Paris Day 1

Cercle de L'Union Club:

From Berlin, I went to Paris.  I immediately met up with two family friends, who hosted me at the Cercle de L'Union Club for lunch.  It's one of those fancy, private athletic clubs, and we dined overlooking the squash courts.  The food was great, and for dessert I helped myself to their chocolate mousse.  It was surprisingly good, from a non-chocolatier.  Though I guess not that surprising given the general quality of the place.

Laduree:

The first shop on my list to visit from there was the original La Maison du Chocolat location, since La Maison one of my very favorite chocolate spots in NYC.  But before I got there, I ran into the flagship, original Laduree.  That's sort of how it is in Paris.  Oh, there's something famous.  Oh, there's another of the world's best chocolatiers.  It got to be the point that this stuff was in the way.  "Ugh, wat is this giant building blocking my way to the next chocolate shop?!  Oh, that's the Parliament.  Of France."  

Anyways, everyone talks about Laduree's macarons constantly.  I told some guy at the punk show in Berlin that I was going to Paris, and he started going on about Laduree's macarons.  You've probably heard of them.  I'd always preferred La Maison's, so I thought this was a good opportunity to create a macaron taste test. 

Spoilers: their chocolate macarcon, while excellent (and certainly one of the best available in NYC) came in fourth (out of about six -- though all wound up being excellent... spoilers again).  They had a special, Santa Domingo-origin dark chocolate macaron that was even better, and it was both my and my friend's second favorite macaron that we tasted.

I also purchased a "Buvette Chocolat" cake.  It was good but not exceptional.  Not wanting to waste stomach space, I went to throw out a big chunk of it.  But standing over the trash I found myself taking "just one more bite" over and over again until it was almost gone. The thin bottom layer, though, I threw out without any hesitation, as it was made with nuts.

La Maison du Chocolat:

From there, I went to La Maison du Chocolat.  I consider most of La Maison's products to set the standard for exceptional chocolate products.  If you can do better than La Maison, in anything, you know you are making a top-of-the-world-level product.  If Sprungli sets the bar in Zurich, La Maison sets the bar higher in Paris.

I bought two bonbons -- a Ghana-origin, Akasombo bonbon and an "Extreme" dark chocolate bonbon.  The Akasombo was delicious, of course, though my favorite of their origin bonbonbs remains Caracas.  The Extreme was good too, but a bit fruity.  I also purchased a truffle, which was exactly the kind of excellent standard-setting truffle I was looking for.

Finally, I purchased a dark chocolate macaron.  La Maison has three types of chocolate macarons, dark chocolate, dark chocolate with nibs, and milk chocolate.  The former two have always been my favorite macarons.  Unsurprsingly, the dark chocolate macaron was my favorite in the taste test.  Somewhat more surprisingly, it was also my friend's favorite.  Angel agrees with me as well on this, so it is now canon in my mind that La Maison makes the best chocolate macaron.

Jean-Paul Hevin:

From La Maison, I went to Jean-Paul Hevin.  I had been to his outpost in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and it blew me away.  In all fairness, though, I hadn't eaten all day, and Tokyo is not a world's mecca for chocolate.

I purchased his "Guayacuil" chocolate cake, and it was very good -- better than, but in the same league as, Laduree's Buvette.  I think after the Peclard cake in Zurich, my standards were sort of off the charts.

I got two bonbons -- a "Carraibe" (Caribbean-origin)  bonbon and an "Amere" dark chocolate bonbon.  Both were amazing and lived up to my memory of Tokyo.  They actually were better than the bonbons at La Maison, which puts Jean-Paul Hevin in an elite crowd.

I also purchased his chocolate macaron.  It was extremely hard to grade, because the top four macarons were clearly of one type -- fancy and indulgently chocolatey.  But Jean-Paul Hevin's was totally different.  It was darker in color and tasted like a chocolate teddy graham.  (I love chocolate teddy grahams.)  So it just wasn't trying as hard, and it was really a wonderful experience in its own right.  That said, if you had to put it next to the macarons from La Maison, Laduree, or Pierre Herme (to come), it wouldn't stand up.

Finally, I purchased a dark chocolate bar (the silver-wrapped bar on the bottom left of the last picture in this review), but it wound up being too fruity for my liking.

