LITTLE ROCK — Several months ago I began seeing pink plastic flamingos in grassy areas along John F. Kennedy Boulevard in front of Indian Hills Shopping Center in North Little Rock. The cute lawn ornaments were silently announcing the coming of 3 Flamingos Frozen Yogurt.
The shop is in a spot that used to house a pizza place, then the Mexican restaurant that is now across the parking lot. Quite a bit of renovation has been done to bring the exterior and interior up to the quirky and festive place it is now.
My first visit was with my son on a Saturday evening in December. The cold didn’t deter us one little bit. Once our eyes adjusted to the brightness inside, we were able to take in 3 Flamingos’ decor. The walls are covered in silver metal with bright pink trim, the tables are silver and the chair seats are a metallic pink.
Immediately to our right was the check-out area, from where we heard a pleasant greeting from the young woman behind the counter who told us that it was selfserve and the yogurt was 42 cents per ounce. She directed us to the foam containers in bins to the left of the door.There are two sizes, medium and large. Cones are available too.
Along the left wall is a bank of soft-serve-style frozen yogurt machines, with enough flavors to cause you to stop and ponder for a while. On our visit, the flavors were Valencia Orange Sorbet, White Chocolate Mousse, Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter, Dreamy Dark Chocolate, Energy Pomegranate, Cheesecake, Cookies and Cream, Birthday Cake, Tahitian Vanilla, Strawberry Sensation and Mango Sorbet.
Each machine has two flavors. Put your cup under the nozzle and pull down on the dispenser lever. Choose a single flavor, or hold down the middle lever and swirl the two flavors together.
Once you’ve chosen your flavors, it’s on to the topping area in the middle of the room. It’s even harder to choose toppings because there’s such a large variety. If you’re a candy toppings fan, there are chopped candy bars like Snickers, Kit Kat and Heath toffee bars, among others. Or you can have M&M Minis (chocolate or peanut versions), Skittles, York Peppermint candies and gummystyle worms.
Nut lovers can choose slivered almonds, walnuts or pecans. There are also crushed cookies, mini cookies, granola, fruit ring cereal, chunks of cookie dough, marshmallows, strawberries, blueberries and cherries. And to finish off your creation, you can top it with caramel or chocolate syrup, hot fudge or whipped cream.
On the first visit, I chose Birthday Cake and Peanut Butter. The peanut butter flavor was not very strong, but the birthday cake-flavored yogurt did taste like a vanilla cake. The yogurt is very light and refreshing, and not overly sweet, which is nice. I topped them with walnut halves, Snickers bits and a bitof chocolate syrup.
We went overboard a bit, but it was like being a kid in a candy store. When we finished, we placed our yogurt cups on a scale, where the employee checked the weight and charged accordingly. I paid almost $11 for both filledcups, but I didn’t feel ripped off. We were able to “have it our way,” so it didn’t seem overpriced to have customized treats.
We made a second visit a couple of weeks later and spent about the same amount of money. By now, we knew what to expect, so we strolled in, picked our cups and had at it. The flavors seemed to be the same, although an employee said they do change out from time to time. Topping choices, he said, tend to change less.
This time I went with a triple play of Valencia Orange Sorbet, Cookies and Cream and Cheesecake. The orange was my favorite by far, although the other two flavors were delicious as well. I topped the orange portion with walnut halves, the Cookies and Cream with chunks of cookie dough, and the Cheesecake flavor with mini M&Ms. I tried to remembernot to overdo the toppings, since they do tend to overpower the light flavor of the yogurt if you’re not careful.
If you choose not to dine in, there are domed lids for your foam container, which makes transport home much easier, and there are plastic spoons in a nifty dispenser to the left of the cash register. If you just can’t make up your mind, grab a spoon and sample some flavors to help narrow the field.
If you’re not in the vicinity of the North Little Rock 3 Flamingos location, there are three more in the state - 1103 S. Pine St. in Cabot, 2501 Dave Ward Drive in Conway and 3131 Airport Road in Hot Springs.
3 Flamingos Frozen Yogurt Address: Indian Hills Shopping Center, 6929 John F. Kennedy Blvd., No. 33, North Little Rock Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m.
Friday and Saturday, and noon-10 p.m. Sunday Cuisine: Frozen yogurt Credit cards: AE, D, V, MC Wheelchair accessible: Yes Carryout: Yes (501) 835-4411
Weekend, Pages 40 on 01/27/2011