PSA: The Chocolate Room is moving

It's no secret that we love the Chocolate Room. So we're happy to help them get the word out about their new location.

At 11pm on January 26, the Chocolate Room will be closing up shop at their amazing, wonderful, feels-like-home shop/restaurant on 5th Ave. DON'T PANIC. It's going to be okay. On January 29, they will be opening a pop-up shop right next door (82 Fifth Ave). It won't be a sit-down place, but you can still buy all the chocolates and baked goods that you need.

The pop-up shop will stay open until the Chocolate Room's new Park Slope location is ready to open, hopefully in February or March, at 51 Fifth Ave. And then we can all welcome them to their new home by sitting down and ordering a hot chocolate float with chocolate ice cream in it, because that is what we do best.

In the meantime, the Chocolate Room's Cobble Hill restaurant and shop on Court Street will stay open without any changes. So if you need some sort of chocolate amuse bouche over the next few weeks, they've got you taken care of.

Public Service Announcement over!

Chocolate Party!!

As many of you know, our first birthday party was last week.  It looked like this:

We had nine tasting tables set up, including percentages:

origins:

mint, milk:

baking supplies:

local chocolates:

chocolate-covered products:

bars with stuff-in-them:

and truffles and bonbons:

 There was even a raffle!:

People stocked up pretty nicely:

And subsequently made themselves a little sick, chocolate-drunk, or both.

Looking at the surveys, some of the most popular items were the Zoe barks and bonbons, the Li-Lac marzipan acorns and hazelnut truffles, all the Kopali chocolate-covered items, the Christopher Elbow Honey Spice bonbon (bought at 2Beans), the Beschle 88% dark chocolate bar (bought at 2Beans), the Fine & Raw Truffle Chunky bar, and the Equal Exchange Lemon Ginger Black Pepper bar.

The most controversial items (lots of lovers and skeptics), somewhat unsurprisingly, were the Pacari Raw 100% chocolate bar and the Al Nassma Camel's Milk bar (bought at 2Beans).

Alyssa Tanchajja took all these amazing photos for us, including this one of a great friend of the blog sampling the fan-favorite Li-Lac marzipan acorns:

We had a great time, and we hope you did too!

Thanks so much to our sponsors!

Bottom Line: Stick with us.

Chapon 70% Cuba and Michel Cluizel 99%

Having friends in Paris is a real blessing.  They bring such lovely gifts:

If you remember when I went to Paris, I stopped by both Michel Cluizel and Chapon.  I had already been a big fan of Cluizel, as they have an NYC store.  I'd been going there most especially for their 99% dark chocolate bonbon since its old days inside ABC Carpet -- it has since moved to the vicinity of Rockefeller Center.  Chapon, on the other hand, is basically impossible to get in NYC.  They don't even deliver to America, as far as I can tell.  But Chapon was my #1 favorite chocolatier in all of Paris, when I visited.

Anyways, here are two things I had not tried before.  99% chocolate bars are intense, no matter who you are, and the Cluizel version was not quite an exception.  But I will say that it was more palatable than most, and I definitely enjoyed it.  This is what they use to cover their 99% bonbon, so it was fun eating it in isolation.

The Chapon bar -- first of all -- was beautiful (like all their bars).  This was of Cuban origin, which is somewhat harder-to-find.  I am continually impressed by Chapon's ability to make all of their bars both interesting and delicious.  As many of you know, I can get skeptical of "interesting" flavors in chocolate, because I just want things to taste like chocolate, but Chapon knows how to get interesting flavors without compromising chocolatey-ness.  Another really great bar.

Bottom Line: Start making friends who live in Paris.

one week until our first birthday party!

Chocolate NYC's one-year birthday bash is at the Bell House in Gowanus, Brooklyn, exactly one week from today, and we are getting really excited.

My room is filling up with boxes of chocolate that will all be available to taste at the party. Apparently there's going to be a raffle. We're making "ballots" so you can take notes on what you're eating and write in support of the chocolates you like best. Tonight we had an awesome meeting with a representative from Equal Exchange, who was walking us through the chocolates that they will be providing to the event.

And amazing media attention is coming in! Read about the event here:

Brooklyn Based
The Brooklyn Paper
Tine Out New York (we're a critic's pick!)

We have a lot to pull together over the next week, but it's going to be worth it, because, guys, at the end, there is going to be soooo much chocolate.

If you haven't yet bought your ticket, just do it.

The Best Chocolate of 2013

It's the third day of the new year, so we've decided it's time for us to post our best-of list for 2013. That is just how we roll around here (three days late, apparently).

Our favorites from last year are still out there nailing it, and of course you can always check out our "best of the best" list in the right-hand column of this site. If you want to be really au currant, though, then this list is for you.

THE BEST CHOCOLATE (IN AND AROUND NYC) OF 2013, ACCORDING TO US

BEST COOKIE:
Leila: chocolate chip cookies from Levain Bakery

BEST DONUT:
David: Cinnamon Snail
Leila: Doughnut Plant (bonus points to Gordough's, which is in Austin, Texas, so it doesn't really count toward this list, but it is actually my favorite donut ever)

BEST ICE CREAM:
Leila: chocolate mint cookie ice cream from Blue Marble

BEST RESTAURANT DESSERT:
David: Mailino

BEST HOT CHOCOLATE:
Leila: City Bakery
David: City Bakery

BEST CHOCOLATE STORE:
Leila: 2Beans

BEST BAR:
David: Noi Sirius

BEST PLACE TO EAT ICE CREAM:
Leila: Farmacy
David: Mets Game

BEST CHOCOLATE NOT-DESSERT-FOOD:
Leila: chocolate bread with sea salt from the Farm on Adderly

BEST VEGAN THING THAT SHOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE VEGAN:
David: Fine & Raw Truffles

BEST RECIPE:
Leila: Baked hot chocolate
David: My mom's Flourless Chocolate Cake

BEST WTF:
David: Chocolate Goat Cheese Truffles

So there you have it! What were your favorite chocolate experiences of the year?