Orange Leaf, Pinkberry, Fruitee…if you’ve had one bland, soy frozen yogurt flavor, you’ve had them all….right?
WRONG.
Though I have tried all the others, I’ve been unpleasantly surprised to find that all their flavors are overwhelmingly fruity. Now, I love nothing more than a great homemade fruit banana ice cream. But when I’m out for a treat, trust me, I am gonna TREAT myself. Which roughly translates to unhealthy. AKA NOT FRUIT.
And therein lies the problem with most of the other vegan fro-yo options in the world. You’re extremely limited to ice cream and topping options…UNLESS you’re at 16 Handles.
Lucky for me, there’s a 16 Handles in Brookline, only about 20 minutes from my apartment, and just blocks away from all my favorite Allston bars, which I like to call “Vegan Row” (what’s up Root, Fomu and Grasshopper!). And getting a crazy delicious dessert after dinner or drinks, is made easier for us non-dairy folks with the options at 16. The Coco Loco serve has a blissful texture, and is pretty-low key in flavor. Meaning, it doesn’t taste like straight up coconuts, but has a subtle sweetness that makes it a great blank canvas for the toppings available. 16 will only mark their “vegan” flavors as carob chips, a plethora of fruit options, coconut flakes and something called “wet walnuts” (strange looking and I’m assuming fairly unappetizing). What they fail to note as vegan, are their Oreo cookie chunks, Cap’n Crunch and Fruit Loops, which deceptively do seem fairly UN-vegan since they are far from healthy. But void of animal products, none-the-less. Their waffle cone options are also dairy-free, and are a MUST have.
Sadly, this particular location was out of their soy vanilla flavor, which I presume to be amazing. I take this one of two ways:
A. Their vegan vanilla option is so popular, they quickly run out of stock on the regular.
B. They underestimated the demand for vegan options and haven’t ordered enough.
Either way, this means the clientele around here is clearly on the hunt for some vegan treats. And they’re looking at 16 Handles.
I also loved the place because it was uber cute with all it’s pink and lime green hues. It also seemed significantly cheaper than most other places I’ve gone. A $10 giftcard got both Arikka and I bowls of ice cream (me a huge one; her a moderate size), a Watermelon chapstick (impulse buy) and the lady behind me $1.49 off her purchase (good karma for the day). Comparatively, I have easily spent a full 10 bucks on just my portion at all the other fro-yo chains. And all it felt like I was eating was a big ol’ bowl of fruit.
So if you haven’t fallen victim to the wildly popular fro-yo craze, and are looking to try out a sweet spot, you NEED to make a visit to 16 Handles!
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Good to know. I’ve never been there but I drive by it pretty often.