Chef Isabel Coss’s Guide to the Best Desserts in D.C.

I love pastry chef Paola Velez’s Baked Alaska shaved ice. I’ve always dreamed of a place where you can have a good cocktail in one hand and a spoon to eat great dessert in the other. This is that place.

I love Erik Bruner-Yang’s spot on H Street NE. I love the desserts, but also the pastries in the morning, such as the canelé and their super good egg tart.

Angel Barreto may be a savory chef, but he cares so much about dessert and always comes up with beautiful desserts that are fun, homey, and creative. They’re always big—like everybody’s personality in that restaurant.

Rochelle Cooper is so inspiring. She has an amazing dessert program and is always staying on top of it, putting out a new special or a new flavor of ice cream.

Susan Bae’s cakes are so good. All her desserts are beautiful but also balanced with interesting flavors, like yuzu pastry cream, green curry sponge, or pandan panna cotta. And she has a beautiful pastry team.

I love desserts when they don’t feel like an afterthought. They have an ice cream that tastes like White Rabbit candy, which I grew up eating in Mexico, so it tastes like childhood to me.