Tasti-D
I have an unhealthy fascination with frozen yogurt (yes, okay, I am a total LA-ite. I say fro-yo, but I don't go get my fro-yo wearing a jean skirt and uggs driving my Hummer, so I don't think you should give me a hard time).
My fro-yo addiction first started when I lived the the Valley and Studio Yogurt was right down the street. I went there all the time. I filled up punch-card after punch card to earn the coveted free yogurt. When I moved to Venice my new hangout became Sparky's, and I moved onto Penguin's when that opened even close to my apartment (after-all, Penguin's did have better toppings, and the rating of a frozen yogurt establishment is really a delicate balance between yogurt texture and variety of toppings). At least every other night I would ask, "Al, do you feel like getting some fro-yo?" And even if he didn't he would say yes, because he knew that anything else would be the wrong answer.
When I moved to New York I felt sure that I wouldn't have a local frozen yogurt place. Frozen yogurt somehow seemed low-brow and not an advanced enough culinary achievement to be successful among the foodies of New York.
Thanks to Gawker, and this totally awesome article, I did know that there was a Pink Berry in Manhattan, but not being a fan of sour milk myself, I wasn't too excited.
Someone at work suggested I try Tasti-D-Lite. I had to find this place. Google maps mistakenly told me there was one on 6th Ave and 31st...damn liars. I searched for it one day on my lunch break. Every time I got in a cab I would see one, but I could never quite make it there. Wednesday night Al agreed to find the closest one and said we could take the train there, even though I'm sick. It's only two stops on the G...only two stops!!!!! But the G train took forever, and by the time we got there it was closed. He agreed that Friday we could try again.
I still wasn't feeling well, and probably shouldn't have left the house, but I had a craving for French Onion Soup, and after a little searching we decided to have dinner at Caffe Carciofo on Court St. My French Onion Soup was amazing. Al had this amazing pesto pasta with sun dried tomatoes.
After dinner we walked back towards the Subway, and back towards Tasti-D.
Now, I'm told that I'm not allowed to call it ice cream or frozen yogurt, as it doesn't contain a significant amount of cream or yogurt, but as far as I'm concerned it's fro-yo, and it's the best damn fro-yo ever. It achieves the perfect fluffy and mousse-like texture, and while the topping selection is limited, Tasti-D makes me very happy.