Rod Gambassi (left) and Marc Adams (right)

Optimizing the fine dining experience has meant *some* restaurants — nobody on Capitol Hill, of course — would rather you and your lovely date move along to open up a table and, gasp, not have dessert. That’s ok when places like R&M Dessert Bar are coming along.

The little dessert and light bite space with a walk-up window and busy baked-good kitchen opened up quietly on E Pike in the new mixed-use The Cove building.

“Our goal is to offer good quality food, good quality drinks,” Marc Adams tells CHS. “We’re always open late, trying to make it accessible to everybody.”

Rod Gambassi and Marc Adams — R&M — got their start baking cakes for weddings and parties a decade ago. Along the way, the clients and opportunities grew along with the couple’s business. With the new dessert bar, they now have a space to showcase their creations — conveniently located within their own Capitol Hill “five to six-block radius” they’ve called home for decades. They currently live only a few blocks from the new shop. A walk-up window is part of the shop for their neighbors to be able to grab a quick treat on the go.

R&M is designed around its desserts, sweets, and baked goods but also offers savory creations in quiche-like bakes. There are suggested pairings with R&M’s wine list or you can go it alone and put together your own wine and dessert combination.

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“Flavors are key,” Adams said. “You can have something that can look great and taste awful.”

The baker says one R&M key is to use a “as few ingredients as possible” and to focus on items that diners “aren’t going to find anywhere else in the city.”

“We don’t want to duplicate stuff you can get somewhere else,” Adams said.

R&M is located at 601 E Pike. It is open Sundays through Thursdays, 3 PM to midnight and Fridays and Saturdays, 3 PM to 2 AM. You can learn more at rmdessertbar.com.