Recently, I made my own trip to the Chocolate Bar to see it for myself. Here's what I found:
Baked goods!
A program where you can sign up and get chocolate shipped to you every month! Genius. If anyone is wondering what to get me and David for our birthdays (which are, by the way, both going on this month), now you know. We'd like a chocolate subscription.
Bon-bons!
A massive assortment of delicious bars and candies from nearby chocolatiers, including some of our favorites from New York City itself. Verdigris has done an excellent job selecting which chocolates to carry, and I know because I've tasted many of these at the annual Chocolate Show.
The hot chocolate list was the most exciting part for me. You know I almost always go in for a good Mexican hot chocolate. But then I saw the words "Angelina on the Hudson," and I felt my heart begin to pound.
You may recall that David went to Angelina a couple months ago. It's in Paris and it has the most amazing hot chocolate in possibly the world. Even David thought so, and he is hard to impress. I have been to Angelina only once, years ago, and I have never stopped craving it's hot chocolate since then.
So when I saw "Angelina on the Hudson" listed on the Chocolate Bar's drinks menu, naturally I was curious. And hopeful.
"Why is that drink called 'Angelina'?" I asked the woman at the counter.
"I don't know," she said. "I guess that's just its name."
I raised my eyebrows at her.
"Do you want me to ask the owner?" she offered.
Yes. Obviously I do.
The owner came out from the back. She was a woman who obviously knew her chocolate very well, a quality that I greatly respect in people. "It's named Angelina after this place in Paris..." she began.
That was all I needed to hear.
The Angelina on the Hudson hot chocolate was very good. Very rich and sugary. It was probably not as good as the real Angelina hot chocolate-- hard for me to say, because it's been years since I was at the real Angelina.
Regardless, I love that there's a chocolatier in New York that's trying to emulate my favorite hot chocolate in Paris. You can't find everything in New York. But if you're willing to try, you can come pretty darn close.
BOTTOM LINE: If you are within a twenty-mile radius of Verdigris Tea and Chocolate Bar, you would be a fool not to go. Maybe even a thirty-mile radius.
