Posted by Kathy YL Chan, November 17, 2008 at 6:00 PM
At the 11th Annual Chocolate Show New York two weekends ago, I received a box of truffles from Charles of Charles Chocolates. His headquarters are based in California, but you can find them here in New York City at Whole Foods. The Classic Collection Assortment featured above bears twenty truffles—two each of ten flavors. I enjoyed some more than others, but there is not a single miss.
The Bittersweet Peanut Butterfly is a personal favorite, closely followed by the Passion Fruit Heart—fresh lilikoi ganache enclosed within a 65% chocolate heart. Fleur de Sel appears in two forms: silky plain in the first, and coupled with bittersweet chocolate in the second. Each is locked within a crisp, thin dark shell that easily gives way upon the heat of the mouth. For those fond of citrus, Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon creations cater to fruity whims with orange/lemon marmalade ganache in bittersweet and milk chocolate. I sampled my way through the entire Chocolate Show and can confidently conclude that these chocolates ranked among the best at the event, for both taste and presentation. Not included in this particular boxed truffle set, but equally loved were aromatic squares of Jasmine Tea chocolates and Caramel Almond Sticks hinting just a touch of Fleur de Sel. Available at Whole Foods or online at charleschocolates.com
Posted by Tam Ngo, November 14, 2008 at 6:00 PM
A Mast Brothers chocolate bar with almonds and sea salt.
While upending the shelves at Stone Barns for new treasure, I stumbled across a Mast Brothers chocolate bar flecked with almonds. And sea salt! I have an underdeveloped sweet-tooth but an overdeveloped salt-tooth, so this discovery thrilled me to the core. (What an ideal snack for a lazy Friday autumn-birthday afternoon!)
As revealed in our prior interview with the Mast brothers, the brothers pride themselves on their handmade chocolates, with beans sourced from farms throughout the southern latitudes. The brothers clean, sort, roast, and refine the cacao beans in small batches themselves. They also develop the flavor profiles, making the bars from a tiny kitchen in Brooklyn. Finally, they hand-wrap and Scotch-tape the pretty bars shut. The whole operation is charmingly understated. And the clean geometries of their patterned papers hold exquisite appeal.
But the taste? What about the taste? The shingles of salt are crisp and fun, but the almonds are more decorative than delicious.
Moreover, the chocolate is wooden in flavor and reveals little when warmed on the tongue. Like the mouth-drying I feel when eating Scharffen Berger, the sensation is slightly astringent. The Mast Brothers' chocolate is a more Germanic take; it doesn't bloom nor linger in the mouth the way a French or Belgian indulgence might.
The bar would make a good gift for a friend with aesthetic leanings and will please those who prefer straightforward flavors. While I didn't find it especially tasty, it is tasteful. It is, appreciably, a smart-looking bar.
Mast Brothers Chocolate
mastbrotherschocolate.com
Available at the following locations:
Marlow & Sons; 81 Broadway, Brooklyn NY 11211
Spuyten Duyvil Grocery; 218 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11211
Stone Barns; 630 Bedford Road, Pocantico Hills NY 10591
Urban Rustic; 236 North 12th Street, Brooklyn NY 11211
Artists & Fleas; 129 N 6th St, Brooklyn NY 11211
Rubiner's Cheesemongers; 264 Main Road, Great Barrington MA 01230
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, November 10, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Sweet freaks and chocolate fanatics in New York City filled Pier 94 this weekend in search of the latest trends in chocolate sweets and confections. This year's 11th Annual Chocolate Show was held in a significantly larger venue than previous years, so despite heavy crowds, space was never tight. Vendors gave out plenty of samples, some more generous than others.
The wide range in chocolate novelties—from the pig's bacon, to chocolate sake ganache, chocolate "sushi," and firecracker truffles—ensured a good time for those with an open mind and high sugar tolerance. The Viking Range demos featured appearances from an impressive repertoire of chefs—Nick Malgeri, François Payard, and Jacques Torres to name a few. Certain vendors from previous years were missing, including the much anticipated John & Kira, but we didn't dwell on the losses for long.
