Scoops' out for Summer, Day 13

YoCream

By KIMBERLY HURSH

We decided to only do a few fro-yo places for Scoops' out for Summer, mainly because they're all made with YoCream. But as YoCream is a local company, and there's just so dang much of it around town, we had to pay respect. And where better place to do that than YoCream HQ.


YoCream Company Store
10209 NE Cascades Parkway, 288-6300, yocreamfrozenyogurt.com.

Cost per scoop: 40 cents per oz. 
Most popular flavor: Cable car chocolate    
The person in front of me in line: Two young women who, from what I could eavesdrop, had a plane to catch at 4 am the next morning. 
Best for: Rewarding you and your family for successfully navigating out of the IKEA labyrinth.  


A very specific crowd hangs out at YoCream's company store. Located in the blindingly bright and shiny Cascade Station strip mall, right next to IKEA and PDX, only stranded travelers lost in transportation and home owners in the market for collapsible furniture get their fro on here. Its location in the flat wasteland that is Airport Way East means that most Portlanders will never see the YoCream mothership for themselves, but don't despair. The same yo sold here, which has been manufactured in the Northwest for 30 years, can also be found in almost every other frozen yogurt establishments in the metro area.  

What you won’t find at the satellite stores is the wide and constantly rotating selection of flavors. The company store has ten on tap, including black cherry, pistachio, cappuccino and thin mint cookies, which it changes out and announce on its Twitter feed daily. To me, all fro-yo tastes the same (cold with an aftertaste of chemical), but it doesn’t matter. The yo is just the canvas upon which is painted a masterpiece of toppings. 

The health hype surrounding fro-yo doesn’t quite take into account those toppings or the gigantic, one-size-fits-all cups, specially engineered to encourage customers to take on more than they should chew. Still, as long as you keep your wits about you (that means no late-night, drunken froyo runs, Ruth), YoCream is a way to treat yourself without any ice cream shopper's remorse.  


More Scoops' out for Summer

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