Atlanta: frozen desserts

Atlanta has been full of delicious icy treats lately, what with the King of Pops' gourmet popsicles, the Orleagian Sno Ball cart at Ponce and Moreland, the Yogurt Tap in Decatur, and that old standby, Zesto's (which, to my disappointment, has stopped serving frozen yogurt, even in the summertime).

I have a new favorite, though - the New Orleans SnoBall Cafe near Downtown Decatur, which is a dangerously close walk from Allen's office and Taqueria del Sol.

This is such a terrible thing for me to have found, since I already have so much trouble keeping my sweet tooth under control. The SnoBalls are reputed to be pretty authentic Louisiana versions, and the owners mix several of the organic syrups themselves. But my coup de grâce is the "stuffed" snoball - a cup of nonfat frozen yogurt with a snoball sort of built up around it.

Allen had a chocolate mocha or somesuch, which was an insane confection of vanilla frozen yogurt, shaved ice, homemade coffee syrup (not too sweet), and a little drizzle of sweetened condensed milk, which was a great foil to the slight bitterness of the coffee. Mine was vanilla yogurt and orange sno ball - a perfect, delicious creamsicley delight.

Atlanta seems to have developed a heightened awareness of the pleasures of well-crafted desserts - and many of them, like the sno balls, frozen yogurt, and those royal pops that are so good - aren't terribly bad for the thighs. Clearly, too, some of these purveyors have upped the gourmet ante by crafting their own products and ingredients.

The first time Allen went for a sno ball, he whined that his lacked a bit of syrup - instead of a sweet, slushy mess at the bottom of his cup, his last few bites were pristine snow. Second time around, that was no problem at all. The proportions of the ingredients were really well balanced, actually, even with the wild-card frozen yogurt. The SnoBall Cafe also sells coffee, muffalettas, and olive salad for muffalettas (from New Orleans' Central Grocery), and it sounds like they plan to serve warmer fare come winter.

I'm going back tonight. This is ridiculous.

More eloquent reviews than mine can be found here.