Chocolate: New York wants 'cocoa mecca'
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watch the candymakers in white
gowns assembling goodies amid
the mini-factory’s gleaming
silver tubes and vats. The spa
cious, light-filled, unpretentious
cafe has a warm and welcoming
staff. Cookies and other treats are
also available.
Warm up at Payard (1032
Lexington Ave. near 73rd Street)
if you’ve been out in Central
Park. You can have a meal or
any type of pastry at this busy
patisserie and bistro, but choco
holics should sit at the bar
and order from the Masterpiece
collection of chocolates named
for painters. Picasso is dark
chocolate flavored with Earl
Gray; Van Gogh is chocolate
with pistachio, and Chagall
has pralines.
In Soho, spend the day migrat
ing among chocolate shops, de
signer boutiques (Chanel, Ann
Taylor, Nicole Miller), and one-of
a-kind stores like Evolution,
which sells skulls and other arti
facts, or Morrison Hotel, which
sells photos of musicians.
The trendy Vosges Haut Choco
lat (132 Spring St., near Greene)
offers unusual combinations, like
white chocolate with olive oil
and Kalamata olives, and “Bu
dapest” — dark chocolate with
Hungarian paprika.
A few blocks away, Lunettes et
Chocolat (25 Prince St., near
Mott), gives new meaning to the
phrase eye candy. The store sells
eyeglass frames — $225 to $1,000
— and MarieBelle chocolates —
two for $7. Chocolates here are
miniature works of art, topped
with colorful, edible geometric
designs and silhouettes, all
silkscreened on cocoa butter with
natural food coloring. Wash them
down with spicy hot chocolate,
containing cinnamon, nutmeg
and chipotle. (Another MarieBelle
is located at 484 Broome St., near
West Broadway.)
For an evening of chocolate,
The Ritz—Carlton Battery Park
(Two West Street, at the foot of
Manhattan, near the Bowling
Green subway station) has a
“Chocolate Bar,” Fridays and Sat
urdays in February and on
Feb. 14, Valentine's Day. The $65
per-person buffet includes cham
pagne, tax and tip; scrumptious
chocolate martinis are worth the
extra $15.
The view from the Ritz of
New York Harbor, with the Statue
of Liberty and city lights twin
kling against a winter’s night sky,
is as stunning as the desserts,
which include a warm, molten
chocolate cake with vanilla ice
cream; tiny chocolate pyramids;
strawberries dipped in chocolate;
plus mousses, cremes, candies
and other creations.
The hotel’s chocolate chef,
Laurent Richard, is also a sculp
tor. Look for his chocolate render
ings of a chess set, Willy Wonka
and the Statue of Liberty, along
with a lifesize statue of himself.
Children with a generous sug
ar daddy — or mommy — might
try the $100 Volcano at the newly
reopened FAO Schwarz (58th
Street and Fifth Avenue). This
chocolate-and-ice cream concoc
tion, with candy boulders
and chocolate caramel lava,
serves four; kids get hardhats
and shovels before digging
in. Also at FAO’s sweet shop:
M & M’s in more than two
dozen colors and an edible
chocolate toy chest with candy
and ice cream.
Despite New York’s burgeoning
chocolate scene, it will never be
a native New Yawk tradition.
Nicolas Bernarde, pastry expert
at Paris’ famous Cordon Bleu
cooking school, points out that
cocoa beans come from the Ivory
Coast, Venezuela, New Guinea,
Indonesia and Brazil. Those
beans are processed, for the most
part, in Europe. New York chefs
then use that chocolate to create
their treats.
But chocolate could be another
immigrant success story.
“You just need to promote five
or six chocolate cafes that open,
a good advertising slogan so
people talk about it, good choco
lates ... and it will take off,”
Bernarde said.
Still, French chocolatier Michel
Richart says New Yorkers looking
to make their city a cocoa mecca
“still have work to do ... Europe
will remain the world capital for
chocolate for a long time yet.”
Bringing chocolate
home via mail
For students who don’t have the
time or money to fly to New York
— or Paris, Brussels or Geneva for
that matter — there’s still hope.
Many of these chocolate stores,
cafes and patiserries deliver, offer
ing the convenience of sampling
their fine deliciousies at home.
These web sites enable students to
order their chocolate fix before
they can say “FedEx.”
tns it has gifts to fit any budget
palate. It ships chocolate bars,
squares and a special series of
Scharffen Berger panned products
that are based on the traditional
French confections from old-world
candy shops.
www.mrchoeolate.com —
Jacques Torres Chocolate creates
fresh, hand-crafted chocolates
without using preservatives or arti
ficial flavors. It has champagne
truffles, boxed assortments and
tins of hot chocolate made with
real chocolate — not powder. It
also has a three, six or 12-month
chocolate-by-the-month plan.
www.payard.com — Payard
ships unique chocolate delicacies,
such as a Mint Julep Cup and Pa
yard Chocol|fe Tablettes for
¥%
reasonable prices. Try the Round
Vanilla Rum TYuffles, a company
best-seller.
www.vosgeschocolate.com —
Vosges’ exotic truffles are made in
an ‘East meets West’ theme using
a mix of rare spices, flowers and
premium chocolate for a true
“haut-chocolat” experience. The
exotic truffle flavors include Viola,
Ambrosia and Absinthe. It also
has sweets such as Caramel
Marshmallows — a
sandwiched around
caramel, walnut and
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