….you discover good coffee less than a block away from your office.
Somehow or another, for the past two years I totally missed that there was decent coffee available near my work. The bar at DC’s Hotel Hive is a trendy spot for drinks, but I had not realized it also has an espresso maker going from 7am onward every day. Featuring beans from Vigilante Coffee, it’s admittedly not the best-made cup ever. However, the proximity and the quality of the beans carry the day.
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Last fall I used this platform to whine about the absence of decent coffee at the Delaware beaches, a minirant which ended ” One of these days I’m going to find the holy grail, a decent espresso at the Delaware beaches, and then I’m never going to leave.”
Well, it looks like I may need to call a real estate agent.
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see my ‘affogato wars of DC‘ post
Our final stop on our tour of DC gelato/specialty coffee shops is the Bethesda, MD outlet of Dolcezza. An area chain that is up to nine locations, including inside the Hirschorn Museum at the Smithsonian, they are noted for producing their own very high quality gelato (they use terms like crafted and artisanal quite a bit), and fitting out their shops beautifully. The Bethesda shop is a spot I know quite well, as for the past two years it’s been the nearest place to home to get a decent espresso.
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see my ‘affogato wars of DC‘ post
Before I start on any details, the name. The name! Gelateria, the Italian name for an ice cream shop, is spelled with one L, derivating from the word gelato. I get what they’re doing here, as the picture above clearly shows – and good on them for trying to make the coffee as important as the gelato, but the pedant in me has an awfully hard time getting past it (kind of like my issues with the kids on my lawn).
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see my ‘affogato wars of DC‘ post
Pitango Gelato is a local chain featuring their own high-end gelatos and sorbets, and coffee made with beans from local roaster Vigilante Coffee (if the name sounds familiar, you may have read about Vigilante here).
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The Washington DC area has a couple local chains (Dolcezza and Pitango) and a stand-alone cafe (Gelatteria) which have two main offerings: specialty coffee, and high-end gelato. Sounds like fodder for a taste test, so I recently visited all three for a comparison.
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When you think of the Irish and what they drink, I’d wager coffee won’t be the first thing that will come to mind, it probably won’t be in the top five. But the millions who visit the Irish capital every year will find a great emerging specialty coffee scene. Keep your eyes out for a free foldout map to specialty cafes (we found one in The Fumbally), which is very helpful as you wander the city. Here’s a look at the places I enjoyed on a recent visit.
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I spent this week driving around New England, and visited some old favorite cafes and tried a few new ones. I also experienced a first, as I visited a coffee shop I will recommend in my guide – with the coveted asterisk! – even though I didn’t really like the coffee.
Continue readingI was passing through New York early this morning on my way north, so of course I stopped by La Casa.
While Anna was making my macchiato I noticed some donuts on the counter that looked pretty good, but I wasn’t sure of the filling so I asked if they were chocolate or jelly. She said some were Nutella, some were creme. I said no thanks, I prefer jelly. Anna shot me a look, let me know in no uncertain terms that they were Italian, not American, and told me I should try them. All done politely but in a manner that made things quite clear I had no choice.
That creme was delicious, and my son (who was asleep in the car at the time) enjoyed the Nutella.
Anna knows what she’s talking about.
spectacular milk art at Kittie’s in Bexley, OH