How to Eat Chocolate Every Day and Stay Thin!

The #1 question we get as a Gourmet Walks Chocolate Tour Guides is “How is it you don't weigh 400 pounds?” This month we’re venturing into women’s magazines territory with our tips on how to enjoy gourmet chocolate daily without gaining weight. No, we don’t pop diet pills or get our stomachs stapled or spend our evenings on the treadmill. But for the most part, we eat chocolate every day and we’re happy with our weight.

1) Eat only the Best Chocolate you Can Afford – This is essential. Fine chocolate tastes better and is generally better for you – no preservatives, no artificial ingredients, less sugar. If you spend $10 or more on a gourmet chocolate bar, you are more likely to savor every bite and make it last rather than demolish it in one sitting. When you indulge in sugary candy bars, they usually don’t satisfy and you find yourself eating more and more.

Adam Smith, slim proprietor of Fog City News, says “With fine chocolate there is so much more flavor and nuance to it than say a bag of M&M’s. I always encourage customers to think about quality over quantity. So folks should resolve to eat less-but-better chocolate in 2012!” It’s Adam’s job to taste chocolate each and every day. And yet, he and his staff members are surprisingly trim.

2) Slow Down – I am a slow eater, and while my husband might say I talk too much, the benefit is I eat less than my dining companions. It honestly makes me cringe when I see someone devour a box of truffles without pausing even to figure out the flavor names.

Nicole is a Gourmet Walks Tour Guide who eats chocolate every day, and also samples the city’s finest baked goods and pastries on a regular basis. She is the closest thing to a cupcake connoisseur I know, and yet can only be described as thin. She says, “I eat slowly and never eat past full.”

John is a Gourmet Walks Tour Guide and part time sales associate at Scharffen Berger. He says, “When it comes to great chocolate - a little goes a long way. I used to wonder why I was compelled to plow through a #1 box of See's nuts and chews, but then I discovered gourmet chocolate. I'm now literally surrounded by chocolate for sometimes hours a day, but I don't need a pound of it to get that blissful feeling of chocolate satisfaction.”

3) Dark Chocolate Bars Most of the Time – When I say I eat chocolate every day, about 90% of that chocolate is in bar form. Gourmet truffles are undeniably delicious, but let’s be real…you just can’t eat that much sweet milk chocolate and fresh cream every day, even if it is organic! I save truffles for special occasions and treat them as desserts, served up on white china after a nice dinner. But fine chocolate bars are a daily indulgence – as long as it’s dark chocolate.

Dark chocolate (not milk) contains antioxidants, and that's where almost all the health benefits lie. Once these studies started coming out, dark chocolate sales (along with red wine) have steadily improved in the U.S. It doesn’t mean that milk chocolate isn’t worth eating. But if you’re interested in health and maintaining your weight, then make milk chocolate a special treat just a few days a week. Soon, your palate will adjust and the average candy bar will taste as sugary as a Pixie Stick.

4) Eat Only the Baked Goods YOU Make – This one I owe to Michael Pollan. In his Food Rules he says if you only eat desserts you make (rather than store-bought cookies and cupcakes) then you’ll eat a lot less of them. ("Eat all the junk you want as long as you cook it yourself.") Plus, you’ll feel good about what you’re eating because you know what’s in it! So indulge your inner domestic goddess and make a chocolate torte or homemade brownies. I know you won’t have enough time to do this very often, so don’t worry about it and enjoy when you do.

Oh, and what happens when that chocolate torte turns out to feed 16 people and your family of 4 only made a dent in it? Give it away. After I’ve had 2 servings of the dessert, I find it another home. Currently that means my au pair and her friends. Everyone leaves happy.

5) When You Have No Choice, Then Make it a Salad Night – Some days I have no choice but to indulge. For instance, I’m judging the San Francisco Chocolate Salon. Or even worse, I’m spending the day at the Fancy Food Show. This means unlimited chocolate, cheese, cookies, brownies and more over a 7-hour period.