Continue reading »
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, November 6, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Stacked between credit card bills and piles of magazines I'll never get around to reading, I received something in the mail last week that had me truly excited. Chocolate. More specifically, a sampling of chocolate bars from Berkshire Bark. Based in (you guessed it) the Berkshire Mountains, the chocolate bars are found at a host of shops in our city including Bierkraft, Fairway, Dean & Deluca, and Bedford Cheese Shop. There's a flavor to please each craving, whether it be "Pretzelogical" (pretzels, sea salt caramel and peanut butter enrobed in dark & milk chocolate), or "Jumpin's Java" (roasted almonds, espresso toffee, caramelized cocoa nibs, and crushed coffee beans in dark chocolate). I found the single white chocolate bar to be the most tame and least appealing with a muted mix of cashews, ginger, lemon zest and sea salt, though my personal favorite (pictured above) was, "Tropical Heat," a dark chocolate bar with roasted macadamia nuts, mango, papaya, pineapple, and coconut. But oh, it wasn't the simply the mix of dried fruits and chocolate that sold me, for that alone would be terribly boring. Rather, it was the liberal helpings of cayenne peppers and ancho chile powder infused into the bar which called out like a siren, a spicy glow verging on smoky.
Note: Berkshire Barks will also be present at this weekend's Chocolate Show New York.
Posted by Joe DiStefano, November 3, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Decadent isn’t the first word that usually comes to mind when thinking of matzo. Austere is more like it. Nevertheless decadent is a perfect one-word description of the dark-chocolate and toffee-enrobed matzo I scored at Russ & Daughters the other day. It’s so good that it has me pounding my fist on the desk with glee. Who cares if crumbs get in the keyboard. This is surely not your grandmother’s chocolate-covered matzoh. For that matter it’s not my grandmother’s chocolate-covered matzoh, either. She was Sicilian.
I’ve had chocolate-covered matzoh before, but never quite like this. It’s crunchy, sweet, salty and chocolaty. It’s what a Skor bar wants to be when it grows up. And it is a grown-up treat, complete with just a hint of sea salt sprinkled on top. R&D started selling the matzo about a month ago, right before the Jewish holidays, according to Niki Russ-Federman. At $4.50 a half they’re not cheap, but I think they’re well worth it. They come to R&D from a small company called Matzel Toff. “People tend to think of matzoh as something you have to eat out of necessity, so it's a great surprise to have it taste so good. You could eat this any time of day, month or year, not just for Passover.” Amen, sister.
Russ & Daughters
179 E. Houston Street, New York NY 10002 (map)
212-475-8880
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, September 3, 2008 at 6:30 PM
There's no shortage of morning pastries, both sweet and savory, at Falai Panetteria on the Lower East Side. The restaurant is peacefully quiet before the noon hour—ideal for a solo breakfast with a good novel, or early morning coffee with friends. Outfitted in pressed tin ceilings and white chandeliers, it's the right spot for snuggling with a warm cappuccino and pastry. On the savory end, go with the spinach strudel dotted with pine nuts and feta. But the focus here is really on sweet.
Chocolate and almond croissants are hard to pass, but look further for the chocolate-pear turnover. The crisp sugar-speckled pastry encases dark chocolate and sweet sliced pears, one layered above the other. It's flaky in all the right ways, releasing billows of golden crumbs all over your lap—which you'll be very happy to savor later.
Falai Panetteria
79 Clinton Street, New York NY 10002 (nr. Rivington Street; map)
212-777-8956
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, September 2, 2008 at 6:30 PM
It's the strangest looking creation, right? One you'd only find at a Chinatown bakery, alongside egg white custard tarts and spongy taro rolls. For $1.50, the tiger roll is a smashing good deal—one of the more memorable treats at the relatively new Hon Café in the heart of Chinatown. The four-inch long roll features airy light chocolate sponge cake hugging a cool center of sweet, soft fudge. Covering the chocolate surface is a thin layer of whipped cream and a yellow sponge—a touch firmer and cakier than its chocolate counterpart. The surface, though, is truly the oddest part. A peelable bumpy cover mottled in various shades of brown.
