Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Fati Nezarati, owner of Yogurt Delite, has added an espresso bar, making the shop as tempting in stormy weather as in sunny.

Yogurt Delite adds espresso to its lineup of hot, cold treats

By Suzanne Cristallo

If it's hot, think yogurt. If it's rainy, think yogurt and espresso. If you're dieting, think yogurt. If you're not, think yogurt--perhaps with toppings--and pastries.

All of the above are now available, plus gourmet coffee beans by the pound, at Yogurt Delite in Los Gatos. What once was a tile shop and later an ice cream store has been serving yogurt since 1991 to customers who find the easy parking between Safeway and Walgreens a fast reason to yield to a creamy temptation.

Yogurt Delite now offers pastries from Marjolaine Bakery in Saratoga to accompany its espresso drinks. A new counter area, more outdoor seating and upgraded decor come with the new additions. But six flavors of yogurt--fresh each morning--are the main reasons schoolchildren, shoppers and neighbors visit with owner Fati Nezarati, who kept the name Yogurt Delite for the ease of transition, even though all the stores are individually owned.

Yogurt is an ancient nourishment. For as long as people have known how to milk cud-chewing animals and boil water, they've known how to make yogurt. But it wasn't until 1971 that Columbo Yogurt Company used modern technology to transform it into a frozen product, which then took some time to catch the public fancy.

"Fro-yo" first became popular with Harvard students in 1972, when it was pushed through a machine formerly used to make soft ice cream at a local sweet shop. Then in 1974, Bloomingdale's Department Store in New York started serving it. Yogurt's fewer calories per ounce over ice cream assured its success with the store's clientele. Today, frozen yogurt accounts for a major percentage of dairy product sales.

But supermarket sales for home freezers can never satisfy the moment like a hot day's impulse buy of an exotic mango or a zestful espresso yogurt in a crisp waffle cone. The sure lure, some weight-conscious types confide, is the thought that all those ounces cost so few calories.

"Some of my customers have complained I've given them too much," says Nezarati, who teaches her employees to go a generous ounce or two per serving over the stated container amount. But the accounting for each helping, whether small or large, still amounts to nine calories per ounce for the sugar-free flavors; 16 calories per ounce for the nondairy, fructose-sweetened varieties and 20 calories for each ounce of the sugar-sweetened yogurt made by Honey Hill. All are nonfat.

Nezarati, 34, enjoys the fun of getting to know people through her store. She bought out her husband after their divorce in 1995 to become sole owner, making the changes she had wanted for some time. A native of Iran, she immigrated first to Florida for a year with her family, then to San Jose, where she graduated from Pioneer High School and married at 19.

"I had a lot to learn," she says of her shopkeeping. While praising her present staff, she says the biggest surprise in proprietorship was learning how to handle employees who gave away product to friends, spent time on the telephone and didn't show up. She also found she couldn't be sick and had to ask her employees if it was OK to take a vacation. But, she smiles, "I don't have to worry about anyone telling me what to do, and I'll never get laid off."

Yogurt Delite, 464 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. Open Mon.-Fri. at 7 a.m; weekends at 11 a.m. Closed weekdays and Sun. at 9 p.m., Fri. and Sat. at 11 p.m. 395-1150.

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