Ndidiamaka Agu beams with deep pride and satisfaction: after a long, difficult journey and many setbacks, he has finally realised his dream of opening an ice cream parlour featuring the flavours of Africa.
The Shuga x Ice founder and CEO, a Silver Spring resident and New York City native, is one of several international and culturally diverse vendors participating in Solaire Social, 8200 Dixon Lane in downtown Silver Spring, which will host the new food hall’s grand opening Friday through the weekend.
The 13,000-square-foot food hall was created by Chef Akhtar Nawab of Hospitality HQ, a Brooklyn, New York-based company that specializes in creating food halls across the U.S. The venue also includes a 40-seat bar and an entertainment stage.
Located in the basement of a residential apartment building, Solaire features high ceilings and a long, spacious hallway leading to a food hall with several seating areas equipped with chairs and stools, and large rectangular windows offering views of the surrounding area.
Belinda Vanini, deputy general manager of Solaire Social, said the food hall’s design aims to create a modern look and feel.
“The concept was to create a more upscale, classy place like Union Market for families and young professionals. [in Washington, D.C.] But in Silver Spring, people won’t have to go as far and there’ll be more space to sit down and actually enjoy it,” she said.
According to a press release, Agoo was one of eight vendors selected by Nawab for Solaire Social. The venue held a “pre” opening for family and friends of the vendors on May 17 and an open house for media on Wednesday night.
Other vendors include Fire Pit Brazilian Cuisine & Barbecue, Just Chicken, Kabab 2 Go, Kati Roll Wala, Pau & Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, SOKO Butchery, SOKO Oysters and Manna Sushi.
Speaking at a media event, Agu said his Nigerian heritage inspired the idea for his new business.
Agu’s ice cream shop offers five flavours – “Tea and Bread,” spicy chocolate “Bas Boss,” Maltese-flavored “Love Nwantinti,” coconut cream frozen dessert “Chin Chin and Cream” and “Madagascar Vanilla” – and Agu says he has more on the way.
“Tea and bread was one of the first flavours I created. It was originally called ‘tea and biscuits,'” she says. “I grew up here and whenever I visited Nigeria as a child, one of the first things I had in the morning was tea and bread. But the bread is agege bread, so it’s very nostalgic.”
In the “Tea and Bread” flavour, Agu mixes ice cream with tiny croutons of Nigerian agey, while “Love Nwantinti” has Malta Guinness, a non-alcoholic drink also from Nigeria, as its main flavour.
Another vendor will be Guy Gonzalez, a native of Brazil who co-owns Fire Pit Brazilian Cuisine & Barbecue with his wife, Fabi. A Silver Spring resident, Gonzalez moved to Rockville from Brazil when he was 14 and graduated from Wheaton High School.
Gonzalez said Nawab invited him to join Solaire Social a few years after he opened a food truck on Rockville Pike under the same Firepit brand.
“We wanted to have an English name and not a Portuguese name so people would understand exactly what it means,” he said. “We use a real fire to grill the meat, so it’s not on a flat iron plate. [or] “It’s gasoline powered.”
With his fire pit, Gonzalez said he wanted to recreate the authentic southern Brazilian barbecue cooked over an open flame that is eaten in his hometown of Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul state, which borders Uruguay and Argentina.
“What I want people to know is that I want to serve delicious Brazilian barbecue. [with] “Affordable prices and fast service,” he said. “We [D.C., Maryland and Virginia] In the next few years.”
Solaire Social vendor Brad Feikert already owns two locations in Takoma Park, deli SOKO Butchery and Koma Café, and Solaire Social has opened SOKO Oysters and a second SOKO Butchery location.
“It’s going well. It’s busy,” he said at a media event. “Hopefully word will spread and it will continue to grow.”
Feickert was born and raised in Northern Virginia and said he learned to maximize outreach within Montgomery County.
“I thought it was a great opportunity to reach the demographic and people of Silver Spring,” he said. “The hospitality company that owns Solaire Social has been really accommodating. [to work] I appreciate what they’re trying to do.”
For Agu, the journey to opening his ice cream shop at Solaire Social was anything but ordinary.
“The idea came to me in 2017. [to Silver Spring] “In 2019,” she says, “I was laid off from my job last year, in January 2023. I was a creative project manager and all of a sudden, my position was eliminated.”
But Agu said she wasn’t deterred by losing her job, and the process that followed ultimately led her to Nawab. “I knew it was OK for my ego to be hurt,” she added. “But I knew the next step was to do this full time, whether I had a job or not.”
Now that she has opened her restaurant, Agu says the scope of her and Solaire Social’s business goes beyond just fine food.
“This is more than just ice cream. It’s about connection, it’s about community, it’s bridging gaps,” she said. “This is so much more than just a sweet treat. It’s bringing people back home and connecting them with where they come from.” [and] It offers a new experience to people who have never experienced it before.”
Solaire will be open Sunday through Thursday from 11am to 9pm and Friday and Saturday from 11am to 10pm.
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