5 Newly Opened Cafes and Confectionaries to Know About Right Now in D.C.

D.C. just welcomed a collection of new storefronts serving morning pastries, delicate desserts, smoothie bowls, fresh-pressed juices, colorful boba teas, coffees, and more.

Local pastry chef-turned-chocolatier Ashleigh Pearson opened her anticipated Georgetown store Petite Soeur this week, while brand new D Light Cafe & Bakery brings Adams Morgan’s buzzy 18th Street NW strip a pretty place to enjoy coffees and croissants under chandeliers. And three familiar names — high-tech convenience store/cafe Foxtrot, boba brand Spot of Tea, and boutique toast and juice bar Toastique — just added additional locations in popular Northwest neighborhoods.

Here’s a closer look at each:

Petite Soeur

1332 Wisconsin Avenue NW

Georgetown’s anticipated destination for decadent bonbons, brittles, chocolate bars, and other treats opened just in time for Halloween. The 600-square-foot shop — which means “little sister” in French — comes from chocolatier Ashleigh Pearson, an alum of Marcel’s in D.C. and Thomas Keller’s Per Se in New York. Her first retail storefront stars intricately painted bonbons featuring milk chocolate sea salt, dark chocolate s’mores, and white chocolate passion fruit. The glossy spheres are $3.75 a pop (or 4 for $15; 9 for $30; and 16 for $50). Sablés (French butter cookies) come in raspberry or mango caramel and chocolate fudge flavors. Open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays through Saturdays to start.

D Light Cafe & Bakery

2475 18th Street NW

An elegant European cafe outfitted with marble tables, shimmering chandeliers, and soft white seating quietly opened inside the former Songbyrd space in Adams Morgan. Floral-framed doors open at 8 a.m. daily for abundant breakfast and brunch offerings like hazelnut almond lattes, avocado toast dressed with halloumi and sundried tomatoes, gazpacho, berry-cream or chocolate croissants, macarons, and other French desserts and pastries housed behind a sleek glass counter. Meanwhile, music venue/cafe Songbyrd flew the coop to Union Market and reopened inside the old Coconut Club space.

Dillon Chai/Spot of Tea

Spot of Tea

2400 14th St NW

Two years after debuting its first permanent pad inside NoMa’s Streets Market, Spot of Tea adds a second walk-up counter in the homegrown grocer’s Logan Circle locale. “Boba”-ristas use high-tech brewing machines to whip up colorful concoctions like strawberry matcha fruit teas and blue jasmine milk teas to go along with seasonal spiced apple cider brewed with chai and nitro coffee. To celebrate its opening, all profits on Saturday, October 30, and Sunday, October 31, will be donated to four D.C. nonprofits. Open Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Foxtrot

1601 Connecticut Avenue NW

The fast-growing bougie convenience store and cafe with a delivery app that carries everything from boutique groceries and sunscreen to hard seltzer opens its third D.C. outpost on Friday, October 29. In addition to carrying proprietary products and groceries from small, local producers, the Chicago import’s third D.C. location adds a charcuterie bar, sandwiches made on-site, a bigger-than-usual wine selection, and a cafe using beans from Vigilante Coffee Company in Hyattsville, Maryland.

Toastique

1899 N Street NW

Toastique/official photo

The homegrown health chain brought its familiar lineup of gourmet toasts, acai and smoothie bowls, and cold-pressed juices to a sun-drenched corner location in Dupont Circle. Its fourth area store, a new buildout with floor-to-ceiling windows, features its first espresso bar. The expansion-minded wellness brand also sits in Old Town, the Wharf, and Navy Yard, with an additional location that opened in Stone Harbor, N.J. this spring.

• A New Chocolate Shop in Georgetown Will Sell Glossy Bonbons and French Butter Cookies [EDC]
• Local-Sourcing Foxtrot Market Will Open a Dupont Branch With a Charcuterie Bar [EDC]
• A Boba Tea Pop-Up Finds a Permanent Home in NoMa [EDC]