Now, I do go to USC, so yes, I meant to misspell my post title. If you have been following my blog for a bit, you may remember my little teaser post about a star-studded froyo opening I attended. Again, I didn't intend to be suchhh a tease and leave you hanging for this long...oops! But better late than never, so here we go!
Drumrollllllll.........(although I wouldn't be surprised if you smart cookies already know where this is going...) and the celebrity founder is MELISSA JOAN HART, along with her mother, Paula Hart. Personally, I loveee the last name Hart-it's just too cute and there are so many ways to have fun with it. The Sweet Harts official website even said that Paula considered naming Melissa 'Sweet,' which I think is kinda cute together with the last name, but if you think about it, it would have been a little odd just being called Sweet, kind of like Apple or Kyd. But anyway, Sweet Harts is much more than a self-serve froyo establishment. In fact, froyo is only a small piecs of 'da puzzle! The other goodies include gelato, baked treats, and candy (both of the current and retro variety). Of course, I was there to sample the froyo! Disclaimer: *please keep in mind that the content of this review dates back to ummm, hehe, May 2009, and I do plan on returning to see if any recent updates have been made*
The opening was quite the affair-purple carpet and all! From 12-2 there were swarms of paps (aka paparazzi for you non LA locals) waiting to snap pics of Melissa and her various celebrity friends in attendance. Even the mayor was there to cut the ribbon! I arrived promptly at 2 since a) I am not a paparazzo (or paparazza?) and b) I didn't want to get trampled by the camera wielding phalanx-they are quite a rough crowd! But when I got there, the cute outdoor decorations were still in tact-balloons, a purple carpet, and a vintage T-bird.
Upon entering, I had to kindly wriggle my way through the throngs to the wall of yogurt...love the chandelier though!
Is it just me, or was that server giving me the stink eye? Hmmm......
There were five machines, each with two flavors, making for a grand total of 10 choices! The options when I visited were peanut butter, pistachio, peach, pomegranate energy (?), blueberry, vanilla tart, bubble gum, and birthday cake. For you math wizzes who noticed that I only listed eight froyo flavors-A plus! The chocolate and vanilla flavors on the first machine were actually not froyo, but low-fat soft serve-blasphemy!
I sampled the peach, pomegranate energy, birthday cake, bubble gum, vanilla tart, pistachio, and blueberry.
I'll start with the negatives-the bubble gum=blechyyyy, but in all fairness, I am just not a fan of any bubble gum flavored froyo, so Sweet Harts, it's not personal. The birthday cake could've fooled me-it just tasted like sweet and fruity candy, more like tutti frutti-esque. Onto the good-the peach, pistachio, pom energy, vanilla tart, and blueberry were all pretty good flavor wise-tasted like you would expect. My only issue with all the flavors in general is that they were veryyyyy saccharine, even the vanilla tart. Hence, I found the after effect to not really be all that refreshing, but more like how you would feel after eating really sugary candy. Hey, at least it wasn't sour! In terms of consistently, they all were exactly the same-a tad icey, yet melty. No comment here in regards to the soft serve-not froyo, peeps!
I documented the toppings for ya'll, but I didn't try any due to the tiny size of my froyo vesicle. I do believe Sweet Harts offers normal paper froyo cups, but for quantity purposes of this event patrons were provided with their smaller plastic gelato cups. They had a somewhat random array of dry sweets and cereals, such as fruit loops, pecans, and chocolate covered raisins.
In hiding were swedish fish, granola, and licorice.
The fruit seemed pretty decent, expect that the pineapple appeared to be canned and the raspberries frozen. The peaches looked good though, and it was nice to see more unusual fruit such as coconut and cantaloupe! Both the dry and fresh toppings were in quite the disarray, but I attribute that to the nature of a grand opening!
Ack, this post is getting a tad too long for my liking, so I'll try to wrap it up with a quick tour of the rest of Sweet Hearts' amenities.
View of Sweet Harts from the froyo wall.
Il gelato!
Mmmm, cupcakes+froyo=possibilities!
Can-dayyy
Self-serve pucker powder! (hmmm...as a froyo topping perhaps?)
Ok this is the view from Ventura Blvd, the main street Sweet Harts sits on (forgive the quality of this photo-it was taken from a moving car, creeper style):
The actual entrance (as visible in my first pic) is actually on a smaller side street with limited parking, so although Ventura is a great street for retailers, I find the layout a little odd, and possibly confusing to new patrons!
Nonetheless, Sweet Harts is an adorable place full of whimsy (haha yesssss, i have been waiting for the day to use that word!). They even have a great party room, for which they offer party packages with unique services, such as providing face painting or a caricature artist! While I don't see myself going there very often for the froyo alone, I definitely have plans to visit again, especially if I need some fun type of candy!
OK...DONE.....oh, wait, did you guys want to see a celeb? I saved my favorite picture for last! She was so sweet, and was sporting a fab baby blue Betsey Johnson number. She even offered to pose for my picture!
MELISSA JOAN HART!!! LOVEDDDD Clarissa Explains It All back in the day-fyi, you can rent the entire first season on Netflix!
Sweet Harts
13704 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, California
(818)-788-5004
www.sweethartssweets.com
Okey dokey, sweeties, that's it for now-but I will be back with more fabulous froyo fun in due time!
♥♥♥Kat♥♥♥
p.s. CHECK ME OUT ON YELP.COM!!!
