Four-year-old Adam Pramono, son of Hug-a-Berry co-owner Anita Widjaja, enjoys his custom-made yogurt.

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Hug-a-Berry blends yogurt with sandwiches, espresso

By Suzanne Cristallo

"They make the best pasta salad in town," says Los Gatan Jim Johnson, a regular customer at Hug-a-Berry, a yogurt, espresso and sandwich shop in Los Gatos. Johnson and other regulars visit with owners Anita and Marina Widjaja on a near-daily basis as they pick up the pasta the sisters make fresh each morning or watch as they prepare made-to-order yogurt dishes.

The N. Santa Cruz Avenue shop is in a quaint, brick-trimmed building owned by Los Gatan Charles Perotta. The sisters renovated it from an empty building to a bright place with paintings of bears and fruit on the walls. It is their first business, and they chose to serve healthy, simple fare--symbolized by their logo of a bear hugging a strawberry--after many months of research. They attended food shows, did comparative taste tests, visited other restaurants and read a great deal.

For patrons, the customized yogurt is a chance to enjoy unlimited flavors and chunks of goodies. They can watch as Marina cuts a 2-inch slice of plain frozen yogurt from a thick roll, squeezes it from its protective wrapping into the mixing machine and adds frozen fresh fruit, candy and nuts in various combinations. A giant spiral of stainless steel dips slowly into the concoction to swirl it together. The mixture goes through twice to ensure consistency, and the frozen state of the fruit assures bits of chilled crunchiness in the resulting blend.

"It's the real stuff. The color and flavor come from the fruit, not from flavored syrups with additives," says Anita, noting that health-conscious adults tend to order fruit combinations while children mostly want candy. Some want fruit and candy, like bananas and chocolate. "But we recommend against certain combinations like pineapple and chocolate," she notes explaining how pineapple's tart flavor and the cream in chocolate don't mix well.

Bread for their tasty deli-style sandwiches comes fresh from the Main Street Le Boulanger each morning. Desserts like espresso brownies, lemon bars and s'mores round out the menu.

Anita and Marina, who look at each other and giggle when asked their ages, were born in the northern fishing village of Tegal on Java, the main island of Indonesia. They earned college degrees from a private Catholic university on the island. After passing an English proficiency test, Anita and her husband Eddy traveled to Pittsburgh, Pa., to attend graduate school. She later earned a masters degree in mathematics from the University of Pittsburg.

Marina followed her there three years later in 1981 to get her master's in business.

The sisters' desire to have a business together brought them to Los Gatos and to the creation of Hug-a-Berry. Marina runs the front of the shop and Anita keeps the books while her 4-month-old son, William, naps in the office.

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Hug-a-Berry, 336A N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. Open Tues.-Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 395-4545.

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