After my amazing experience in Tokyo, I had very high expectations of Jean-Paul Hevin.  While it did not disappoint, it was the first casualty of "not-as-good-by-comparison" -- something that was continually repeated in Paris, a city with an overwhelming number of the world's best chocolatiers.

Michel Cluizel:

I also stopped by Michel Cluizel's flagship.  Because he has a nice shop in NYC, I did not feel the need to go nuts -- his 99% bonbon is my favorite bonbon in the world, probably, but since I can get it anytime in NYC, I let it go.

I did purchase a chocolate macaron.  It was actually similar to Jean-Paul Hevin's, in color and taste.  It was a bit crusty, texture-wise, but nonetheless excellent.  I made a mental note not to neglect the macaron next time I'm at the NYC shop.

Angelina:

I needed a break, so of course I went to the home of one of the densest chocolate products in Paris -- Angelina, famous for its extremely thick hot chocolate.   It was a weekday during the day, and there was a line out the door:

Surprisingly, the line moved fairly quickly, and quite soon I was upstairs, looking down on the poor suckers waiting:

I ordered a hot chocolate (obviously) and the Chocolat Africaine Cake.  That's "African Chocolate Cake," for those of you who don't speak french.

I was prepared to be unimpressed by the hot chocolate.  Afterall NYC has City Bakery, DT Works (or had it least), D'Espresso, Grom, and tons of other super-thick hot chocolates.

It still totally impressed me.  I don't think I'd rate it more highly than City Bakery, but City Bakery is my childhood favorite and may get an unfair boost.  It definitely at least holds its own with any other thick hot chocolate in NYC.  It's very thick.  So thick the top layer becomes a film if you let it sit too long, much like in the chocolate pudding you probably made when you were a kid.  Only this isn't pudding.  It's hot chocolate.  (I think.)  But taste-wise it was just as impressive as texture-wise.  It's incredibly rich and chocolatey.  When you use so much chocolate in your hot chocolate, the bean really matters, because the flavors of it will dominate the drink.  Angelina chooses wisely.

The cake was slightly less impressive.  It was probably my least favorite of the Paris cakes I purchased.  That said, it was still totally excellent, and I was unbelievably full already.  So I'm not sure it got a fair shake.  The bar in Paris is just ridiculously high.

Debauve et Gallais:

I then stopped by Debauve et Gallais, but I pretty much only had the stomach to eat a piece of dark chocolate.  It was excellent and chocolatey -- I guessed it was Ghanaian, but they would not confirm.

I also purchased two bars -- 85% and 99%, both blends.  Both were a bit melty when I ate them -- they melted more easily than some of the other bars I purchased.  Also, neither was bitter at all, particularly surprising from the 99%.  That said, the 99% did include sugar, soy lecithin, and extra cocoa butter, which probably explains both the meltiness and the lack of bitterness.  I preferred the 99% to the 85%.  I thought their solution to the bitterness problem was creative and worked just right.  It's definitely among my favorite 99%s I've ever had, if not my favorite (I usually like things around 91%, so 99% can be a bit high for me).  The 85% bar was less exceptional, but still completely excellent.  

I finished my Debauve et Gallais experience totally impressed.

Pierre Herme:

Next stop was Pierre Herme.  I picked up a chocolate macaron for the taste test, and it beat expectations by the most.  Given my preference for La Maison, I tend to trust a store full of chocolate to make chocolate macarons rather than a store full of macarons.  But Herme did an unbelievable job.  The macaron came in third in our taste test -- right between the special and regular Laduree macarons.  Later, when talking with some French friends, they were surprised Herme did not come in first, so I guess the secret is out in France much more than in the US.

I also bought a Chuao, Venezuela-origin dark chocolate bar.  It was excellent.  It was really good even amongst all the high quality bars I was purchasing at the time.  Like I took a bite and was like, "This is great," and then started to go on with my day, but then had to go back and be like, "No, this is really great."  That said, the flavors and textures were not all that memorable over time.  All I really remember is how much I enjoyed it.  Which I guess is what is most important here.  Let's not let all this chocolate blog glory go to our heads.  We're just looking for something delicious.

Richart:

My last stop of day #1 was Richart, and by then I did not have the stomach for, well, anything.  I picked up a chocolate bar that actually did not get eaten until I got to Nairobi, almost a month later.  It was excellent.  Two friends and I, starving at the time, wolfed it down in record time.  Much like Idiolo bar I purchased at Truffe, it was a quintessential Venezuelan bar, with all the flavor notes one would expect from there.  And it was almost as good as that memorably exquisite bar.

