hell yeah it’s a grind when you live in dallas and can’t see driving all the way to frisco for a cup of joe. but if you live in frisco (and more & more people do), you’ll welcome this new outlet of a small chain based in Long Beach CA, called It’s a Grind. owner Marchand Froschheuser lived in cali and craved a change from the IT world in which she previously resided. the website claims that IaG’s “upholstered wingback chairs, cozy fireplace, blues and jazz motif, and music” make it “an atmosphere unlike any other coffee house” which uh ok whatever. their main asset is that they are willing to bring the usual espresso-based drinks to the wilds of frisco, even as the paving of the nearby tollway continues apace

6959 Lebanon Rd. #100, Frisco 75034. (972) 782-2527. open 6 a.m. every day!

The topic of Smoothies offers endless fascination at NYCE HQ. but hey, it ain’t just self-indulgence: acc to Mintel, which does surveys of such things, smoothie sales rose 38% from 2003-2005 to reach $1.5 bil and will hit $2.5 bil by 2010. so this is important news, see. Thus stop the presses cuz a new chain hit dallas in aug: Juice It Up!, from cali (aren’t they all) (‘cept smoothie king = louisiana), w/ approx 120 branches in 7 states, and plans for 10-15 more in DFW over the next few yrs. a story in something called franchise wire says JUI’s smoothies have been picked as best in blind taste tests conducted by 3rd-party organizations, which surely sounds convincing; at the very least, it’s one of the good chains that uses unsweetened fruit (unlike evil you-know-who). of note: the store opened in lake highlands ctr next to the old shut-down WF, which has become an LA/Fitness

7215 Skillman St. (at walnut hill), 214-341-3661

We’re so deep into pumpkin season (which truthfully runs from oct-nov) that this is almost too late, but it was purchased just last wk at the local smkt, so it’s still out there, somewhere. It has a couplo characteristics that make it A+ for NYCE: 1. it’s limited edition 2. it falls into that smoothie-protein-bar-meal-in-a-swallow category that fascinates some of us 3. pumpkin. Enough fanfare: limited edition Odwalla pumpkin super protein drink. Would you ever think pumpkin would make for a smoothie flavor? (”pumpkin puree” is like the 5th ingred; it was a bit chalky, tho not in a deal-breaking way.) Does this not seem like a reflection of the starbucks influence, specifically their recent pumpkin spice latte? Then again, doesn’t everything

As a long-term Jamba Juice cheerleader, it’s been a bummer to see it get taken over in March by a consortium of $$ guys whose corporate-driven efforts to leanify & profitize have resulted in less choices for me-the-consumer. (boo-hoo, they discontinued my fave, Cranberry Craze … cran juice is a hot item amongst the ladeez, so I’m not being selfish here.) on the other hand, those corporate-driven efforts are also resulting in more jamba juice outlets, incl one in east plano an area that, alas, isn’t slated for gentrification until 2010. so cheers to that. in dallas, there’s now a jamba juice @ knox-central, in what used to be a Juice Zone. Juice Zone, HQed in Vancouver and an xlent chain in its own right, open a branch 6 wks ago in West Village w/ more on the way. One thing’s for sure: both are way better than smoothie king

Juice Zone: 3839 McKinney Ave. 214-522-9663
Jamba Juice @ Knox/75: 3001 Knox St. 214-559-6113
Jamba Juice in East Plano: 1201 E. Spring Creek Parkway, Suite 180. slated to open Feb. 1

What better way to end the week, w/ exciting news for New England natives or those who like new-england-type flavors: starbucks’ newest flavor is maple. It can be had as a maple latte, maple frappuccino, or – the drink that starbucks is pushing – a maple macchiato which, aside from its alliterative prowess, has a higher proportion of espresso, prob to help cut the sweetness that inherently goes w/ maple flavoring which they call “maple sauce“. (doesn’t sound like 100% maple syrup, does it. which, while wholesome, has a subtle flavor.) us maple fans are grateful starbucks decided to roll out maple at all stores (it was originally intro’d last year in New England only)

