New dessert options with Filipino flair are coming soon to Pentagon City.
With a lilac aesthetic and colorful delicacies, Maryland-based Gwenie’s Pastries hopes to bring baked goods and hot beverages to 1417 S. Fern Street — formerly W Nails & Spa — by April.
Best-selling goods feature ube
- Gwenie’s most popular cheesecakes, donuts, pies and cakes use ube, a mildly sweet, nutty purple yam commonly used in Filipino cuisine.
- Other specialities include freshly baked breads, sylvana cookie sandwiches and frozen mango cakes topped with graham cracker crumbs.
- The new Arlington location will also serve tea, specialty lattes, cappuccinos and coffee from Grace Street Coffee.
Gwenie’s has been in business for nearly 20 years
- The new location joins brick-and-mortar shops in Rockville and Frederick, Maryland. The business’ 20th anniversary is this July.
- Gwenie’s goods can be found at restaurants and markets across the D.C. area, including Filipino Global Supermarket in Falls Church.
It’s owned by a mother-daughter duo
- “Gwenie’s was started by my mom, Gwen,” Stella Fernandez told ARLnow. “Our menu was all her recipes. She taught me everything I know. I just helped expand the brand and business.”
- Their son and brother, Javier Fernandez, is a RAMMY-nominated restaurateur at Kuya Ja’s Lechon Belly in Maryland.
- Fernandez also plans to open the sandwich shop Lapu Lapu on the same block as Gwenie’s this spring.
