We were first with the news that Pinkberry finally divulged just what constitutes "chilly bliss" and listed the ingredients for their "all-natural frozen yogurt" on its website and in stores, but the New York Times got an expert to explain it more:

The ingredients list for Original Pinkberry has 23 items. Skim milk and nonfat yogurt are listed first, then three kinds of sugar: sucrose, fructose and dextrose. Fructose and maltodextrin, another ingredient, are both laboratory-produced ingredients extracted from corn syrup.

The list includes at least five additives defined by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization as emulsifiers (propylene glycol esters, lactoglycerides, sodium acid pyrophosphate, mono- and diglycerides); four acidifiers (magnesium oxide, calcium fumarate, citric acid, sodium citrate); tocopherol, a natural preservative; and two ingredients — starch and maltodextrin — that were characterized as fillers by Dr. Gary A. Reineccius, a professor in the department of food science and nutrition at the University of Minnesota and an expert in food additives.

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Last week, we broke the news that Pinkberry settled a lawsuit with a woman who claimed the "chilly bliss" company misrepresented their product as "frozen yogurt, "healthy," "non-fat" and "all natural." Pinkberry had to pay $750,000 to two charities, plus fork out some hefty attorney's fees and a smaller sum to the plaintiff. When the woman filed the lawsuit last year, Pinkberry still kept all its ingredients hidden from the public (the powder was "a secret"), it had minimal live and active cultures to call itself yogurt, and it wasn't made in accordance with the California Department of Food & Agriculture because it was blended in-store. Whether the company was feeling the heat from the media, consumers or both, Pinkberry took all references of "yogurt" from their website, from the catchy song, and dubbed its stuff "chilly bliss."

Cut to 2008: The company changed its formula, now lists the ingredients on the website, and started making the product off-site as it should've been all along. (A press representative told us they just didn't know.) But now, ho NOW, three years after the craze began...drumroll please...the National Yogurt Association has given Pinkberry the live and active culture seal of approval. Friends, Pinkberry is officially "frozen yogurt." Mind you, when competitor Red Mango opened its first store here last summer, it had the NYA approval out of the gate. Full press release, after the jump.

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What started in October as phase one negotiations comes to fruition this weekend, as Michel Richard opens Citrus at Social, the restaurant that's taken over Jeffrey Chodorow's very pretty ghost town, Social. The official wording on this venture is that Richard is 'joining' Jeffrey Chodorow to open the restaurant, and that it'll have a seperate entrance and bar area. This is code for Social Hollywood, take two. Alright, fine, we can't keep the full press release from you for another second:

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STK New York, shot by Noah Kalina on 10/24/06.

In the movie business, you know, when a premiering films sucks, the only card the marketing people can play is the mystery card. Keep the thing under wraps at all costs, hoping for opening week press that is excitedly vague. Now, in the restaurant business we wouldn't know anything about that. But it is curious to note that spokespersons for STK, the imported hotshot steakhouse concept from New York from the One Group, are keeping awfully quiet about plans for the place, save for the opening date—next Friday, February 15th.

As for the rest, now that we're a week out from debut, let's put what intel we can out there for you.

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Spotted, pre-"big announcement," Metromix

The promise of an extra secret new Pinkberry flavor was as hollow as a chilly bliss swirl. On Friday, we were told that Crackberry would announce a new flavor this week and that it's a big huge secret, but people already knew it was coffee because it's been advertised in the shops for awhile. We called a location this weekend and the swirlers made no bones that the new flavor is coffee and that it would be available on Tuesday; Metromix snapped a pic of a menu. How utterly…unexciting. As far as flavors go, coffee seems like an odd choice for Pinkberry, but really no surprise since Starbucks founder just pumped $27.5 million into the company. Consider this an ode to Howard Schultz, with cookie crumbs on top.
· Earth-Shattering Froyo News: Pinkberry's New Flavor [~ELA~]
· Frozen Yogurt Wars Cont.: Pinkberry Gets Millions [~ELA~]

After three years of chilly bliss, Pinkberry will announce a new flavor next week on its anniversary. Interesting that they're going there now, but about time. Other froyo shops---some with staying power, others not so much---have introduced interesting flavors to make themselves competitive. Sno:LA has fig-date and sour cherry. CeFiore has blackberry and raspberry-pomegranate. Cantaloop has blueberry.

