So anyone who knows me knows that I love frozen desserts. For years that meant I would often make ice cream my dessert, even in the winter time. I have since discovered that uncultured dairy products don’t sit well with me, so I have moved onto other options. Sorbet for one. I have very current love affairs with Dolcezza’s offerings in Georgetown, as well as Ciao Bella’s selection at the local supermarket.
However, anyone who knew me in my New York days knows that I was also somewhat obsessed with Tasty D-Lite. This is a soft serve dairy dessert, but incredibly low-fat, low-calorie, and includes lactase as one of its ingredients, making it more friendly to my digestive system. And oh, they have a gazillion flavors, including Oreo Cookie and Butter Pecan. And even though Harry on Sex and the City referred to Tasty D-Lite as whipped flavored air, for me it has always been a more than adequate substitute for the real thing.
But now it has been trumped by something far more simple and wonderful.
My friends and I visited Tangysweet a week ago, not long after its grand opening in Dupont Cirlce. I had been anxious to try the place since reading about it in DCist. The concept is a twist on the classic frozen yogurt. Instead of making frozen “yogurt” that tastes just like the soft serve crap you get at McDonald’s, offer a soft-serve frozen yogurt that actually tastes like yogurt with that tang that most of us associate with the cultured delight. Such a product would in theory appeal to the diet- and health-conscious crowd, because it would at least appear to be lower in sugar and calories, and thus, healthier.
Tasty D-Lite has exploded in popularity in the places it has found a home (thus far only in New York and Miami and some random place in Texas) because it can claim it is both “all natural” and low in calories. And it tastes really good. But Tasty-D can’t claim it’s actually good for you. Yogurt on the other hand, is widely known to contain beneficial bacteria that makes your gut happy and helps you absorb the vitamins and minerals from your food better.
And yogurt, for me, has the additional benefit of being a dairy product significantly lower in lactose than most, since that is what the bacteria eat up when they are culturing the milk to give it that tart taste. That, plus the promise of fresh fruit toppings made it pretty impossible for me to stay away from tangysweet for long.
The shop had a long line on Friday at 8:00 PM. Makes sense, given that’s the prime dessert hour on a night when everyone tends to go out on the town. Even so, the line moved quickly, and my friends and I had no trouble finding a seat in the small shop when we finally had our yogurt. The staff was friendly, and we were able to sample the different offerings before ordering – right now, pomegranate, green tea and “classic”. The difference in the flavors is subtle, but the green tea flavor definitely had the dusky flavor that green tea ice creams often have. All were delicious. I was also delighted to find that when they said fresh fruit toppings, they actually meant it! No vats of syrupy, squishy-looking strawberries or canned pineapple. No: fresh strawberries cut into chunks. Whole raspberries and blackberries and blueberries. Freshly cut (though not altogether ripe) slivers of mango and pineapple.
But while the fresh fruit was a definite treat, I have to say that the frozen yogurt all by itself was so wonderful that I had to talk myself down from getting back in line and ordering another cup “naked”. The texture is creamy, but not thick and heavy. The flavor of the “classic,” which I favored, was tart without being sharp or puckery, lightly sweet without being cloying, utterly wholesome and clean-tasting – no lingering aftertaste signaling something artificial or off in the formula.
I heartily recommend those of you in DC who are reading to check it out when you get a chance.