Hon Café
70 Mott Street, New York NY 10013 (nr. Canal Street; map)
212-219-1431
Posted by Ed Levine, August 25, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Editor's note: Every afternoon we like to post a short Sugar Rush to end your day. Think of it as the dessert to your daily blog reading. —Zach
Although we've tasted a couple of other chocolate-bacon confections and have been underwhelmed, we are totally smitten by the "pig candy" ($9.50 a quarter-pound) at Roni-Sue's Chocolates in the Essex Street Market on New York's Lower East Side.
Note: Bacon snobs, please stop reading here. Rhonda Kave (aka Roni-Sue) takes a piece of Jimmy Dean bacon, supplied by butcher and market neighbor Jeffrey Ruhalter and fried by the good folks at Shopsin's (also in the Essex Street Market), and dips it in high-quality milk or dark chocolate.
Now that's what I call a food-community team effort.
Is it porky? Oh, yes. Is it chocolaty? You betcha. Is it salty? Uh-huh. Is it delicious? Insanely so.
Roni-Sue also makes a fine spicy bacon buttercrunch ($8 a quarter-pound), but it needs just a little more bacon for us to be ready to enshrine it in Pig Heaven (right next to the pig candy.)
Roni-Sue's Chocolates
Essex Street Market #24, 20 Essex Street, New York NY 10002 (nr. Delancey Street; map)
212-260-0421
roni-sue.com
Posted by Allison Hemler, August 22, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Photographs by The Wandering Eater
Our mouths watered at the sight of the milk chocolate bacon tart from Gramercy Tavern, offered only on the tavern menu served at the front of the restaurant. According to The Wandering Eater, the "sophisticated" tart is enhanced by the crème fraîche, which "cut the sweetness, and added [a] tangy tartness" to the dessert.
Gramercy Tavern
42 East 20th Street, New York NY 10003 (nr. Fifth Avenue; map)
212-477-0777
Related:
Sugar Rush: Blackberry Streusel Cake at Gramercy Tavern
Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 24, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Today's Meet & Eat is with two brothers who quit their day jobs (Michael was in finance for independent films, and Rick, a chef) to become artisan chocolate makers. Producing about 200 bars a week in a 500-square-foot Brooklyn commercial kitchen, the Mast brothers are part of a bigger movement honoring small-scale, locally produced delicacies. Please join in getting to know Rick and Michael!
Name: Rick and Michael Mast
Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Occupation: Founders of Mast Brothers Chocolate
Favorite nonchocolate comfort food? Corn on the cob, prepared any and every way.
Favorite type of chocolate, or chocolate permutation? Cocoa nibs.
Wackiest chocolate you've tried? We made steak truffles. Inside was the red wine jus of our evenings pan-seared steaks, enrobed in dark, dark chocolate.
Thoughts on white chocolate? If nondeodorized cocoa butter is used, you can maintain a true chocolate flavor profile.
Continue reading »
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, June 20, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Meet Russ & Daughter's Chocolate Covered Halvah Bar. Not quite a candy bar, not just halvah alone, but a combination of all of it in the best possible formula. Priced at just under $2, it is quite possibly one of the best dessert deals in the Lower East Side. The nutty ground sesame seeds crumble oh so easily into a decadent mess with every bite, but man, it's hard not to keep on munching away. Couple that with a rich dip of dark chocolate, just enough to cover, toasted almonds slivers, and you're bound to be addicted.
