We have many locally made chocolates that are quite good. In order of preference...

Roscar Chocolates in Bastrop, Tx- Wonderful truffles. Only sold at their place in Bastrop and at Breed & Co in Austin. Packaged in beautiful boxes.

Quentessential Chocolates, aka Chocolat in Fredericksburg, Tx- cliché name, but the best liqueur-filled I've ever had. Traditionally made with crisp sugar shell surrounding booze.yum.

Miles of Chocolate, Austin- It's like a really good, half-cooked brownie goodness. Sold by the pound at our finer stores around town.

SXUL, Austin- Lives up to the name. Truffles. Used to have gold dust sprinkled on top. I spoke to the guy who makes them when he was giving out samples at Grapevine Market a while back, and he said he stopped sprinkling the god dust, because it was too expensive, and customers were expecting, like, gold leaf or something.

I love the California Brittle. Looking for good chocolate, contact Lili-Dui She is a wonderful FT'r and a frequent contributer. A really good lady: Here is her website: http://www.givechocolate.com/

When in Auckland the Chocolate Boutique in Parnell is recommended. It's pricey and the service can be a bit snooty but they do have the widest range I've come across in NZ.

Their denso (Italian style hot chocolate, super thick) is sublime, as are the chili denso and the Mexican denso (with spices). ^

Personal everyday bar favorite - RitterSport Marzipan. Get my fix when in Europe on business.

USA Bar/Cooking - Scharffenberger (http://www.scharffenberger.com/)

USA boxed - Forget Godiva, See's, Malley's. Certainly forget Russell Stover, Whitman, Fanny Farmer and all of those ilk. Another poster said no chocolate is better than bad chocolate - I agree. Best boxed chocs in USA I've found are Esther Price (http://www.estherprice.com/). Very fresh fillings made with fresh cream, eggs, etc.

Restaurant desserts - haven't been keeping track, but Chocolate/Coconut Pots-du-creme at FAHRENHEIT in CLE were excellent!

Europe - Belgian chocolates are ver, very good. Nice shop in corner of Le Grande Place, but I can't recall name. Touristy (off course) but good stuff. However, I am not a big fan of hazelnut, which seems predominant in Belgian products.

Bruges is wonderful...
 

As much as there are many terrific places for chocolate in BRU, for the serious chocoholic a special trip to Bruges for a day or more is well worth it. Of course, in BRU you have multiple outlets of each of the main "corporate" producers, (Godiva--much better indeed in Belgium than in the US; Leonidas--for me a step up from Belgian Godiva; and Neuhaus--for me the best of the "corporate" chocolatiers). There are also many smaller producers with great products in BRU.

However, in Bruges, you have several small producers which seem to offer the utmost in variety and freshness. My two favorites are Dumon (mentioned above), and, my favorite chocolatier I have ever encountered--The Chocolate Line (http://www.thechocolateline.be). They have an enormous variety of pralines in exotic flavors such as hot chili (it's great!), all of which I believe are handmade daily. Unfortunately, like Dumon, they also don't ship their chocolate, so you have to go to Bruges. But if you're serious about chocolate it's worth the trip--not to mention the town itself is beautiful and worth seeing on its own merits. There are several great, inexpensive restaurants in Bruges as well!

Yeh, that's the truth about Sees. I was a bit surprised to see them in Festival Walk in suburban Hong Kong the other week. Their milk chocolate compressed honeycomb is a personal favorite and I love the chocolate egg thingies (though probably more for nostalgic reasons) but otherwise they are okay. Nothing special. But I think it needs to be considered that, first, most people won't spend $75 a pound or fly to Belgium for just chocolate, and second, See's is on the very good end of widely available corporate chocolate in the US.

That being said, I agree with many, many of the other opinions on this thread. Maison du Chocolat I get for mom now and then (yes, do overnight directly from the factory), the Belgian sellers of brands like Godiva are considerably better than the US and EU counterparts, and my favorite is the Neuhaus fresh creams. I always try to bring a box back when I visit Belgium, but they do have a shortish shelf life. I believe it's 2 weeks max and they can spoil if abused. I have many, many, many types of fresh creams (they are my favorites by far) and I think for the corporate places the Neuhaus are the best. Non FCs I just don't tend to bother much with. There is also a place in Belgium I dont think was mentioned called Wittamer that is very good and non-corporate. Had a friend one time that lived in Antwerp who felt it was the best in Belgium. Not so much my taste in particular, but it was very good nonetheless.

