It's Going to Be a Hot Summer in DC - Head for the Ice Cream Parlors!

Summer is coming and bringing with it really hot and miserable weather in the DC metro area.  During the dog days of summer, all the weather reporters say is "Hazy, Hot and Humid!" ICK!  What do you do to keep cool in this weather - hit the ice cream parlors! There are so many wonderful ice cream parlors, gelaterias, and even food trucks and bicycle deliveries all selling ice cream. The DC area - Maryland, DC and Virginia - clearly love ice cream. Whether you like sweet or savory ice cream, there is someone in the area making your dream dessert! 

A wonderful place to start your ice cream travels is with Dolcezza, a small gelateria that started in Georgetown and now has three other locations (Dupont Circle, Bethesda, Merrifield).   Dulcezza also sells its gelato at local farmer markets, like the one at Dupont Circle.   The most unusual flavor might be the mint, cucumber vodka sorbet. Robb Duncan, chief sorbet-maker for Dolcezza’s four locations, uses crunchy, flavorful Persian cucumbers and locally grown mint to flavor a refreshing spring sorbet with an added kick from the vodka that he throws in. Duncan attributes its popularity to the fact that it’s effectively, well, a cocktail.

Grapenut: No one would ever say that the Rockville Pike is a destination in and of itself, but it has a great ice cream store in York Castle, which specializes in tropical flavors like ginger, papaya and mango. Another unusual flavor that is offered at York Castle is its Grapenut flavored ice cream. Because of the vintage breakfast cereal’s notes of barley, crunchy Grape-Nuts make an unexpectedly tasty pairing for vanilla ice cream! My favorite still is the ginger ice cream! 

Habanero-banana ice cream: You have to be on the move to find this ice cream since it is sold from bikes around the city.  The idea for a fleet of ice cream bicycles in DC came from the streets of chef Carlos Delgado's native country of Peru.  According to Delgado, there is a large company in Lima with yellow bikes and they sell different kinds of ice cream.  He has taken the same concept and brought it to Washington, selling gourmet ice cream sandwiches. Talk about spicy! the Habanero-banana bites back. The Habanero is so strong  that the coffee flavor of the accompanying cookies is almost missed.  The faint of heart might like the lemongrass basil ice cream sandwiched into a coconut cookie or the lime ice cream with the salted caramel cookie! 

Mint: You know that Virginia is for Lovers, but it also has a great ice cream shop in Old Town's Del Ray neighborhood. Check out the Dairy Godmother for a mint tea pop made with real mint and refreshing, icy green tea.  An alternative flavor on May 31 is CICADA CRUNCH ice cream - Yum?  I love the Dairy Godmother because they also have puppy pops! Their Puppy Pops come in two flavors, Pumpkin and Banana, and are made from plain yogurt, peanut butter and either pumpkin or banana. Since many dogs are lactose intolerant, they use yogurt because the active cultures are beneficial to digestion.  If your dog has an allergy to wheat, these are wheat-free!

The Guac Pop: Head to Florida Avenue for Pleasant Pops, a business started in 2009, because the owners really liked traditional Mexican ice pops called paletas but they couldn't find any in Washington.  They created Pleasant Pops in order to combine the Mexican tradition of fresh fruit ice pops with local and sustainable agriculture from the greater DC area.   Pleasant Pops started selling their first pops in July 2010 and they now have over 100 flavors. 

In September 2012 they opened their first store – the Pleasant Pops Farmhouse Market and Cafe – at 1781 Florida Ave NW in Adams Morgan- funded in part by Kickstarters! One flavor to try is the Guac Pop- no garlic or jalapeno is used in the making of this frozen bar. But comparisons to guacamole are inevitable when creamy, ripe avocado and lime are paired in a complex, grassy-but-sweet paleta.  Other wonderful flavors include Carolina sweet tea, Hibiscus, and honey lavender! 

Vietnamese Coffee Shake: Good Stuff Eatery  was started by Spike Mendelsohn, one of the successful contestants on Top Chef several years ago.  The restaurant, which started on Capitol Hill, serves up delicious burgers and fries, and memorable milk shakes, like the Vietnamese Coffee Shake. This drinkable ice-cream concoction manages to capture the sweet notes of condensed milk that make Vietnamese coffee so distinctive.  You might try the Toasted Marshmallow shake or the Soursop Hop Strawberry. Makes being hot and sweaty almost worthwhile! 

For an experience as smooth as a Toasted Marshmallow milk shake, call the Lise Howe Group if you are buying or selling a home in the DC metro area.  We are ready to keep you cool and stress free! Let us do the worrying and you do the sipping!