to find a way to cool off.
When I was a kid it was all about popsicles and running through the lawn sprinklers. These days with the drought and water restrictions, we’ve had to find other ways to get cool (although I did briefly consider illegally watering my grass just so my kids could run through the sprinklers). Instead, we went out for frozen yogurt.
We’ve made it a tradition to buy some fro-yo to celebrate the last day of school. We usually do the same on the last day of summer. So we’ve explored many frozen yogurt shops, but the one that escaped us so far has been Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt. This particular frozen yogurt shop is a spot that is—as I was quickly informed by one of my sons—the “popular spot” to hang out and get frozen yogurt. When I pressed him about what made it so popular I was met with a shrug. We’d have to find out what makes it so ourselves.
The first thing that hits you as you walk into Menchie’s is the scent of something yummy—like maybe waffle cone or baked cookies. It’s an incredible scent that immediately awakens the tastebuds. If that scent comes in an air freshener, I might be tempted to buy it. Of course it might tempt me to eat more too. But at Menchie’s it’s fitting.
Frozen yogurt shops always seem to have the same bright, clean feel, and Menchie’s fits that description. There’s a little chalkboard wall, perfect for keeping impatient hands busy while they wait to get their yogurt, or to work off that sugar high after they’ve finished. There is plenty of indoor seating, but the addition of outdoor seating is always a plus in Santa Maria, where there are so few places that offer that option.
My kids wasted no time grabbing their cups to fill up on chilled sweetness. With options like vanilla, cake batter, strawberry tart, and Oreo cookie, it was difficult to decide on a flavor. The big guys at Menchie’s must’ve known this because they paired several complementary flavors that allow you to swirl them both into your cup. The flavors were all fine and good, but the biggest draw was the toppings, according to my kids.
Cap’n Crunch, Nerds, Hershey’s Kisses, and chocolate rocks were among the selections they favored, because nothing tops off an Oreo and devil’s food cake fro-yo better than a heaping scoop of sugary cereal and neon-colored candies.
My youngest son, Sebastian, got a tart yogurt with Sour Patch Kids and chocolate rocks and topped it off with a cherry.
I always think I’m going to go for something crazy, but in the end I choose the same thing: Dole pineapple yogurt, vanilla yogurt, granola, and strawberries, topped with whipped cream. Everyone else finished theirs before I could even witness what they selected.
Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt features gluten-free, vegan, and no high-fructose corn syrup options. They also use natural flavors like real cake, cookies, spices, fruits, and nuts. The entire line of frozen yogurt is certified Kosher, and the milk they use comes from California cows not treated with rBST.
Because I’m not the best judge of fro-yo shops, I had to defer to my sons about the ranking of Menchie’s among frozen yogurt shops.
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Sebastian uses a complicated rating scale that consists of a thumbs up and exaggerated fake smile for a positive experience, a thumbs down and frown for something he doesn’t like, and a sideways thumb and shrug of the shoulders when he feels like he can take it or leave it. To add suspense, sometimes he’ll toggle his thumb up and down until finally settling on the verdict. In this case, it was ultimately a thumbs up. “It’s amazing! Great! Awesome, and all that!” he blurted out. His seal of approval.
Editor Shelly Cone can be reached at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 24 – Oct 1, 2015.