I’ve already told you about my fondness for Peruvian sandwiches. My affection for a sumptuous sweet is similarly well-documented. Imagine my delight, then, at the very existence of Dolce Amore Sweets in Manassas.
A cake shop that serves sandwiches, courtesy of pastry chef and Lima native Jennifer Solis, Dolce Amore is a wonderland of sweets that range from ice cream to cakes to trendy hot chocolate bombs. But I was there for the pan con chicharrón. Or perhaps the pan con lomo, served with potato sticks. My interest was also piqued by the chicken tamal, served on a Portuguese roll with salsa criolla. It was a tough decision, but I stuck to my favorite–this time.
There will certainly be return visits after tasting the fluffy-centered Portuguese roll armored with a crust ready to withstand the cilantro-speckled lime juice that cures the onions in salsa criolla. Tender slices and chunks of pork are overstuffed in the sandwich, leading a fair portion to lose its place between the bread. No matter. That’s what a fork is for. I picked it up with a bit of onion and a section of thinly sliced, tender sweet potato and dipped it in spicy aji verde sauce on the side.
But I might be even more enraptured by the dessert I brought home that evening. The lucuma mousse cake boasts layers of moist chocolate cake spread on every side with mousse made from the lucuma fruit. The soft fruit is in the sapotaceae family, which also includes sapodilla and mamey. The flavor is akin to a natural caramel and its texture is a bit like an avocado. That means it lends itself exceptionally well to treatments like the airy mousse that appear both in the cake and alone as mousse cups at Dolce Amore. There’s lucuma ice cream, too. But I’m not going to restrict myself to lucuma when I visit Dolce Amore in the future. There’s far too much to explore. // 8641 Sudley Road, Manassas
For more reviews, subscribe to our twice-weekly Food newsletter.
