At Pitango, It's Better Than Chocolate

Winter warmer: Pitango's hot chocolate. (Noah Dan)

I've been secretly hoping Pitango would open earlier so I can stop in for my morning coffee. With cold weather on the way and less demand for gelato, the shop on P Street NW now has a 7 a.m. start. And though I love the coffee, it's hot chocolate I'll be ordering, not the espresso.

I’m generally not crazy for chocolate, as those who know me can attest. But Pitango's hot chocolate is made in Turin tradition (read: thick, decadent and not too sweet). No starch is used to thicken it. The only ingredients are milk from Pitango's Pennsylvania farm, cocoa and organic sugar.

Pitango serves it straight as a sipping chocolate ($3.75); as a choco-ccino with steamed milk ($3.95); and, my favorite, as a Marocchino, half-espresso, half-chocolate ($1.95). Whipped cream is optional.

Or a scoop of hazelnut gelato. Just a thought.

-- Jane Black