Russ & Daughters
179 E. Houston St., New York NY 10002; (b/n Allen and Orchard Streets; map)
212-475-4880
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, June 11, 2008 at 5:45 PM
While the lines for matcha frappes at Café Zaiya, custard at Shake Shack, and ice cream at 'wichcraft seem endless during these scorching summer months, it's is indeed curious that the crowds aren't pouring out of La Maison du Chocolat. How could it be that no one knows they carry a line of housemade ice cream and sorbets at just $4 for a generous scoop? There are plenty of drool inducing fruity and chocolatey options, but your best bet is the sultry dark chocolate sorbet which is every bit as delicious as their signature truffles, only turned into a refreshingly icy summertime treat.
La Maison du Chocolat
30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020 (49th b/n Fifth and Sixth; map)
212-265-9404
Posted by Zach Brooks, May 22, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Editor's note: I don't know how things work at your office, but around this time of day, our collective sweet tooth starts acting up at Serious Eats HQ. Enter Sugar Rush. Every afternoon, we'll point you to something sweet—so you can rush out and get your fix. Enjoy! I know we will. —Zach
Is "Liquid Center" supposed to be a warning? (Photographs by Robyn Lee)
Walking through Midtown the other day, I thought I'd stop into Macchiato Espresso Bar for a snack, after noticing this on their list of desserts: "Pocket Coffee (go ahead and ask...)" For $1, how could I not?
Delicious Italian chocolate, made by Ferrero (the same company that makes Rocher and Nutella), filled with delicious Italian espresso- and not some espresso flavored syrup, but actual espresso. Despite being told by the lady who sold it to me to eat it in one bite, we decided to take our chances, and see what was going on inside (we're crazy like that here at Serious Eats: New York.)
The "Liquid Center" after the jump...
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, March 21, 2008 at 2:20 PM
I have tried many items among the seemingly endless array of baked goods, sandwiches, and pizzas at Tisserie, but it wasn't until I happened upon its 53% Cacao Venezuelan Brownie that I had anything truly delicious and inspired there. It is Venezuelan chocolate to the third power, and it is a truly powerful chocolate dessert.
Posted by Ed Levine, February 13, 2008 at 9:00 AM
Downtown chocolate places for Valentine's Day worth a nibble and a few extra calories:
Last time I walked into Chocolate Bar they had a pretty good selection of other chocolatier's chocolates, but they were all rather pricey, perhaps because everything they buy almost everything they sell and mark it up accordingly.
Address: 48 Eighth Ave. (bet. Horatio and Jane Sts.)
Phone: 212-366-1541
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, February 9, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Midtown and Upper East Side chocolate places for Valentine's Day worth a nibble and a few extra calories:
MarieBelle
Maribel Lieberman has gone uptown on us, but her hot chocolate and chocolates are still as good as ever. Don't worry—her Soho location is still open. 762 Madison Avenue, between 65th and 66th Streets; 212-249-4585; mariebelle.com
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, December 20, 2007 at 1:56 PM
I'll admit it. I'm developing a Grandaisy habit. It started with the olive rolls. Then I moved on to the individual sour cherry almond cakes with a chocolate bottom crust. Currently I'm in a chocolate cake phase. Grandaisy's individual chocolate cake (tortino di cioccolata) is halfway between a cakey brownie and a big fat serious chocolate cookie. One of these little chocolate cakes with a glass of really cold milk is my idea of a perfect meal replacement. I fear my habit may grow into a dependency. Between Grandaisy and its neighbor Gray's Papaya I'm in serious trouble.
176 W. 72nd Street (just east of Broadway)
New York, NY 10023
Ph: 646-274-1607
73 Sullivan Street
New York, NY 10012
Ph: 212-334-9435
Posted by Ed Levine, September 5, 2006 at 10:19 AM
Tomorrow I'll be posting my favorite $2 foods. So get ready, as I think we're all going to be able to more than double our pleasure.
Here's a taste:
The Chocolate Bouchon at Bouchon Bakery: It may be small, but it's just about a perfect three bite chocolate treat.
