Pitango’s Edenic Gelato

The Biblical Noah lived in a simpler, fresher world than ours, before there was religious conflict, before there were even Jews or Christians, back when G-d gave only 7 commandments, not 10 (or 613), and when the whole ball of wax had just been washed clean by the Flood.

Today his namesake, Noah Dan, gives us a fresher, simpler gelato, which most customers agree taste divine. No preservatives or emulsifiers, most batches flavored with only one (non-forbidden) fruit, including quince and other rare produce.

Noah Dan

I invoke the biblical imagery for a reason, because Noah is a farm boy, though the farm he was raised on was a kibbutz where he was raised by an Israeli father and an Italian mother. And he procures his free range eggs and unpasteurized milk and cream from grass fed cows from Mennonite farms in Pennsylvania. It’s a gelato produced by a coalition of, if not chosen people, very selectively chosen ingredients.

pitango cherries

“Pitango” is the name of a wild, bitter cherry native to Israel. It’s not actually a flavor on the menu. Noah has opened stores in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood, in Reston, Virginia, and in DC on Capitol Hill beside Eastern Market and in Logan Circle across from the Whole Foods. Besides about 20 flavors (that vary weekly, but which do always include chocolates), there are also beverages made from gelato with a shot of espresso.  It’s expensive like other artisanal ice creams and sorbets.  They serve it in small cups with very teeny spoons so you can’t gulp it down and you don’t realize that the portions weren’t big.

WiFi:  The Logan Circle store has no wifi.