After a day of excess, my body tells me exactly what to do. It craves a salad, or sushi, or a tofu quinoa salad followed by a spin class. It’s exactly the opposite from the rich, creamy tastes I’ve soaked up all day. Does this qualify as binge eating? Maybe, but I’m pretty sure it will keep you from gaining that chocolate weight and make you feel better the next day. These are my tricks.

6) Not Just For Dessert – My favorite time to eat dark chocolate is mid-afternoon, just as my energy is starting to lag. When it represents food and not dessert, I’m not expecting something sweet and I’m open to the wide realm of flavor profiles. I don’t overeat and I’m happy with just a few fine squares.

Honestly, eating a 70% plus chocolate bar for dessert can be a bit of a disappointment. It’s not going to taste sweet and so you’ll crave something else sweet and then you’ll end up overeating once more. Sounds like a viscious cycle that will end in a Snackwell overdose.

7) Think European – It’s challenging enough to lead Chocolate Tours, but how about being married to a chocolatier? Can you imagine the temptation? Take one look at Jacky Recchiuti (who runs Recchiuti Confections with husband Michael) and you’ll know she doesn’t lounge around popping bon bons in front of cooking shows all day.

Jackie Burrell, of The San Jose Mercury News, recently spoke to the Recchiutis about their very French lifestyle. “They shop every couple of days, European style, for what’s fresh and seasonal. They walk everywhere. And they revel in all the flavors and experiences the Bay Area has to offer.”

I’ve never been in better shape than when I’ve lived in cities where walking is the best way to get around. That’s why I centered my business on gourmet walking tours, rather than tours by bus or limo. We want our guests to see everything and to get the chance to walk off all that chocolate. As for my tour guides, they all agree that without the walking aspect of tour guiding, all those chocolate samples would linger on the hips far too long.

Have a tip on how to eat chocolate every day and stay thin?
Please share.

Don't Miss The Sixth Course

Judging a Chocolate Salon is no easy task. Yes, it's lots of "free chocolate," but not all of it is good and after an hour you'll long for salad and a spin class. But what keeps me coming back is discovering new chocolatiers who have something special to offer a competitive Bay Area chocolate scene. At Taste TV's Fall Chocolate Salon on November 13, I had the pleasure of tasting some decadent truffles from Bridget Labus and Gianina Serrano of Sixth Course. Coming soon, to the Mission district!

Bridget and Gianina have solid experience in Pastry at fine hotels and restaurants in San Francisco. Bridget has been Executive Pastry Chef at several 5 star luxury hotels, including the Four Seasons and the St. Regis. Gianina has had similar experience, focusing on Pastry at high volume fine dining restaurants (with the addition of courses in cheesemaking). It's no surprise, then, to find Sixth Course on the truffle cart at the always elegant Acquerello. But soon Sixth Course will be making the leap from luxe to edgy, as they are in the process of building out a boutique at 15th & Capp in the Mission. Not confined to truffles, the spot will sell petits fours, entremets, semifreddos, tea and coffee. (Stumped on "entremet"? see here.) Since San Francisco has seen more chocolate shop closings than openings in the past year, I am excited about the new space. Before long, our Chocolate Tours will be heading from Hayes Valley into the Mission and beyond.

For a new company, Sixth Course has a wide array of tempting flavors in three categories: Caramels, Wine & Spirits, Chef's Choice. They are sold in boxes of six, in simple brown packaging made from recycled materials. Most are round and generously sized. Booze and chocolate lovers, this is the brand for you. They work with premier local distilleries (like St. George) to create some delectable flavors, including the Whiskey, Neat and Raspberry Cosmopolitan. There are 6 different caramels on the menu, and we sampled both the Chai Tea and the Ceylon Cinnamon. The most unusual was Honey Fennel Pollen, a balanced blend of seasonal Bay Area flavors. The classic Hazelnut Praline was also delicious, flavored with just a touch of Frangelico.

