Photos by Armando Gallardo, Words by Brandon Wetherbee
It’s more than gelato.
It’s better than just gelato. The newest Pitango is one of their largest, taking up a large space on Columbia Road. On the same block as Lapis, Fleet Feet, Bedrock Billiards, So’s Your Mom, Johnny’s Half Shell, Pop’s SeaBar, Mintwood Place, it doesn’t seem like Pitango is needed. But it actually fills a niche in an already saturated neighborhood.
Lapis and Mintwood Place are very nice restaurants. Sometimes you just want a small bite without a wait. Pitango does that.
So’s Your Mom is one of Adams Morgan most popular breakfast sandwich destinations on the weekend. Pitango serves breakfast sandwiches. Only two types of breakfast sandwiches, one vegetarian, one full of nduja, prosciutto di parma, or prosciutto bacon. Based on the business during their first weekend, both establishments will sell lots of eggs between pieces of bread.
Johnny’s and Pop’s serve seafood. Sometimes you want some salmon lox and a coffee. That’s an option at Pitango.
Bedrock Billiards is a bar that doesn’t serve food. You can bring your Pitango purchases into Bedrock.
Fleet Feet is for runners. Pitango does not sell shoes. But they do have the kind of food you want to eat after your run.
If this Pitango was just doing more gelato, it’d be fine. We’d stop in whenever we had a sweet tooth for a small treat. But the reason why this is a welcome addition to the neighborhood are all the non-gelato related features. The space is large and comfortable, ideal for actually working in not-exactly-a-coffee-shop.
The porchetta sandwich is one of the best sandwiches we ate in 2017.
The charcuterie plate is ideal for sharing with fellow meat and cheese lovers.
Hell, so are the sandwiches. They’re very, very big.
The Adams Morgan location of Pitango makes an already good neighborhood even better. The family run chain (Does six locations of a family run establishment constitute a chain?) opened an Italian style cafe on a block that could use a cafe. Most every neighborhood would benefit from a place like this.
