Sweet Bite Creamery Takes on the DC Ice Cream Establishment

What do you get when you put together two gorgeous women who love to cook?  You get the beginnings of a new take on ice cream that is going shake up the DC culinary establishment.

Ashley Allen and Tricia Widgen started Sweet Bite Creamery, which features a collection of ice cream sandwiches that are not your ordinary Klondike Bar.  They met during graduate school at George Washington University.  Both have had quite the journey:  Ashley, a Memphis native, eventually found herself in DC, while Tricia’s path has taken her from Boston to Bolivia and back to DC. Both share a passion for good home cooking, using organic and local ingredients whenever possible.  Ashley grew up with frequent family gatherings that featured dishes made from wholesome ingredients; Tricia, who grew up on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, learned about gardening from her parents, and her mother taught her children that if something couldn’t be found locally, then skip it and think of another dish.  Together, their weakness for ice cream led them to start Sweet Bite, whose ice cream cookies will debut Wednesday, August 11, across the river in old town Alexandria.

Entrepreneurs like Tricia and Ashley will help shake up the food scene in DC.  For a national capital, DC does not share the culinary adventures that make a visit to New York, Los Angeles, or even Portland and Chicago memorable just for the daring restaurants and food trucks.  Their hope is to eventually buy an ice cream truck, but they face several challenges:  DC with its hyper security does not lend itself kindly to trucks parking on city streets.  Virginia, meanwhile, has draconian food safety laws that work for McDonalds, but even frozen desserts must be made from pasteurized ingredients--and we know that organic ice cream just cannot be made from a powder.

The ice cream cookies, which only use organic or local ingredients,  will make their opening appearance at the Upper King Street Fresh Farmers' Market in Alexandria, VA, Wednesday, August 11, from 3-7pm.  Flavors are to be announced:  rumor has it that burnt sugar cookies with chocolate sherbet will await you, while lemon macarons will be wedged with crème fraiche ice cream. Or is it the chocolate sherbet between ginger macarons? The possibilities are endless!

You can follow Sweet Bite’s progress on Facebook and Twitter.