Bottom Line: This was just day one.  Will David's stomach survive day two?  The suspense must be killing you.

Hammond's More S'Mores

As you know by now, I love s'mores, so it should come as no surprise that I love the idea of this Hammond's s'mores bar.

Unfortunately, it's better in marketing copy than it is in reality. I've had some s'mores candy bars that I've really enjoyed before, though obviously it is an inherent challenge to try to replicate the taste of a warm, melty dessert in a pre-packaged bar, so some allowances must be made.

Hammond's take on the s'more bar includes of milk chocolate of a fine quality, but I am not a milk chocolate fan. There's a little bit of marshmallow fluff-like substance in the center of each square, but not enough to make a big taste impact. I could not identify any graham crackers in here, so even if they were hiding somewhere, they were not substantial enough to add to the bar's texture.

This Hammond's More S'mores bar is candy. Which is nothing to be ashamed of. It's just not serious chocolate, that's all.

BOTTOM LINE: For really excellent s'mores flavor, I would look first to the Liddabit Sweets s'mores bar. Or, frankly, I would just build a fire and eat a real-life s'more.

Nibs Cacao and ChokoCafe, Berlin

Nibs Cacao:

I went from Zurich to Berlin basically just to see a show.  I didn't really have any sort of plan, place to stay, or list of things to do.  I basically had one address written down, which was for Nibs Cacao, because I had heard they had amazing Spanish chocolate and churros.

 

They did.  So I don't really know if Spanish chocolate counts as a drink -- it's served in a cup, but it's served with a spoon.  But if it does count as a drink, this is one of the best chocolate drinks in the world.  It is unbelievably thick.  Thicker than City Bakery or DT Works (RIP) or Angelina (review pending).  And the churros were warm, soft, sweet, and otherwise just the perfect vehicle for soaking up whatever chocolate one does not feel like guzzling down straight up.

Nibs Cacao also sold chocolate bars.  I was still not over my pumpkin phase, being still early December at the time, so I got a Berger-brand milk chocolate bar with pumpkin and pumpkin seeds.  Berger seems to be the chocolate-producing imprint of mgm Group Corporation, based in Zurich.

It wasn't pumpkiny enough for me, but I love pumpkin seeds in chocolate, so the seeds were a nice touch.  Overall, excellent quality milk chocolate + pumpkin is not really something to complain about.  A delicious experience.

I also purchased a Domori-brand, 70% Venezuelan-origin bar, made of pure crillollo beans.  I bought a lot of Venezuelan chocolate on this trip, and I didn't eat this on the spot, so when I busted it out later, it didn't really stick out in my mind as too exciting.

But when I bit in, I was totally blown away.  It's one of the chocolatiest 70% bars I've ever had, while still retaining the great Venezuelan, crillollo-supplied brightness I love bout Venezuelan chocolate.  This bar is a true masterpiece.  My only criticism is that it was too small.  Fortunately, it seems to be available at The Meadow, so I will be able to buy more anytime!

Chokocafe:

Walking to Nibs Cacao, I passed by a chocolate cafe, cleverly called Chokocafe.  I had plenty of time to kill, so I decided to follow up my Spanish chocolate with something a little less thick and a little less sweet, ordering the darkest chocolate hot chocolate on their menu.  It was perfect.  Just look at this picture:

I feel serene just looking at this photo

Can you imagine a better way to kill an hour?  I put it to you that you cannot.

Bottom Line:  I did no go to Berlin prepared for a comprehensive chocolate experience, but left with a totally memorable one.  It was the city I felt I left most unexplored and to which I most wanted to return, for reasons including but not limited to chocolate.  A city where worthwhile things are happening.

Zurich

I flew from San Diego to Zurich.  Zurich is very small, and chocolate is everywhere.  I took a train into the main station, and before I could even find my way anywhere, I ran into a Sprungli shop. 

Sprungli:

I feel like the Swiss think of Sprungli the way Americans think of Godiva.  It's high-end for most people, but it's not handmade.  You may know them as the second half of Lindt & Sprungli but likely have only had the Lindt-branded products.  Sprungli is certainly higher end than Lindt, and it's actually very good by any standards.  It was a great way to start, because it created a good standard to which to hold other Swiss chocolate.  I had their signature Luxemburgerli -- essentially just an overweight chocolate macaron (thick, with a small diameter) -- and an excellent truffle.  Europe: off to a good start.