Went to the Ritz chocolate buffet with a friend and my better half last Christmas in Philadelphia which was lovely on many levels. Recommended. I expect it's similar to the Pen in Chicago that someone mentioned.

Finally, local joints are hit and miss for me. Some can be good and certain things but I find that there is a problem with consistency. Hard to find a small store good at many things. It's very easy, however, to find a small store bad at everything. There is a webpage called Eric's chocolate store review that I find interesting. http://edp.org/chocolat.htm I found it some time ago and have tried some but not even close to all of the ones on the site. Money, time, and my waistband don't permit it.

Leonidas a step up from Belgian Godiva?! Now that's crazy talk.... I do love to put Godiva in its much more deserved modest place in the line of Belgian chocolatiers, but really...

Someone commented on the shelf life of Neuhaus. Freezing chocolates is quite easy and I've done it quite a few times now since I refuse to pay $60/pound here for great chooclate (but will fly to BRU to fetch it!). Put the (half-kilo or so) box into a freezer bag and squeeze most of the air out. (I seal it almost completely then suck the last bit of air out before sealing it.) Do that again with a second freezer bag and pop it in the freezer. When you want to serve it, give it several hours to come to room temperature before opening the bags (per instructions from a former Godiva exec). I've pulled boxes from the freezer after six months (or more?) there, and they tasted like new.

Wittamer is excellent. The story I heard from them is that Marcolini trained there and then started his own shop. I can taste some similarities. Both excellent chocolatiers. When I run across the "menu" for Wittamer, I'll post the names of some specific pieces, but I do remember that Galler's Earl Grey tea piece has gone over better than Marcolini's piece at more than one chocolate tasting that I've arranged.

Does freezing work well with fresh creams?

All this talk about Chicago and Chocolate at the Pens made me remember totally delicious childhood (and young adult) memories of going to Marshall Field's for tea and a slice of their frango mint pie. It was pure heaven - a creamy chocolate mousse with just a tad of peppermint in it.

Yes, yes, before anyone points out that Fields still has frango mint pie, (and frango mint candies) it's just not the same. They changed the (secret) formula some years back and lost something in the translation. I'm not sure what they did, but the last slice I had there was but a pale shadow of the original. Sigh. I can dream, though.

You aren't the only one with that memory. :( But think how much worse it's gonna be when the Evil Empire (Federated/Macy's) takes over! :eek:

I am not much of a chocolate ice cream fan, but yesterday tried the dark chocolate at Berthillion here in Paris. It was some of the best ice cream I have ever eaten!!!

Duh. ;)

A few random thoughts on the topic

1) Godiva USA qualifies as a "crime against humanity". How they could take a good product and turn it into absolute crap is a mistery of marketing. It's even more expensive than genuine Godiva...

2) US chocolate sucks, as a rule. There are exceptions, though: Berkeley's Scharffenberger (if you are ever in Berkeley try and visit "Cafe Cacao", their factory restaurant). Starbucks Dark is not bad either.

3) BRU duty free is the place.

4) Italian Gianduiotti, hazelnut (?) chocolate. Very yummy.

It's been over a year since I was in BRU. I bought some Neuhaus chocolates at duty free, but I don't recall if there were other brands available. We bought a bunch of different chocolates in town, and used duty free for a last-minute gift, so I didn't really pay attention. What else is available besides Neuhaus? Thanks.

Chapel Hill Guy:
Is there a Leonida's in Duty Free AMS ? Can't recall.
In Amsterdam there is also Puccini's , one near the Opera House across the canal on Staalstaat and one on Herengracht in the Jordaan. Choclates made in-house , so fresh and delicate they dicouraged me from buying a dozen boxes to pack in two carry-ons - they suggested I go to Leonida's next to the Hotel Krasnapolsky , where they're "pre-packaged" for shipping.

Even more stupid of me...this was my fourth trip to Paris, and this was my first time going to Berthillion! :eek:

I know you can get caffe tasse at BRU and that stuff is pretty yummy tablet chocoate.

I'm not big on truffles, so I skip neuhas etc...

lala

All the types of chocolates I've frozen have turned out fine. :)

Merci beaucoup. :)

Just keep in mind that it's closed in the summer and it is terrible from anywhere but the store. I want to say it closes July and August and a couple of days during the week but it's been a while since I have been. But if you go in that time, don't bother with the places that sell "Berthillon". It's not worth the money at all. I am sure there are other places in Paris that are a fraction of the price that are just as good or better. Going to the store when it's open is worth the cost, imo, unless youre on a really strict budget.

