Our Founding Chocolate Fathers - Washington, Jefferson and Uncle Chip

On my recent trip to Washington, DC, I had a lot of fun things on the agenda. There was the Cherry Blossom festival that I've been dying to go to for years. The original Kermit the Frog at the Smithsonian - a Muppets lover's dream. And a run across the National Mall to get a glimpse of the statues of our country's most revered presidents. But of course, up there on the list, was the chance to try (and review) the best chocolate in DC. I left it up to my gracious hosts, who had eaten their way through Colombia with me and whose taste I surely trusted. 
We rode bikes to Georgetown, home of the famous Georgetown cupcakes. I have already tried Georgetown and reviewed them at their Soho location, but I was planning to review the original location that started it all. Interestingly, the line at Georgetown Cupcakes was wrapped around the corner and halfway up the block! Their cupcakes are good, but I refuse to wait in line for anything other than Levain or a ride at Disney World. We ventured over to another famous cupcake shop in DC, and the line of get in there was 20 people deep. Again, I turned away, sad that DC was clearly deprived of good chocolate shops that forced people to wait on insanely long lines. 

I had just about given up, when Elisa brought me to Eastern Market. As we browsed the stands of homemade cherry blossom art and vintage jewelry, I stumbled across a sign advertising the best cookies in DC!


Now on occasion I'm wary of signs that claim to be the best, because so many questions arise. Who declared this? Was it Yelp? 100 loyal cookie lovers?  Your mother?  It's a slippery slope to tread on, but in this case, since all of Washington DC was determined to not let me have chocolate of any sort, I had to give it a go.

My options were the regular chocolate chip, double chocolate, or oatmeal raisin.  I usually go straight for the double chocolate, but since it was early and we hadn't had brunch yet, I felt the traditional chocolate chip cookie was the way to go.  The man at the booth was super friendly when I told him I was doing a review for my blog.  In NY when I tell people, they either roll their eyes or ignore me. So even if the cookies weren't good, I would have at least given them a positive mark for congeniality.

The cookies were pretty good.  I wouldn't say they're the best I've ever had, but they were the best I personally had in DC.
The outside was crisp and crunchy, and the inside was soft and chewy - just the right mix!  The cookies were large, too, and I was able to have little bites throughout the day that lasted for hours.  Uncle Chip's cookies are baked fresh each morning, which means there are no preservative (always a benefit since I hate recommending overly-processed treats.)  They use real vanilla, real chocolate, and real butter (sorry vegans). No preservatives! No artificial colors! No trans fat! A true winner in my book.  They also have a black bean gluten-free brownie which I didn't try, but I like when bakeries have options for those of us who die when they eat wheat, malt or barley!

They also include funny cards in each order (at the store itself, not Eastern Market), so the cookies can be distributed to:

• that fabulous coworker
• sassy sister
• ex-boyfriend (my ex-boyfriends would never be allowed to get a good cookie, sorry Uncle Chip)
• girl that won't return your phone calls
• guy at the gym
• and more!

Uncle Chips can be found every Sunday at Eastern Market. There are many more options in the store including brownies, breads and black and white covered shortbread cookies.  Their full location is located at:

1514 North Capitol Street NW
Washingon, DC 20001
(201)999-4990
www.unclechips.com

Open Monday-Friday 10AM-8PM
Saturday 9AM-8PM 
and Sundays, 9AM-4PM

Sugar and Plumm and Everything Nice

If you walked down Bleecker street in the West Village 4, 5 years ago, you wouldn't recognize any of the shops and restaurants that are there now.  I've watched Bleecker gain pizzerias like Keste, yogurt places like Yogurt Land (which has closed and reopened at least 3 times, and now will be ousted completely by the latest appearance of 16 Handles a few doors down), and Murray's Cheese Bar.  It's a great location, especially for a foodie.  I had read in some of my food blogs that Sugar and Plumm, a restaurant on the Upper West Side, had amazing desserts, including something called an earthquake in a fishbowl, which includes multiple different cakes including cheesecake, Brooklyn blackout, key lime pie, heaven/hell cake, butterscotch pudding, 3 flavors of ice cream, with whipped cream on top.  I didn't now there was talk of a separate bakery opening in the village until I happened to stumble across it the other night while wandering around the West Village after dinner.

Now I had just eaten at Ayza, the wine/chocolate bar/restaurant, and ended the meal with chocolate fondue.  We weren't hungry, and were walking down Bleecker towards Barnes and Noble, when we came across none other than Sugar and Plumm's OPENING DAY.  Now, this is not the first time I've accidentally stumbled across opening day at a dessert shop. The first 16 Handles on 2nd and 10th, I happened to be eating dinner at Veselka right up the block, and watched the amazingness that is now my favorite dessert place ever be unveiled.  For a chocolate-lover/blogger who keeps up with her research, discovering a place I hadn't heard about on it's opening day was beyond exciting.  What was better was, when we entered, we found a display of dessert samples - the shop wanted everyone to know just how great their chocolate was, and we got to try EVERYthing!

The baked goods include brownies, blondies, and cookies (both regular and gluten-free), almond croissants and a colorful array of macarons. There were rows upon rows of artisinal chocolate, beautifully decorated with shades of gold and floral designs.  The woman at the counter was quite a salesperson; I planned to buy just 2 pieces of chocolate to review but she kept convincing to buy another, and another, until the box was full.
There were statues made of chocolate and fun designs like purses, eggs with chickens coming out for Easter, and a chocolate champagne bottle and bucket.  A full list of the cool chocolate creations can be found here:
Sugar and Plumm chocolates
The chocolate really vary in price; the small individual pieces are $1.50 each. The cookies are average priced at $3-4.  For the chocolate masterpieces, there is quite a range.  I ordered the chocolate champagne bottle as a gift, at a hefty pricetag of $60.  There's a giant chocolate eggs that can be purchased for $1,000.  The chocolate purses and shoes were beautiful and would be a great centerpiece at a bridal shower or bachelorette party.

Everything we tried was delicious.  The small chocolates were my favorite, probably because of the beautiful designs that reminded me a bit of Mariebelle, but weren't as costly.  The people in the store were friendly and helpful; even though there were a ton of samples out on display, when we expressed interest in something they let us try it.  This is definitely a place to go to get seasonal chocolates; the selection for Easter was astonishing for a brand new shop.  We walked out with a bunny cake pop, a box of chocolates, and a cookie.  I loved everything I tried, and have bumped Sugar and Plumm the restaurant higher on my list so I can try the desserts too.

For some background, Chef Pichet Ong is involved with the creation of the pastries and desserts, which are made fresh each day with natural ingredients and sent out twice daily. The chocolate in the Chocolate Shop use the world's finest all-natural raw chocolate, most of which is sustainably-farmed in the US for Sugar & Plumm. The chocolates are hand-crafted in small batches in-house, and since they focus on the perfection of the crystallization process of the chocolate and temperature control, a chocolate bar can take a week to complete.  Somehow knowing each chocolate bar is made with love and care, makes the chocolate taste even better.

Sugar and Plumm
Open Sunday - Thursday 10am - 10pm and Friday-Saturday 10am - midnight.
www.sugarandplumm.com