Merkur:

My next stop was Merkur, which was also in the train station.  I had heard Merkur was good, but I didn't really understand its deal.  Apparently it's a distributor for another popular company, Laderach.  I purchased a truffle, a bonbon, and a slab of chocolate.  All were labeled as 70%, Brazilian-origin.  I brought my haul up to the famous Swarovski Christmas tree in the station and waited for my friend Bob to arrive.  By "wait," I do not mean "wait to eat the chocolate."

Neither the bonbon nor the truffle particularly impressed me, after Sprungli.  The bar as set high, and Brazil is not my favorite origin, but I still expected better.  The slab did not fair much better:

It was fruity and otherwise uninteresting.  

After a mild ordeal in finding Bob, we left the station, and I found myself in Europe:

Completely Europe

Honold:

 

Our first stop was Honold.  We were excited.  We got a hot chocolate.  We got a piece of cake.  We got a dark chocolate truffle.  We got a hazelnut bonbon.  We were out of the train station and ready to rumble.

 

The hot chocolate was not great.  The cake was okay, but also not outstanding.  Bob didn't seem to mind:

The truffle and bonbon were better.  The first things I'd had that were in the same league as Sprungli.  So far so good, but so good isn't so good when you are in pursuit of greatness.

Truffe:

I found it.  Truffe (or, as we say in English, "Truffle") is the most adorable chocolate shop I encountered in all my travels.  It's small, and it's run by a very small, older lady.  This is her retirement job.  Leila and I have already thought this one through, but this lady is a step ahead of us.  Much like The Meadow or Fog City News, she scours the world for the best chocolate -- mostly, but not exclusively, bars.  She also has an adorable cafe in the back.  She is extremely knowledgeable and friendly, so definitely step in and have a chat.  I purchased three chocolate bars, and she threw in a waffle thing and a little nougat:

 

The bars were as follows: a 74%, Dominican-origin bar from Swiss chocolatier Nobile, a 74%, internationally prize-winning, Venezuelan-origin by from Swiss chocolatier Idilio, and a giant brick of chocolate from ancient Italian chocolatier Roberto Catinari.

The Nobile bar was exquisite.  It was rich and chocolatey, but it was interesting and different from typical West African chocolate.  I usually like Dominican chocolate, and this was no exception.  The Idilio bar was almost as good.  It's exactly what top-tier Venezuelan chocolate should taste like -- chocolatey, bright, and flavorful.

But the real surprise winner was the Roberto Catinari block.  I had been told that he is some master chocolatier and friend of some chocolate pioneer, but I started spacing out.  I was hungry.  Apparently his son isn't as good as he is.  I dunno.  All I know is that this bar is just knock-your-socks-off good.  It's about 80% chocolate, but it isn't sweet.  It's stone ground in that Italian way, and it includes nibs for an even rougher texture and chocolatier flavor.  I can't say enough good things about this bar/brick.

(As an aside, the nougat didn't interest me, as it wasn't chocolate, but the Viennesi-brand chocolate-covered waffle was surprisingly delicious.)

Teuscher:

I know Teuscher.  I love Teuscher.  There's a Teuscher in New York City (in Rockefeller Center).  Angel and I constantly debate whether it's worth its chops, but I always defend it.  So of course I needed to go to the hometown shop:

 

 

I just ordered a single truffle.  I could get more back in New York.  But I wanted to see how my tastes had calibrated.

It was delicious.  It was noticeably, though not by leaps and bounds, better than Sprungli.  It's good to know that what I like in New York still stands up in Switzerland.

Aeschbach:

We wandered past a few chocolate shops that hadn't made my list.  Usually I didn't bother going in.  But something about Aeschbach called to me.  I ordered a Crillollo bonbon, and they threw in a free truffle.  Both were exceptional.  The bonbon was the best I had in all of Zurich.

H. Schwarzenbach:

With all that walking around, it was time to sit down at a cafe.  We got some hot chocolate at H. Schwarzenbach.

It was good.  It didn't blow me away.  I liked it better than the version at Honold, though.

Mostly, the cafe was a nice place to recharge for a bit, before hitting our final shop.