The other Salon judges must have agreed with Gourmet Walks, because Sixth Course ended up taking home 2 Gold Medals (including Best in Salon), 4 Silver, and 3 Bronze. I caught up with Bridget after the salon to get a better sense of their inspiration:

1. What chocolatiers have inspired your work? (Bay Area or beyond)
Ewald Notter, Stephane Leroux, Andrew Shotts (Garrison Confections), Paul A. Young (London), Ramon Morato (Spain), Jean-Pierre Wybauw (Callebaut).....the list goes on and on....

2. Where do you find some of your favorite desserts in SF? What restaurants and pastry chefs?
Depending on the mood, a soft serve ice cream cone at Bi Rite ( can't be beat !) or plated dessert at Redd in Yountville ( always a pleasure to see and taste). Our go-to cake shop is Miette in SF ( love the look of their classic cakes, and the taste and textures are always right on the money!). Bouchon macaroons are also one of our favorites.

3. What are your favorite dessert cookbooks?
Chez Panisse Desserts. love love love fruit in a dessert!

4. What is the significance of your company's name?
The sixth course is typically the dessert course and our logo is the place setting. This idea came from one of our Grandmother's cookbooks from the 30's.

5. What is the biggest challenge to starting an artisan food business in SF?
Getting your name out there. Exercising patience and realizing that everything takes 5X as long as you think it will. Navigating the bureaucracy of the permitting system for our build out.

Have you tried Sixth Course? For now, look for them online and at Avedanos, Rainbow Grocery and the 24th St Cheese Company. Let us know what you think!

Gourmet Walks at Christopher Elbow

Just as the weather is getting sunny and warm-ish in San Francisco, shops and restaurants are telling us it's fall. For my local Starbucks, that means the return of the outrageously sweet Pumpkin Spice Latte. At Whole Foods, Gravenstein apples and pumpkins replace the gourmet S'Mores displays. Most Bay Area chocolate shops do not switch up their flavors very often, with the exception of our Hayes Valley favorite, Christopher Elbow. On Thursday 9/16, Kansas City based chocolatier Chris Elbow unveiled his fall chocolate lineup, along with an exciting new ice cream line and a Chocolate Ale.

Christopher Elbow was a pastry chef for many years before specializing in chocolate, and this shows in his approach to flavor development. Elbow explained that he looks for taste combinations he enjoys in food and then attempts to replicate them with chocolate, using a proprietary Valhrona blend for his couverture. As for bizarre flavors, he said "If I try something and don't want another, it's a good sign the combination doesn't work." (Yeah, just take a look in my Chocolate Drawer, where bacon/mushroom/olive bars languish for months.) Gourmet Walks tour guides found the Pumpkin Spice, Brown Butter & Molasses and Banana Curry perfectly balanced and, as always, perfectly lovely. The Banana Curry was my personal favorite, based on his popular Bananas Foster but made a little more exotic with a touch of curry. The Brown Butter & Molasses was rich, sweet and creamy - just the thing for a foggy SF evening, perhaps with a tawny port.

Since we know the magic Christopher Elbow creates with truffles, the most exciting part of the night was sampling his new Glacé Artisan Ice Cream. Elbow worked hard on his ice cream concept this summer, opening up two different shops in downtown Kansas City and a new production facility. His Glacé ice cream shops are separate from Christopher Elbow Chocolates, with distinct branding, and regularly feature about 22 different flavors. Just as with his chocolate, the ingredients are high quality, fresh, local and organic. On the menu for Thursday night was a Fresh Mint Chip, Goat Cheese & Honey, Rosemary Caramel, Venezuelan Spiced Chocolate and a Pineapple Cilantro Sorbet. My favorite was the Goat Cheese & Honey, followed by the Sorbet - a flavor inspired by a taco!

When will Glacé be available to San Francisco ice cream lovers? (A spoiled bunch we are, despite summer fog and wind that make pots of tea more appealing.) The Hayes Valley shop plans to start selling pints beginning in October or November. Eventually, Elbow hopes to add scoops as well as a Sundae Menu. Thinking hot fudge and maraschino cherries? Oh no, gourmet toppings more in line with Fraiche and some of the city's other high end yogurt shops, I'm guessing.

