Dolcezza. 600 H St., NE.
When it comes to the genesis for a new dining concept, every restaurateur has a story. For Dolcezza gelateria and café co-founders Violeta Edelman and Robb Duncan, theirs starts in the Amazonian rainforest—with 80 milliliters of psychedelic ayahuasca tea.
“You drink it, and you have a very deep, existential experience,” Duncan recalls from the 10-night conference 22 years ago, where he first met and fell in love with Edelman. “There are some hardcore lessons that you get.”
After that “trip,” the two became inseparable, traveling by boat to Edelman’s home country of Argentina where they tasted the “most amazing” gelato they’d ever had. In 2004, they opened up the first Dolcezza location in a 300-square-foot Georgetown storefront—and, now, the couple is preparing to open their sixth location in mid-March.
From its conception, Dolcezza has sourced its ingredients from local farmers based on seasonal availability, adopting a “once it’s gone, it’s gone” mentality. Some of the gelateria’s core flavors include dulce de leche, stracciatella, and single-origin chocolate. In honor of the couple’s origin story, many flavor descriptions have on-theme references, like a declaration that coffee and chocolate are two of Dolcezza’s “favorite legal drugs,” and the assurance that “no paddles are needed” for a “trip” on coconut gelato.
In 2020, after considerable growth across the local market, Duncan and Edelman were forced to shut down five Dolcezza locations—but now, six years later, Edelman says that they’re ready for a comeback.
“The pandemic was so brutal, and it took us a second to feel like the business was strong enough to continue expanding,” she says. “Now it feels like we’re in a good place again, so we’re trying to grow again ad see how it goes.”
For Edelman and Duncan, the new H Street location feels more like a homecoming than a new frontier. After all, Dolcezza got its start selling gelato at farmers markets across the DC area, including one in the H Street corridor.
“We’ll always remember setting up the tent, setting up the table, and selling the gelato to all of the community on H Street,” says Duncan. “All of the vendors were like, ‘this is one of the most amazing, rich, loyal, and supportive communities of all the farmers markets.'” Edelman adds that the H Street community is “underserved” on the gelato front, and she and Edelman look forward to remedying that.
Duncan says that guests can expect many of the familiar flavors and brews from the other five locations. But Dolcezza on H Street will also bring a new twist to the creamery: a small selection of soft-serve gelato.
While the Duncan and Edelman have previously tested out soft serve preparations, H Street will go full-throttle. Highlights include house-ground pistachio butter gelato—featuring pistachios from Italy, Syria, Greece, Iran, and Turkey—with a salty, caramelized pistachio-crumble topping, as well as a mild and sweet passionfruit mousse gelato with pops of tang from fresh seeds. They’ve also test-run flavors like matcha and doughnut.
These flavors and format remind the couple of taking clandestine gelato samples, straight from the machine, in their first Georgetown outpost. When it comes to flavors and toppings, Duncan says the soft-serve will be a place for him and Edelman to “freak out” with creativity.
Soft serve “allows you to get that fresh, amazing texture and temperature,” he says. “Because it’s so warm, the flavors immediately melt in your mouth.”