Mug & Mouse, an independently-run coffee house, opened in aug in frisco, where it serves Lavazza coffee along w/ sandwiches, smoothies, shakes, slushies (made w/ fruit juice), and bubble tea (tho they’ll add the tapioca pearls to any cold drink). What distinguishes M&M from the usual independently-run coffee place is that it started out as a gaming clan of sorts, then evolved into an independenty-run coffee place. thus prevails a gaming vibe; for ex, it’s a LAN ctr so you can go and play vidgames w/ other customers. assuming you are 15 and semi-geeky-techy. being somewhat of a suburban kid thing, it keeps wild hours, from 5 a.m. to midnight on wkends. it’s down a side street behind Ikea but a city rec ctr’s going in across the street so maybe it’ll do better than some of the other independently-run coffee places that seem to close almost as quickly as they open*

5995 Preston Rd. #105, Frisco. 1-469-362-8590

*which is why i’m sorry writing about a certain coffee chain is more gratifying than the little guys

This is prob one of those things that woulda been good to try first. But if you have to wait for it to be tried first, you wouldn’t get a blog item. Which is more important: A. a hot new blog item, or B. a lukewarm blog item w/ first-person testimony? I’m going with A. Sonic, which calls itself “one of the few drivein chains left in the U.S.” carhops etc. has a peach smoothie, avail for a ltd time only (see? getting the word out ASAP is crucial) made w/ nonfat yogurt & “real” peaches (as opposed to artificial ones?) and providing 110% of yr daily calcium. The ingreds sound wholesome and sonic already has a good track record for bevs; its limeades, for ex, use real limes

today: too much news to eat. yet it’s all so garbagey that none merits a main course. so we’re going buffet style and hold the links pls:
1. Having caught wind of this crazy “gourmet-coffee” thing, Folgers has a new premium line. in folgers world, premium = FLAVORS. except flavors = opposite of premium. anyway, free samples of dreck like “caramel drizzle” & “vanilla biscotti” here if you dare
2. Winestyles - “a new and easy way to shop for wine” - takes Best Cellars’ make-wine-EZ concept and dumbs it down further by putting wine in categories such as crisp fruity mellow rich & bold. no need to worry about labels! just walk in & say, “i’d like something rich”. snicker. it’s sweeping the burbs w/ branches open in FW, flower mound, southlake, grapevine, lewisville, etc and a jillion more set to open in the next 6 mths.
3. remember when McD made a big frigging deal about offering salads? which consisted of 5 chunks of honeydew & 3 walnuts. well McDonald’s is now shrinking its “meal-size” fruit salad to “snack pack” size. pretty soon they’ll have it down to an airplane-size bag of nuts. they so suck

Hm. Regard, if you will, the packaging on the new Ben & Jerry’s MilkShakes. Note the bottle’s thick, stubby proportion. Its squat, flat cap. It seems – I dunno – familiar. So what lies inside this bottle? Why it’s a milky beverage. Hmf. Comes in three B&J ice-cream flavors: cherry Garcia (aka cherry), chunky monkey (aka banana), & choc fudge brownie (aka choc). And sold at grocery/conv stores. Coincidentally, this new line is part of a partnership between B&J and pepsi. The same pepsi that puts out Sbux’ bottled frappuccino drinks. Howdya like that

*photo coincidentally has the same “shake it” slogan found on the B&J website

F U consume food or drink at all, you’ve heard of pomegranate. F U stay up on sprouty healthy stuff, you’ve also heard of acai (which it turns out is pronounced AH-sigh-EE, not ah-KYE, as I’ve been mis-pronouncing it), made from an exotic Amazonian berry and said to have healing-nutritional powers. Acai is a bitter mouthful unless you doctor it up w/ sugar and-or other flavors. God bless ‘em, Frutzzo Pomegranate Acai gives it 2 U pretty much straight: pom+acai+pear juice. Frutzzo, a small co. outa MN, was a pioneer on the acai front and good 4 them; but even for someone who can do bitter, this is a stretch (tho irreproachably good-4-U). I did what jamba does: blended it w/ blueberries & froz bananas into a fmoovie