Courtesy of Bryan Abdallah – Soshelmag
Local chef Takeshi Nishiwaka has announced that his Japanese-inspired ice cream shop, Snow Crane, will be coming to Hyattsville Canvas Apartments in the Arts District.
The build-out for Snow Crane’s 1,305-square-foot space, at 5334-9 Baltimore Avenue, will begin in summer 2025, according to a company press release, and the shop’s first brick-and-mortar location will open later this year.
Nishiwaka grew up in Japan and has worked as a chef in DMV area restaurants for nearly two decades, including the Ritz-Carlton in Tysons Corner and Lincoln in Logan Circle. According to the press release, Snow Crane’s shop will offer “a minimalist, high-quality menu of rotating hyper-seasonal Japanese ice cream flavors, paired with a curated selection of teas.” Current flavors featured on their website include kinako ice cream (kinako is a Japanese soybean flour) with Okinawan black sugar syrup and strawberry ice cream with strawberry and cherry leaf syrup.
Courtesy of Bryan Abdallah – Soshelmag
Snow Crane’s ice cream has been featured at the Gateway Farmers Market and at private and pop-up events — including one held at Vigilante Coffee Company in December 2024 and one at the District’s Salt & Sundry in mid-March.
At an April 28 promotional event, Nishiwaka said, “Today isn’t just about signing a lease [at Canvas]. It’s about building something meaningful with our community — from craftsmanship to culture, one scoop at a time.”
Canvas (formerly Armory Apartments) is a mixed-use development project with 285 rental apartments along with 30,000 square feet of retail space and a 680-car garage, according to the developer Urban Investment Partner’s website. It’s now also an official home of the Japanese ramen chain Akira Ramen & Izakaya, which held a soft opening in April.