Best Chocolates in Vancouver, Canada
 

Just thought you'd like to know... you can get FREE chocolates by being a volunteer in the West Coast Chocolate Festival. Here's the link: http://www.chocolatefestival.ca/

Even though I don't particularly like chocolate (WHAT???!!!??? - yeah, I find chocolate too sweet/bitter to my palate - strange combo) I do enjoy the smell of chocolate. Here are some of my friends favorite chocolate stores.

Charlie's Chocolate Factory:
http://www.charlieschocolatefactory.com/

Purdy's Chocolate:
http://www.purdys.com/

Death By Chocolate:
http://www.deathbychocolate.ca/

Cinnamon's Chocolates:
http://www.cinnamons.ca/

Rodger's Chocolates:
http://www.rogerschocolates.com/

new chocolate obession
 

A truely American treat the new dark chocolate M&Ms. They are evil and very addicting.

I was surprised at how addictive they are.

My favorite chocolates include Fran's in Seattle, maker of Fran's Gold Bar. :) I found some of their bottled chocolate sauce at the Whole Foods in La Jolla the other week and am savoring it.

And while not strictly chocolate, it has chocolate on it: Enstrom's toffee from Colorado is really good.

Michele123 you neglected to mention the 5 Senses Bakery in Vancouver ^^ They have got the most AMAZING chocolate cookies - soft and extremely chocolatey (is that a real word?). I'm going there next week - I can't wait to bring some back for friends (and myself, of course)

Also, for those who are interested in the Belgian chocolate of Pierre Marcolini they now have a store in Paris too!

Hello Daringdoo - drop by Tim Hortons right now and they've got some amazing Chocolate creations for a limited time only. :p

Actually, they are closed Mondays and Tuesdays and all of August. You know you have good ice cream when you can be closed all of AUGUST and stay in business. I would think for most places in the northen hemisphere August has to be the biggest month for ice cream sales.

I'm heading up there today - I'll see if I can convince my hosts to stop in!
Thanks for the suggestion :)

DD

While I'd say that most of the best chocolate in the world is boutique, from little shops that don't do much more than make it and sell it themselves, I'd have to say that the Belgian Galler chocolate is my personal thought on the best widely available chocolate worldwide.

I don't know where you're located, but I do a chocolate run once or twice a year. Maybe we can take turns bringing each other stashes of the assortments! As I'm sure you know but others may not, the langues de chat and the chocolate bars can be mail-ordered from companies in the U.S., and I've even seen the langues de chat at Trader Joe's a few times.

I'm now LHR based, so it's much easier to get it than when I was stateside :D
However, they are starting to allow the bars and such to be imported to the US, even though you still can't get the individual chocolates there (as the Belgians feel, probably rightly, that most Americans don't understand fine chocolate).

If they think Americans don't understand fine chocolate - what must they think of the Brits and Swiss (Cadbury and Nestle's)? Is there even any chocolate left in their products? I'll take a Hershey Bar any time over that junk! :)

I'm jealous!

And it is certainly the case that most Americans don't "get" fine chocolate, so I continue to teach - share pralinés with coworkers, friends, flight attendants, gate agents. And of course if they're later caught with a Snickers, they're cut off. :D

In their March 2006 issue, Saveur magazine made the follow comments/suggestions:

The Saveur 10 best chocolate producers in the US (in no particular order) with their home State and phone #

Candina's - WI - 800.845.1554

Chocolate Springs - MA - 413.637.9820

John & Kira's - PA - 800.747.4808

Mariebelle - NY - 866.925.8800

Norman Love Chocolates - FL - 239.561.7215

Poco Dolce - CA - 415.255.1443

Recchiuti - CA - 800.500.3396

Sans Souci - NY - 631.331.4208

Valerie Confections - CA - 888.706.1408

Woodhouse - CA - 800.966.3468

--

^ I love chocolate.. mmm mmm mmm it is so good. I love white and normal chocolate but my absolute favorite is dark chocolate.. i've tried different brands but have not found my absolute favorite yet... I'm open for suggestions! Thank you! ^

UPDATED 3/11/06



Still on the lookout for hotels/restaurants that feature a chocolate buffet (every item is chocolate as you would see in Charlie and the Chocolate facotry but more realistic)

Best Chocolate in Paris...the Artist district...on East side of square...hugeeeeeeeeeee chocolate mousse ....unforgetable.