The last treat we sampled at Christopher Elbow was his new Chocolate Ale. Elbow collaborated with hometown brewery Boulevard to make just 1600 cases of this special beer. The beer is initially infused with nibs, and then cacao beans are added for more flavor in the fermentation tank. The Chocolate Ale was a huge hit in Kansas City, selling out quickly all over town. And it's not as strange as it sounds. Mainstream beer makers (like Sam Adams) are now adding chocolate to their stouts and Recchiuti's chocolate and beer pairing box is one of his most popular. We enjoyed the Ale, but as Chocolate Tour guides, we were already thinking about getting our hands on more Banana Curry truffles.

Have you tried the new Christopher Elbow fall flavors? Let us know what you think!

Dandelion Chocolate

There is a new bean-to-bar chocolate maker in town, and this one has a name we can all pronounce. It's Dandelion Chocolate, the inspiration of two Stanford pals who sold their tech company, Plaxo, and reinvented themselves as chocolate makers. About 1 1/2 years ago, Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring started tinkering around with different types of cacao beans in their San Jose garage. (I love the image of a Silicon Valley garage, once crammed with computers and nerdy programmers, remodeled for antique winnowing machines and melangeurs.) Now they are plotting a factory/retail shop/cafe in the Mission at 740 Valencia, just a stone's throw from Bi-Rite and Tartine.

Unlike the other big names in the local bean-to-bar chocolate scene, Dandelion is a micro-batch chocolate maker. (As in, roasting 1 kilo of beans at a time - something like making 3 batches of chocolate chip cookies for your child's bake sale.) The single origin bars we tried (70% Madagascar and 70% Venezuela) made it clear this is for true dark chocolate lovers. The flavors are intense and the texture is not as smooth and creamy as popular European bars like Valhrona and Cluizel. At the moment, Dandelion uses only nibs and sugar in their chocolate. No soy lecithin, cocoa butter or vanilla. But sweet tooths, don't despair. Plans are in place for building a cocoa butter press and enhancing the line to include semisweet bars and even milk chocolate.

Dandelion is working on a new look, including logo and packaging. In the meantime, the lovely bar wrappers are reminiscent of Mast Brothers - recycled cotton from India's garment industry. They also plan to start a sourcing initiative, but for now their beans come by way of a broker. If you are lucky enough to get your hands on one of Dandelion's bars, you'll find they are incredibly fresh and that's a key advantage to sticking with micro-batch chocolate makers. (The bar we sampled on our Chocolate Tour was made just 24 hours prior!)

Oh, and here's how... Make it a point to visit the next New Taste Marketplace in Potrero Hill, scheduled for July 16. This monthly community market works on a sliding scale entrance fee, giving you access to some of the best up-and-coming food artisans in SF. While chatting with Dandelion, check out SodaCraft for seasonal yeast fermented soda, NeoCocoa for her new peppermint truffles and Nute's Cupcakes for cupcakes with an Asian flair.

Have you tried Dandelion? Please do, and let us know what you think!

The Year in Chocolate: 2010

The Year in Chocolate
Bay Area 2010
1. Openings
Let’s start out with some happy news. Chuck Siegel no longer has a commute. Charles Chocolates opened a flagship shop in Westfield Mall this year, closing down all Emeryville operations. Even bigger news, Charles will soon be expanding into a 5000 square foot shop and kitchen that has even Mayor Newsom celebrating. On a smaller scale (a little bit grimy), fine chocolate made its way into the Tenderloin with the opening of Hooker’s Sweet Treats in June. All you salted caramel addicts, his version is among the best in the city. Suburban sidenote – Marin chocolate lovers will finally have somewhere worthy of a visit. Chocolatier Blue has leased space in Strawberry Village, with an opening slated for early 2011.

2. Closures
We were sad to say goodbye to the Maiden Lane location of Alegio Chocolate. Now it’s a trek to Berkeley for the avant garde Enrico Rovira chocolates and Claudio Corallo bars. (Tip: roommate Manika Jewelry is still open, and with Valentine’s Day just around the corner…) In June, Seneca Klassen announced the closure of its Fillmore Street Bittersweet shop, citing rent disputes. