And then there was one (again)

16 Handles--the self-serve frozen yogurt shop--opened on the Upper West Side about four years ago.

It was a hit, so of course everyone else decided to open a self-serve frozen yogurt shop on the Upper West Side too. By this time last year there were four on Amsterdam between 75th and 85th:

Amsterdam between 75th & 76th: 16 Handles.

Amsterdam between 80th & 81st: Pinkberry. 

Amasterdam at 81st (three doors up from Pinkberry): Yogurtland.

Amsterdam between 85th & 86th: Orange Leaf. They came and went so fast this is the only photo I could find:

This doesn't even include Emack & Bolio's at 79th, which specializes in ice cream and whose yogurt isn't self-serve; and Tasti-D-Lite between 85th & 86th, which is some man-made chemical frozen compound that tastes like bland ice. But I digress.

Suddenly Orange Leaf was gone--not surprising, really, because by the time it opened it was definitely the last kid at the dance.

Then a few months ago--poof, Pinkberry was gone.

Then, this past week--poof, no more Yogurtland.

I made the trek to 16 Handles this weekend to pay my respects to the victor. I had vanilla-chocolate-banana with hot fudge sauce and strawberries on top. It was good. Damn good.

All hail 16 Handles.