Posted by Ed Levine, August 29, 2006 at 8:42 AM
I have found the ice cream sandwich of my dreams at Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven, 350 Hudson St. 212-414-2462. This photo, courtesy of Flickr, is of Torres' hazelnut ice cream sandwich, but I wanted to give you an idea of what his ice cream sandwiches look like.
It was made with two of his chocolate chip cookies (see review below) and roasted banana ice cream. Roasting the bananas concentrates and intensifies their banananess and makes the resulting ice cream very creamy. Even more remarkably, the cookies themselves were not that soggy, which is always the problem with designer ice cream sandwiches made in advance as these were.
I have tried four other designer ice cream sandwiches in the last week, two from Ciao Bella (lousy cookies, good ice cream) and two from Ruby et Violette, and the Jacques Torres sandwich is definitely winning the designer ice cream sandwich at this point. The Ruby et Violette brownie ice cream sandwich filled with fromage blanc was pretty damn fine and a reasonably close second.
I also bought an ice cream cone from JTCH covered in chocolate with vanilla ice cream and brownie bits inside. Sounds amazing, doesn't it. I'm desperate trying to summons the willpower not to dig into it for a day or two
Updating yesterday's post, I had the chocolate chip cookie at Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven (350 Hudson St., 212-414-2462) yesterday.
It was good, not great, a little too sweet, though it did have as you'd expect a very high chocolate to cookie ratio. What was really cool about the cookie was that they would warm it up on a griddle if you asked for it. It didn't get as warm as I would have liked, but it was a nice touch nonetheless.
New York Mag's take on designer ice cream sandwiches
Posted by Ed Levine, August 28, 2006 at 9:24 AM
I'm on the lookout for the best chocolate chip cookie in the tri-state area. Once I've located that I will expand my search nationwide.
What do I want my chocolate chip cookies to be? Moist and light, crisp and yet slightly chewy, even pliant. There should be enough high quality chocolate in the cookie so that you get some chocolate in every bite. I don't want any chocolateless bites when I eat a chocolate chip cookie. They should be buttery without being greasy.
All right, those are my criteria. Here are the contenders I have come across to date:
Bouchon Bakery: I know ELE readers are sick of hearing me extoll the virtues of the baked goods at Bouchon Bakery. And I will in a future post explain my disappointment when I actually had a sit-down meal there. But now we are talking about chocolate chip cookies, and BB makes a phenomenal one, with Valhrona chocolate, plenty of French butter, and just enough brown sugar. The chocolate chip cookie here is the ideal combination of crispy, chewy, and pliant. 10 Columbus Circle, 212-823-9366
Levain: The Levain chocolate chip cookie, beloved by many, weighs as much as a hockey puck. It is moist and dense. It has no crisp veneer whatsoever. When you finish a Levain chocolate chip cookie, you feel bloated and satisfied. You have indeed swallowed a mouthful. 167 W. 74th St. 212-874-6080, 354 Montauk Highway,Wainscott, LI, 631-537-8570
Balthazar: Balthzar Bakery founder Paula Oleand is the best bread baker and pastry chef you've never heard of. Her chocolate chip cookie are small, light, intensely chocolatey, and are just crisp enough. 80 Spring St. 212-965-1780
Tate's Bakery: These cookies, made by Kathleen Tate (formerly of Kathleen's Cookies, which are now horrendous by the way), have achieved cult status on the Upper East and West Sides of Manhattan. They are extremely crispy (in fact they often come broken in the bag) and have the proper ratio of brown sugar to butter to chocolate. They come plain or with walnuts. They are available at Citarella's and a lot of Korean produce markets. Available at Citarella, Balducci's, Barney Greengrass, Garden of Eden, and a ton of other places.
I have had good chocolate chip cookies from Ruby et Violette, but the one I had last week was a little greasy and not up to their usual standards. crispy. I'll try to get back there this week and report. 457 W. 50th St., 877-353-9099.
Again, this is not my list of the best. It's just the ones I have tried and liked. What have I missed?
