‘Redefining what ice cream can be’: Upcoming Hyattsville shop wants to put city on the culinary map

Unlike the commonplace flavors of vanilla and chocolate and longstanding toppings like rainbow sprinkles, Snow Crane — a new ice cream shop set to open in the spring in Hyattsville, Maryland — plans to take your taste buds on a trip.

Founder Takeshi Nishikawa, who grew up in central Japan, concocts unique flavors using ingredients like kinako, or roasted soybean flour, and kuromitsu, a syrup made of unrefined black sugar.

One flavor he’ll be featuring is a Japanese Mont Blanc-inspired ice cream that is processed through a noodle press in the same way the French pastry is.

Nishikawa said each flavor tells a story, and the one he wants customers to understand when they try his ice cream is that the world is much more vast than we often think about.

“I try to wrap Central Japan around my concept and really present it so every piece that I’m handling at least has some kind of a story,” he told WTOP.

Nishikawa, 38, moved to the United States in the early 2000s, just two days before his middle school graduation.

Both of his parents worked full time, so he and his sister grew up spending a lot of time with their grandmother. It was in her kitchen that Nishikawa said he found the passion for cooking.

“I would just stand next to her and stir the pot,” he said. “That’s probably the earliest (memory) of cooking that I can remember.”

Hyattsville as the next frontier

When he was 18, Nishikawa trained at the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont, where he built the technical foundation for what would later become a successful career.

Just over a decade later, he would work in Michelin-starred kitchens; as the executive chef of New Heights in Woodley Park; and later as the culinary director of Rose’s Group, which owns Rose’s Luxury and Little Pearl in Capitol Hill. 

He made the decision to jump “full speed into Snow Crane” in January — a move he called daunting yet exciting.

“For me, it’s all about learning and growth … what is the next stage?” he said.

Courtesy Snow Crane

Courtesy Snow Crane

Courtesy Snow Crane

Courtesy Snow Crane

Courtesy Snow Crane

Courtesy Snow Crane

Courtesy Snow Crane

Courtesy Snow Crane

Hyattsville, where Snow Crane is set to open in the spring, was an inconspicuous choice as the location of his first business venture, but Nishikawa swears the communal feeling and rapid growth of other nearby small businesses will draw customers in.

“There’s a lot of vibrant small business … that are on fire,” he said. “We’re in the next front. And I do see Hyattsville or Prince George’s County becoming a next front as the Metro line extends, as all these food scenes are coming up.”

He noted Vigilante Coffee, Franklins, Manifest Bread and 2fifty as businesses in the area that are “actually putting up incredible product, but happen to be small businesses.”

“I think we’re just one catalyst short of becoming the next food destination, because D.C. is becoming really saturated,” he added.

Redefining ice cream

Now a father of two, Nishikawa has a dream that Snow Crane will be as much a household name as Ben & Jerry’s.

“I’m not trying to turn this into a mom-and-pop small business,” he said. “The long-term goal for me is … supporting artists, be able to tell the story of Central Japan and who I am, as the chef. I do plan to expand more.”

“The intention is to really turn Snow Crane into what people think of when they think of frozen dessert,” he said. “I think we are really redefining what ice cream is and can be.”

The ice cream shop will open in March 2026 at 5334-9 Baltimore Ave.

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