Perez Hilton, celebrity gossip blogger and world's most authoritative froyo expert, believes the flavor to be coffee. For a company that takes such a healthy stance, even if it won't divulge what it's made out of, coffee seems like an odd choice. Although, as you know, coffee is so hot right now. The unveiling is Tuesday, and oh yes, we'll be there and all bloggy about it.
· The Great Froyo Melt: Yogurtree Falls, Yogurberry Not Far Behind [~ELA~]
· Pinkberry Is Sorta Yogurt, Powder Still a Secret [~ELA~]
· Big, Big News [Perez Hilton]

If 2007 was the year of color-fruit-berry named frozen yogurt shops opening all over town, then we officially dub 2008: The Year of the Melt. In June, Josh over at Curbed noticed the Yogurtree Plywood at the Westfield Mall in Woodland Hills. Six months later, it's just another blank wall. This, following the Yogurtpia closure in West Hollywood, and a tipster told us that Yogurberry on Santa Monica Boulevard looked closed for almost a week (we tried to confirm, but can't get a real person on the phone in the corporate office, and the listed number is a fax machine) proves that the small businesses are no match for Goliath. The Pinkberry giveth, and the Pinkberry taketh away.
· Grocery Wars Can Kiss Our Yogurtbutt [Curbed LA]
· The Great Froyo Melt: Yogurtpia Meets an Early Demise [~ELA~]
· Frozen Yogurt Wars XIV: Let the Melt Begin [~ELA~]

In the early days of the Frozen Yogurt War (March to be exact), we Plywooded Yogurtpia, which eventually opened in a former Mrs. Fields in what quickly became the Froyo Vortex. What chance do the small independents have against monster chains like Pinkberry, CeFiore and Red Mango? Little. From a tipster: "I noticed this weekend that one of the faux pinkberries (Yogurtpia) in West Hollywood already has brown paper all over their window. It seems the neighborhood's appetite for tangy frozen yogurt with breakfast cereal scattered on top isn't as insatiable as they thought." Yogurtpia was about a quarter-mile from the original Pinkberry, which wasn't the best business decision to begin with. The website alluded to LA domination, but for now, the original's phone is disconnected.
· Yogurt Wars Part II: Yogurtpia Coming [~ELA~]
· Frozen Yogurt Wars: Has It Reached the Swirling Point? Let the Melt Begin [~ELA~]

Pinkberry (left) and Korean Red Mango (Pinkberry photo: Flickr)

Do we care about Pinkberry anymore? We've been a little light on the Frozen Yogurt War front lately; really, it's almost too ginormous to keep up with any more. But we heard this crazy rumor about Pinkberry and owner Shelly Hwang the other day that's just too good to keep down. No, it will not reveal what the heck is in the Crackberry; like it even matters to those who love it. But let's go back a bit. Everyone knows that Pinkberry started in West Hollywood, but the product itself probably originated in Korea, where companies like Red Mango already had a strong hold on the tangy froyo market. Then Pinkberry started oozing across the city and now the country, spawning copycats and similar concepts along the way. But where did the Pinkberry idea really first gestate? Where did those young Korean-American entrepreneurs come up with such a clever concept and addictive frozen treat? Italy, as co-owner Young Lee says? More likely Red Mango.

Pic from Angelenic

Fad or not, expect to see a Pinkberry in every neighborhood across the country a la Starbucks. Fortune confirms today that Starbucks founder Howard Schultz's venture capital firm, Maveron, will dump not gazillions but $27.5 million into Pinkberry . That's a a lot of freakin' swirl. In a press release, Schultz called Pinkberry founders Shelly Hwang and Young Lee "visionary entrepreneurs" and labeled their brand "a cultural phenomenon." There's talk about employee stock options and "lifestyle environments" like Starbucks. Pinkberry now has 32 stores in NY and LA, and plans to grow to 50 locations by the end of the year, which means all those little wannabes are probably history, just like all the small neighborhood cafes Starbucks left in its wake. Nothing can stop the onslaught now.

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TMZ isn't usually our go-to spot for restaurant gossip, so this incident at Mozza was buried from us. Naturally, someone sent us the link. The other night, Scarlett Johanson tried to leave the Mozzas via the back door and paparazzi were waiting. While security gaurds stood around, you could hear GM David Rosoff's voice saying, "Get off the property. Off the property." And then, in frame, he gets all up in some paps face telling him to get the eff off the property and BAM! Rosoff's down. The pap threw him to the ground.

WTF? Why is that OK? Why is it not OK, according to the paparazzo, for Rosoff to touch him, which comparatively looked like a gentle push (but shouldn't have happened anyway), but it's OK to aggressively shove another human being to the ground? We just don't get it. We asked Rosoff what the hell happened, he simply said, "Gotta protect the house." But then added: "He was enormous, I was stupid." Well, yeah, but that pap is an idiot, too.
· Security Gets Smackdown Thanks to Scarlett [TMZ]

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