Sweet Tart frozen yogurt cafe gears up for March opening on Main Street

The fro-yo craze is finally making its way to Riverhead.

Sweet Tart Frozen Yogurt Cafe will open its doors on East Main Street within a month, according to wife-and-husband owners Miyoshi Cambra and James Foster.

The fro-yo cafe will serve frozen yogurt made from real, “higher-end” yogurt – not dried yogurt powder, which many popular frozen yogurt chains use instead.

Eight rotating flavors will be exchanged on a weekly basis. Lactose and gluten-free options will be available for those with sensitivities. There will also be 24 toppings available, including fruits, candies and other dry toppings – all locally sourced, said Cambra.

“We’re trying to keep everything as local as possible,” she said.

Customers will serve themselves in 16- or 20-ounce cups, which will be weighed on a scale at the register and charged by the ounce. “Who doesn’t like to make their own sundae?” Foster said.

They will also be serving fresh flavors of Greek yogurt – unfrozen – to provide a healthy lunch option for downtown Riverhead.

Both Cambra and Foster are Riverhead natives, which they say made Main Street a natural fit for their first business.

“When we were growing up here, downtown was thriving,” Foster said.

“It really seems to be coming back,” said Cambra. “We’d love to be a part of that.”

The cafe is located in part of the building that formerly housed the Athens Grill, which closed in 2013 after a devastating kitchen fire destroyed the building’s interior. The other half will soon once again be the home of Riverhead’s only Greek restaurant, but rechristened under a new name: Mazi.

Two years of repairs and renovations later, the space looks completely transformed.

“We were going for a modern, North Fork country theme,” said Cambra.

The store is outfitted with recycled lumber, from the ceiling beams to the barnwood wainscoting which runs along the wall and gives off a pleasant, woody scent in the rest of the shop. Much of the lumber is actually wood refurbished from the destruction left by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

The stainless steel countertop combined with the barnwood counter give the cafe a “modern twist,” Foster said.

“The rustic look is very popular in the city right now,” said Foster. “You walk in and look around and think that this could be a little parlor in Manhattan.”

The rear entrance leading to the riverfront parking lot also has its own deck, which the owners say they plan to use for outdoor seating when the weather warms up.

The cafe will be opening between two to four weeks, the couple says – as soon as the inspector comes and gives them the green light.

“Everyone is really excited,” Cambra said. “I guess people really wanted a frozen yogurt option around here.”

And the reason Cambra and Foster chose frozen yogurt for their first entrepreneurial venture in the first place?

“We’re all lactose intolerant,” Cambra said, laughing. “And you have to drive at least half an hour to get a healthy dessert that doesn’t make your stomach hurt. People don’t realize just how much of the population really is lactose intolerant.”