Posted by Ed Levine, May 12, 2006 at 8:14 AM
How much sugar should be used in the recipe I posted for the incredibly delicious chocolate bouchons you can buy at Bouchon Bakery? One ELE reader correctly notes that some recipes she had seen called for 3/4 cup of sugar, while others called for 1 1/2 cups of sugar. I posed the question to Thomas Keller's office, saying that inquiring eaters and bakers wanted to know. Per Se Director of Operations Eric Lilavois responded by saying that the first printing of the book called for 3/4 cup of sugar in the recipe, but that subsequent printings called for 1 1/2 cups of sugar.
Lilavois then checked with Keller himself, who confirmed that 1 1/2 cups of sugar was in fact correct. So there you have it, straight from the uber-chef's mouth.
Posted by Ed Levine, February 17, 2006 at 1:10 PM
Now that Valentine's Day has come and gone chocolate lovers can return to their posts without the rest of the country getting in their way. Now that I'm eating and living vicariously through my blog (I'm down 25 pounds, in case you're wondering) I'm going to talk about chocolate. Consumer Reports just came out with their chocolate ratings in their February issue. I must admit that generally I have been underwhelmed by the magazine's food ratings. I'm often struck by how antiseptic and clinical its approach is. It seems to me that CR never answers the essential food lover's question; namely, is something delicious or not? So for those people interested in DELICIOUS here are two of my favorite American chocolatiers that Consumer Reports somehow missed.
Michael Recchiuti and Larry Burdick are two Americans who have mastered European chocolate-making techniques without losing their sense of humor. Their sometimes whimsical creations invariably feature great ingredients used in the right proportions. I'm particularly fond of Recchiutti's homemade s'mores (available May-Oct.), bitter chocolate and caramel sauces, key lime apples (available all year) and pears (available August-Oct.), and Burdick's chocolate mice, hot chocolate, and assorted chocolates. And come June I'm going to order some of Recchiuti's burnt caramel almonds, which I've never tried. Don't those sound outrageously good?
Posted by Ed Levine, February 8, 2006 at 1:12 PM
Today's New York Times Dining Section seems enrobed in chocolate. Kim Severson's piece of single bean chocolate varietals is hilarious, because I think she concludes (as I have) that it's literally impossible to tell one bean from another. When she asks a chocolate sommelier (give me a break!) if he can tell one country's beans from another, he says, "Regions I can tell. Continents, at least. I'm still working on the countries." Doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. I'm desperate to try Loretta Keller's AZO Chocolate Cake. The recipe sounds ridiculously easy, and the picture in the paper is ridiculously enticing. And once I made the cake, I wish I could wash it down with a bicerin, the combination of espresso, liquefied chocolate and fior de latte. But alas I would have to fly to Turin to drink one at Al Bicerin. Maybe next year.
Posted by Ed Levine, January 3, 2006 at 1:25 PM
I managed to get through the holidays without gaining any weight. In fact, I lost a pound between Christmas and New Year's Eve. I am particularly proud of this given the amount of food that not so mysteriously makes it way to our house during the holiday season. You see, for a food writer, every day is Xmas in terms of the flow of food presents. While the rest of the world only has to resist temptation from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day every year, food writers are constantly tempted by people who send us food to sample 24-7 the entire year.
This year we received the following at our house between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day:
- Buttered pecans and candied pecans from North Carolina.
- Peanuts from Virginia
- Six pints of Graeter's Ice Cream in Cincinatti
- Six pints of Capogiro Gelato from Philadelphia.
- A huge gift basket of food sent by a writer client of my literary agent wife
- Samples of what turned out to be an awful low-cal ice cream.
- Two kinds of pound cake.
- A pound of delicious Smoked Salmon.
- Three different kinds of designer chocolate
- An eight pound smoked brisket from Texas.
Most of these were holiday presents from friends and colleagues. I know it sounds churlish to complain about this flow of free grub, but if you're someone who adores food who happens to be on a diet, it does make it difficult.
I am accepting all gifts of kelp and miso this post-holiday season.
