Offering Italian-inspired cuisine and more in Takoma Park’s Long Branch neighborhood, Koma Cafe has been a hit since it opened last October. Known for its specialty coffee and tea, as well as its Italian-inspired pastries and food, Eater DC recently wrote that the unique soft serve ice cream the cafe offers “steals the show.”

Eater notes that Koma manager Pete Niederer started the cafe’s soft serve market. “Niederer had worked at Carmen’s Italian Ice in Rockville for over 20 years, rising to become head office manager and chief flavor developer.”

Unique rotating flavors like brown butter pecan, vegan blueberry lemon cake, churro, blueberry caramel with gochujang, cardamom coffee, brown sugar fig, Biscoff caramel and more are big hits in the area. Eater writes: “All of Niederer’s soft ice cream flavors are made with natural colors and flavors. He develops the flavors himself by making a syrup, boiling it down in the kitchen and adding it to the base. Every Tuesday there are new flavors for the week.”

Koma Café is open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. About Koma Cafe: Owner Jared Mack, originally from North Dakota, moved from DC to the Long Branch neighborhood in 2019 and quickly realized that his side of Takoma Park was lacking a conveniently located coffee shop. Within a year, he pitched the idea to two close friends, Marc Pickering and Soko chef Brad Feickert, who enthusiastically agreed to open their own!

Chef Brad Feickert, best known as the owner and chef of Soko Butcher in Takoma Park, is originally a classically trained chef with numerous awards, having previously worked at places like Volt of Brian Voltagio and the former Oz of Arlington restaurant.

Dylan Greer, General Manager and Head of Beverages, is a native Takoma Park resident who previously worked at Frothy Monkey in Nashville, TN and then at Takoma Beverage Company and Zinnia, where he honed his passion and skill for all types of beverages.

Photos by Mack Ordaya @pinkkixmedia