Cafe Schober/Peclard:

Way to save the best for last.  There was a great dark chocolate truffle.  There was an exquisite hot chocolate -- the best I had in Zurich.  It was thick, chocolatey, and just right.  But most importantly, there was this:

 

This was the best chocolate cake I'd ever had.  It's mostly flourless, except a thin bottom layer.  It is devastatingly chocolatey.  The name "Intense Chocolate Cake" did not even do it justice.  If you can only get one chocolate product in Zurich, get this cake.

My Cousin:

Coincidentally, I have a cousin in Zurich, so I called her up and found a lovely spot to spend Chanukah.  She has three adorable kids.  And she offered me a little chocolate for the road.

 

So this is probably not where you expected us to be reviewing M&Ms.  But this is the place our blog is going to put its review of M&Ms.  In the post about the chocolate of Zurich, under the subheading of my visit to my chassidic cousin.  In any case, here's the thing about M&Ms.  I ate these in an airport with some exquisite dark chocolate.  I had two bites of the dark chocolate, and I was done.  I put it down.  And I felt great.  The M&Ms were the opposite experience.  I had one.  Then another.  Then I found myself just pouring them into my face as quickly as possible, until they were all gone.  For about two seconds, everything was wonderful.  Then I felt just awful.  I think we have all had this experience with M&Ms.  They are delicious.  But they are disgusting.

As for the gelt... a dog ate it.  The good news: it lived.  The better news: it was ugly.

Bottom Line: Zurich is small and in Europe and has pretty good chocolate, though I am not sure it quite lives up to its reputation.  That cake, though.  I'll dream about that for a while.

Fine and Raw Blueberries Bar

I am usually not a raw chocolate fan, nor am I a fan of fruits in chocolate, but I am definitely a fan of this Fine and Raw bar.

The blueberries don't affect the texture. There aren't like big chunks of dried berries in here (which would definitely put me off). The initial taste has a rush of blueberry, which is intriguing, and the aftertaste is pretty much just high-quality 70% chocolate.

BOTTOM LINE: An enjoyable bar with an interesting twist that will appeal to many chocolate-lovers, even those who are usually not fruit fans.

Nougat, in Charleston, West Virginia

As David recently pointed out about San Diego, do not underestimate the less famous chocolate cities. There are gems everywhere. Here's an example: Nougat, in Charleston, West Virginia

Nougat is run by a true chocolatier. She has a passion for her truffles that I fully respect. When I first visited Nougat in December, they had just opened, and the proprietor was delighted to share her products with me. She is from Lebanon originally, and most of her chocolates are imported from the Lebanese chocolatier Nougatini.

Nougatini has been making high-quality chocolates in Lebanon since the 1930s. Their products are now sold in a variety of boutiques around the Middle East, but Nougat is the only place where you can buy Nougatini in the U.S.

I hadn't known anything about Lebanese chocolate, but this was truly excellent stuff. A lot of it was quite similar to French chocolates, but there were a few flavors of truffle that I'd never seen before that I guess are unique to the Middle East.

In the back of Nougat they even have a little room with tables and chairs that you could use for a private event. I had never thought of Charleston, West Virginia, as a big chocolate town-- nor had I thought of Lebanon as a big chocolate creator-- but David's right, and the moral of the story is: if you look for chocolate hard enough, you'll be surprised by where you find it.

BOTTOM LINE: If you find yourself in Charleston, you must seek out Nougat. And if you're ever given the chance to taste Lebanese chocolates, just say yes.

Happy Hot Chocolate Month!

Guys, guys: IT IS FEBRUARY!

Maybe you are not excited about this fact. Maybe you think that means it's cold, and Christmas is so long over, and summer is so far away, and the only things to look forward to are President's Day Weekend and knocking back a bottle of gin on Valentine's Day.

If that is what you think, then you obviously don't know the most important thing about February: IT IS THE ANNUAL HOT CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL AT CITY BAKERY!

You know how we feel about the normal hot chocolate at City Bakery. You know it's included in our Best of the Best list (located on the right-hand collumn of this blog, always!). You know we listed it in our Best Chocolate of 2012 round-up.

What you may not know is that every day for the month of February, City Bakery offers a different flavor of hot chocolate in addition to their normal, plain, amazing one.

Here's this year's line-up:

Don't be surprised if we report back as the month goes on and we try different flavors. Personally I am most excited for ginger and darkest dark. What about you?

BOTTOM LINE; If you think February is a drag, go to City Bakery, and think again.