Artisanal ice cream just isn’t new to D.C., however Chrys Kefalas is assured his new store, Yala Greek Ice Cream, will serve scoops the town has by no means tasted earlier than. (3143 N Road NW)
“There’s one thing distinctive about ice cream from Rhodes,” Kefalas shared in regards to the type of ice cream he plans on churning from the Greek island his household is from. “It’s the greatest, and I’m keen to place it up towards some other ice cream wherever.”
What provides this ice cream the sting over opponents? Kefalas credit each the creamy but mild texture and taste, which comes right down to method and ingredient sourcing. The main target just isn’t within the mixings within the ice cream, he says, however moderately the bottom made with farm-fresh cream and “premium elements” sourced from the Mediterranean and choose producers around the globe. A “rigorously balanced milk and cream-to-sugar ratio” is supposed to maintain the frozen dessert mild and never overly candy, in line with Kefalas.
Yala in Greek loosely interprets to take advantage of (pronounced extra like gála) but additionally honors the time period “let’s go” in Arabic, as a nod to the inherent affect of elements that the Center East shares with Greece, like pistachios, mint, and phyllo. As for the ice cream flavors, they vary from Greek classics like baklava and cherry studded with chocolate chunks to acquainted American favorites like rocky highway and cookies and cream. A strawberry vegan sorbet and a number of other frozen Greek yogurt choices (which Kefalas stresses style vastly completely different from customary frozen yogurt) may also be accessible.
Kefalas lately introduced his employees to the place that influenced his new Georgetown store, which occurs to open on Nationwide Ice Cream Day (Sunday, July 20). Calling in from the Greek isle of Rhodes at 1 a.m., Kefalas was there along with his workforce this spring to expertise its ice cream for themselves — and benefit from the seashores and heat climate earlier than vacationer season picks up.
Rising up in a Greek American family, Kefalas would journey to Rhodes within the summers along with his household.
“My first reminiscence of this ice cream is having it with my dad and mom and grandmother in Rhodes,” says Kefalas. “I keep in mind having this nice ice cream and after I would come again to the States, nothing in contrast.”
To honor the familial connection, a cartoon of his papou (grandfather) shall be adorned all through Yala’s decor and far of the store’s ethos is devoted to Kefalas’ grandfather, who was normally absent on his summer time journeys to Rhodes.
“He didn’t make many journeys again to Greece as a result of he was working in eating places making an attempt to supply for my household and create a greater life for us,” Kefalas stated about why he needed to include his grandfather’s reminiscence within the store. “He was the soul of our household. And he taught me lots about treating everyone like household, welcoming everybody, taking nice delight and making issues the perfect.”
Kefalas’ late grandfather began and ran the Baltimore seafood restaurant Costas Inn, whereas additionally serving to out at his brother’s Jimmy’s Well-known Seafood. Each eating places are nonetheless open and working at present, serving as a testomony to his grandfather’s hospitality, requirements, and willpower.
Whereas his grandson has now made D.C. his dwelling with husband and native radio star Tommy McFly, Kefalas hopes to comply with in his grandfather’s culinary success noting, “The one kind of meals that represents my papou greatest is ice cream. It’s about bringing pleasure to individuals, and I feel we have now the chance to try this with Yala Greek ice cream.”
