For a real treat, combine a couple of squares of the Ritter Sport Coconut bar with a couple of squares of the Ritter Sport Toasted almond . Voila! Your personal "Almond Joy"...but a whole lot better :)

Where would See's candies be ranked among the favorites?

Los Angeles Chocolate
 

Nobody seems to have put in a word for L.A. yet, so I'll plug K Choclatier in Beverly Hills (I think it's on Santa Monica). Really good truffles.

Also, I second the comments on Neuhaus and Trader Joe's.

I'd put it somewhere below brussel sprouts. As much as it pains me to say this, no chocolate is better than bad chocolate. :)

See's:

While certainly not of the calibre of Maison du Chocolat, See's makes a very good product at a fairly moderate price. I would not do a mileage run to California for it, but I would never turn down a choice assortment, nor would I ever label it 'bad chocolate'.

See's does a phenomenal business (I only wish their shares were available to the public), so they've got to be doing something right for the chocoholics out there.

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.