Strawberry sorbet and gelato of Dutch cocoa and strawberry dust with white chocolate-vanilla-almond bark

It’s easy to imagine that some who drive the North Park section of Adams Avenue still think clothes are being washed in An’s Dry Cleaning. However, a legion of loyal fans know that, four years ago, the storefront was remade into that of a small batch gelato maker. The new business had nothing to do with An’s, the actual dry cleaners that previously did business there. Rather, it adopted the branding of the former occupant as inspiration for an ice cream shop. Enter the space, and you’ll find tables modeled after ironing boards, and a rack of shirts on wire hangers, sheathed in plastic wrap. And a menu of gelato flavors names after tough to care for fabrics.

Now, the folks behind An’s Gelato have done it again, opening a second location in coastal North County, in the Del Mar Plaza shopping center. Except, rather than adhere to the dry cleaning motif, they’ve built this shop in a guise more befitting Del Mar: a hat shop.

To be clear, the suite now doing business as An’s Hatmakers never housed a dry cleaners nor a hattery, though the girly accessories boutique here prior did stock a few beachy sun visors. Like the original An’s, it’s simply a neighborhood gelato maker, working behind a thematic veneer.

Appropriately, this veneer was designed to suit its more upscale neighborhood. An’s Dry Cleaning was designed around shiny Formica and fluorescent lighting fixtures. Conversely, the look of An’s Hatmakers is decidedly warmer, characterized by polished woods and pendant lamps. The menu’s comprised of stacked hatboxes, with gelatos often taking the names of distinct styles of headwear.

A gelato shop pretending to be a hatmaker in Del Mar

Not always. Though each shop makes its own gelato, the Del Mar location may borrow a few of the popular recipes found in North Park. So, during my visit, I spotted familiar Dry Cleaning flavors Velour (caramel, salt, and chocolate plus waffle cone bits) and Leather (brown butter with chocolate chip cookie crumbles).

Though popular flavors tend to stick around, both shops constantly rotate their menus, so guests may find something unique and new any given visit. One owner tells me An’s gelato makers have cycled through some 350 recipes, out of which 275 have been served to guests (the notoriously foul-smelling durian fruit apparently didn’t pan out as a gelato flavor).

A hat box menu and various hats decorate an upscale-looking Italian ice cream shop

An appealing part of the An’s schtick is that it’s not content to stick with the tried and true flavors of Italian ice cream, which tend to highlight a single ingredient, alone. Yes, traditionalists visiting Hatmakers may find the likes of pistachio gelato or (vegan) strawberry sorbet, but most of An’s hundreds of flavors have employed creative combinations. It’s not only the ice cream makers coming up with ideas either: scooping staff are just as likely to suggest recipes, and guests in North Park have submitted past flavors including grapefruit and lychee sorbet and goat cheese and fig jam gelato with hints of honey, and balsamic vinegar.

Other highlights have come about through local collaborations. An’s Hatmakers offers a terrific espresso and hazelnut coffee gelato made using coffee beans supplied by Carlsbad’s Steady State Roasting. An’s has also created entire menus in collaboration with Paru Tea — currently in development is a gelato inspired by boba milk tea.

Pints for sale in the An's Hatmaker's cooler

At five to seven bucks a serving, none of these treats are anything less than indulgent, typically featuring more flavor ingredients by volume than dairy. Made from scratch, this is easily gelato rich enough for Del Mar, as evident in a couple of the new Hatmaker’s flavors in the offing. There’s Box of Chocolates, which pairs Dutch cocoa with (flash frozen) strawberry dust, and loaded with with large hunks of white chocolate-vanilla-almond bark. And a remarkable pecan-brownie-meets-caramel twist on German chocolate cake, given the hat-themed name Tyrolean (imagine the feathered cap worn by Alpine yodelers).