James Chocolate, Somerset, England: especially: dark chocolate with Rose.

http://newscenter.peninsula.com/webl...tch1=pen-press

“Chocolate At The Pen”
A delectable ‘Chocolate Bar’ at The Peninsula Chicago

Executive Chef Terry Crandall and The Peninsula Pastry team are pleased to present “Chocolate at The Pen,” Chicago’s premier chocolate bar in The Lobby at The Peninsula Chicago. “Chocolate at The Pen” takes place Fridays and Saturdays from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., and promises sweet satisfaction for those looking for a little indulgence after dinner, or for those who are looking for that perfect accompaniment to “Jazz at the Pen” (jazz trios perform Friday and Saturday evenings from 8:30 p.m. to 12 a.m. in The Lobby). Due to the popularity of “Chocolate at The Pen,” reservations are recommended and are accepted for 9 p.m. and later.

“Chocolate at the Pen” is $26.00 per person ($12 for children under 12), and includes unlimited coffee, cappuccino or espresso and a selection of petite chocolate delicacies. For just $35.00, guests can indulge in the full chocolate bar AND receive a delicious Chocolate Martini! The chocolate bar items vary weekly and include such items as: Opera Cake, Chocolate Moelleux Raspberry Compote, Chocolate Coffee Tart, Chocolate Tapioca, Chocolate Pecan Tart, Chocolate Tiramisu, Chocolate Pot de Crème, Chocolate Cake Feuilletine, Chocolate Tart Vanilla Sable Breton, Chocolate Mousse (dark and white chocolate served in martini glass), White Hot Chocolate infused with Lavender, and Dark Hot Chocolate infused with Allspice, Chocolate Dipped Strawberries, Chocolate Flan, Chocolate Crème Brulee, assorted Homemade Chocolate Cookies, Chocolate Truffles and more.

The Lobby is located on the fifth floor of The Peninsula Chicago at 108 East Superior Street and offers all-day dining Sunday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and on Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 12 midnight. The Peninsula’s legendary afternoon tea is served from 3 to 5:30 p.m., accompanied by daily performances by a cellist–pianist duo. Dress code is smart casual.

Reservations can be made directly with the hotel, The Peninsula Reservations Department at tel: (312) 337-2888, fax: (312) 751-2888 or e-mail: [email protected] or contact your travel professional.



http://www.langhamhotels.com/langham.../chocolate.htm

Spend Saturday afternoon indulging your sinful side at the Langham Boston's unique Chocolate Bar. Voted "Best Indulgence" by Boston Magazine, our Chocolate Bar is guaranteed to delight chocolate lovers the world over.

It is a try-all-you like buffet that includes a wondrous assortment of light and dark chocolate mousses, cakes, tortes, éclairs, crepes, ice cream, cookies, pies, and more. A feature new to the Chocolate Bar this year is the addition of a special table of decadent desserts made with the diet conscious in mind. Each week six low-carb, no sugar desserts will be featured at our special table.

Perfect for birthday parties, special events, or simply a great indulgence for yourself.
Gift certificates available.

Join us for our fall opening on Saturday, September 10, 2005 as we celebrate our 17th year with new chocolate delights for the eyes and the taste buds!

The chocolate bar season runs every September through June.

Adults: $26.00
Children 12 and under: $14
Children 4 and under: Free
Saturdays: Seating from Noon - 3:00pm
Prices are not valid on holidays or special events. Menu items are subject to change without notice.
For reservations, please call the Cafe Fleuri at (617)451-1900 Ext., 7125




http://www.fullertonhotel.com/en/dining/courtyard.html

The Courtyard features a rapturous Chocolate Buffet of luscious chocolate creations, including an unforgettable Chocolate Fountain, on Friday and Saturday evenings. For a blissful end to a hectic week, wind down with this array of comforting desserts and indulge the chocolate lover in you. Complement the chocolate delights with Michele Chiarlo Nivole, a sublime and delicate dessert wine. The Chocolate Buffet is available from 8.00pm to 11.00pm.

My faves
 

I'll add another vote for Ritter Sport - I like the Dark with Hazelnuts version. Yum. Or Scharffenberger 80% or Dark with Ground Coffee.

I sometimes like a nice dark chocolate with a stout beer (like an oatmeal stout or similar).

My wife recently made French toast from scratch and added some bits of Ritter Sport w/ Hazelnuts melted in between slices. The best breakfast I've had! I am blessed that she went to culinary school.