14th Annual Chocolate Show!

November 13th, the Cjaps and guest blogger of the day Sangita attended the 14th Annual Chocolate Show at the Metropolitan Pavilion.  This was the 2nd year Caryn and I attended the show.  Last year was amazing, and we were excited for weeks leading up to this year's event!  Now we learned two lessons from last year - one, to survey the whole room before getting too full to try all of the different exhibitors.  And two, if you fall in love with some of the chocolate, buy it then and there, because most of the places are not New York, or even United States-based, and it's either difficult, expensive or impossible to order it online.

The winner of the day was Comptoir du Cacao. They are a French artisan chocolate, with a factory located just outside of Paris.  They were sampling all of their offerings, and every single thing I tasted was out of this world.  They had brought 200 sampler boxes, and had only 5 left by the time we got there.  Caryn and I both bought them, and I'm going to save it for a special occasion.  They had milk and dark chocolate candies with prailine inside, that reminded me of a gourmet Kit Kat.  There were chocolate squares with ginger, coffee, Sichuan pepper, curry and rose powder.  "Croustines", which were chocolate crystal pieces with salted-butter caramel, candied orange zest & white chocolate with grated coconut.  They use chocolates from around the world (primarily countries in South America and Africa where the best cacao beans come from).
They do sell their products sometimes in Zabar's, however the super nice man that worked there told me it always sells out really fast, so if you do happen to be on the UWS and see them there, grab it.  Otherwise you can order it from their website, www.comptoicacao.fr


Neuchatel Chocolates is a Swiss chocolatier that we discovered at last year's show, and Caryn remembers best for their milk chocolate covered potato chips.  They also sell truffles and chocolates, but these potato chips are fantastic and we all were compelled to buy them.  For $8 a jar it's a little on the pricey side, but mine are going to my parents for Thanksgiving, and I'm sure they'll be much appreciated in the Kessler household and gone before the turkey makes it out of the oven.
www.neuchatelchocolates.com

West End Confection Co
This place was like Dylan's candy bar miniaturized. They had candy covered everything - pretzels, marshmallows, rice krispie treats - and the presentation was fantastic. Based in Morganville, NJ, West End makes amazing tasting treats ready to be given as gifts. I bought chocolates cellophane wrapped and ribboned in martini glasses. One was melted chocolates with pretzel bits, resembling a chocolate martini adorned with a Twizzler straw. There were also Chinese food take-out boxes filled with chocolate candy-covered pretzel rods. I walked away from here poorer and with more bags to carry, but the bags were pastel pink and I made a few people very happy with their gifts!
www.westendconfectionco.com/
New runner for top cookie - Salt of the Earth Bakery. Just as Sangita was commenting that she needed something salty to offset all the sweet, in came Salt.  The employees were the pits - they were rude about everything from providing samples to asking where their cookies were sold. But the cookies were filled with chocolate chunks, a bit of salt to give a nice flavorful combo, and I liked them better than Jacques (who was also here again, but charging for his life-sized cookies).  Salt of the Earth sells their cookies, made with sea salt from the Kona district of Hawaii, in a few stores - the most I was able to get out of them was Garden of Eden and 'some store in Brooklyn' - thanks for the specifics - but if you come across them again, I highly recommend giving them a try!!

http://saltoftheearthbakery.com/

Sweet Factory charms had a unique candy to sell - jewelry pretty enough to eat! There were cupcake and donut earrings, and bracelets where you could select your charms from every sweet imaginable. I wouldn't actually wear any of it, but for a child this would have been adorable, and a fun party idea for a grade schooler.


The Ecuador Trade office was there, featuring all of the best chocolates from the worst country I visited on my South America adventure.  Pacari was my favorite, the one I kept trying to bring back for people but it melted and I was forced to keep eating it.  They make really awesome chocolate covered bananas, and their bars range from chocolate blueberry and lavender to lemongrass and sea salt.  They were the nicest people, unlike the sketchsters in Quito who tried to kill me everywhere.  These people gave us a million samples, and told us where we could buy their bars.  You can find them in Whole Foods, among other places.  They're definitely more expensive here than in Ecuador, where it was about $4 a bar (here it's $6-8!), but it's so good.  

Co Co Sala, from Washington, DC, had a pumpkin seed brittle bark that made it to the must-have list.  It was dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds on top and a layer of brittle in between.  That was one of our favorites too, and it lasted not even 24 hours in my house :)  Can't wait to go to DC to go to their restaurant and get more!
http://www.cocosala.com/



For our international fans, The Chocolate Show will be in a ton of other cities internationally from 2011-2012: Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Madrid, Zurich, Bahia, Cairo, Moscow, Shanghai, Tokyo and 6 cities in Japan.




Thank you guest blogger of the day, Sangita, for participating in this fun day!!!

The Lodge, not just for brunch anymore!

Caryn and I usually have a list of places to check out on hand, but sometimes new desserts literally present themselves to you by showing up on my phone when I check in on FourSquare - places I hadn't even heard of or knew of their existence!
Last week, I went to Williamsburg to go to brunch with my brother and some friends.  We went to The Lodge, one of Lil Kess' favorite brunch spots.  As we raced to be the first to check in and win the eternal war to be at the top of the FourSquare leaderboard, a note popped up telling me not to miss the place nextdoor, where I could find a Oreo and marshmallow chocolate chip cookie.  Well, what do you know!  It's like they knew I spend my days scouring the dessert blogs to find new places to review.

After brunch, we headed next door and found said cookie.  It looked so beautiful, all of my favorite things combined into cookie form. Chocolate chips for the chocolate. Marshmallows for the fluffy center. Oreos for the cookie and creme. All wrapped together in cookie dough. I was beyond excited (and also beyond full from brunch, which I also recommend by the way.)  But I had to try!

I asked the man at the counter what was in the other desserts, and what they were known for.  I actually hated the guy working - he pretty much stared at me blankly as he didn't answer my question, and didn't seem to want to give me the cookie I had come in for either.  I asked if they had a card so I could write the place up and he gave me a postcard for the Lodge, but since I can't find this General Store outpost on the website, I feel like there was probably a different name.  So when you go here, just go to the Lodge and walk next door to the right of the restaurant.  They had cookie bars that also looked amazing, but FourSquare told me to come for the cookie so that's what I did.

It was awesome!  The marshmallow made the inside soft and chewy, and the Oreo made it super sweet.  A little too sweet for most, but not for me of course.  Our friend Natalie tried it and loved it so much she ran back in to get another one.

There were a few other desserts there, like these cookie chocolate peanut butter bars and smores bars and a ton of other amazing looking bar/cakes, which I will definitely be back to try!

So next time you finish brunch at Lodge, or if you're passing by and in the mood for a cookie or chocolate bar, definitely check this place out!

Lodge is located at 318 Grand Street.  I don't know Williamsburg too well, but I do know it's also near my favorite bar, Barcade, that has Pac Man and Tetris, so make sure to stop by there too!!