Cliff S'mores Builder's Bar

We discussed Builder's Bars.  They are great.  But how does the S'mores flavor stack up to the Chocolate flavor?

Adequately.  It's probably not quite as good, but it is still sweet, chocolatey, and delicious (for a protein bar).  Note that there is no way to compare this to real chocolate or to real s'mores.  It is a protein bar.  But if you want a protein bar, this is a good bet.

Bottom Line: A trustworthy line of products.

NuGo Dark Mint Chocolate Chip

I very vaguely reviewed a NuGo protein bar before.  Well, I had another one, and it reminded me that they are good.

I mean, for a protein bar.  It's not a chocolate bar.  But it does what it does.  Builders Bars are still the way to go, but this is a good option if those are unavailable.  

Bottom Line: Very serviceable, dairy-free, gluten-free protein bar.

NuGo Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Protein Bar, Cliff Chocolate Builder's Bar, Cliff Chocolate Chip Protein Bar, Go Free Dark Chocolate Crunch Protein Bar, and Silk Chocolate Soy Milk

Here is a quick rundown of the vegan protein bar situation:

 

We already discussed Nature Valley -- its great.  But it's hard and crumbly and... its own thing. 

The Builder's Bar, made by Cliff, is sort of the vegan staple.  People live off the stuff.  And it's actually really good, for a protein bar (vegan or otherwise).  This isn't a fine chocolate experience, but it's yet another way to eat chocolate as a meal.

I should add that the Builder's Bar is way better than Cliff's Chocolate Chip bar (seen in the background).  It is about twelve thousand times chocolatier and does not taste like medicine.  Hooray?

The NuGo (above) and the Go Free (below) were both fine.  One was notably better, but I don't remember which.  Neither was as good as the Builder's bar.

Lastly, I should note that while I really don't like soy milk, the Silk Chocolate Milk is actually pretty delicious.

Bottom Line: The more you know, vegan edition. 

LaGuardia Airport Cibo Express: Pure Organic Chocolate Brownie and Cibo Express 72% by OTG

I was at LaGuardia, and I was hungry.  And bored.  I got these:

So the Pure Organnic protein bar is ok.  It's never going to compete with a chocolate bar.  It's mostly dates, and some walnuts.  It's pretty chocolatey, but the idea is that this is "real food."  Well, for me at least.  As far as that goes, it passes.

The Cibo Express-branded, OTG-manufactured bar of 72% chocolate was suprisingly good.  It was very unfancy, but it was "real" chocolate -- just chocolate, sugar, soy lecithin, and vanilla.  It was obviously made from West African beans, because there were no complicated flavor notes.  But my dear readers know that this is no problem for me, because a rich chocolatey taste was all I ever really wanted.

Bottom Line: This is how you keep your promise to your mother to eat a meal before dessert while keeping your promise to yourself to eat nothing but chocolate.  While at the airport.

Organic Avenue: featuring Gnosis, Hail Merry, and Keen-Wah Decadence

You may have noticed I have recently been posting a lot of vegan items.  That's because I spent a whole month vegan.  During that month, I stopped by Organic Avenue, which seems to be some sort of high-end, pre-made juice bar, with lots of salads and other "organic," vegan items.  And lots of chocolate.  I got something lame for food, but I also got some chocolate:

I got some sort of flourless, chocolate, mint tart from Hail Merry and some sort of chocolate protein bar from Keen-Wah Decadence.  I quick examination of the interiors will tell you which was better:

The Hail Merry tart was great.  I have previously had their chocolate macaroons, which are also great, even though I don't like macaroons.  On the contrary, the Keen-Wah Decadence bar was just gross.  I took a few bites, then threw it out.  I never throw out chocolate.  But it was definitely the Hail Merry tart that was the decadent chocolate item.

I also got a little, bite-sized piece of Gnosis 70% dark chocolate:

Gnosis is another one of those raw, organic, agave-and-coconut-using brands that I wish I hated more than I do.  The square was actually quite good.  It will never be able to hold its own against the great bars out there that actually roast their beans and use real sugar, but still, this was pretty delicious.

Bottom Line: I am finding these "aggregator" stores, on the Dean & Deluca model, are actually pretty good places to try a variety of chocolate items.  We had the Manhattan Espresso Cafe, we had Treehaus, and now we have Organic Avenue.  Among the items, I highly recommend Hail Merry.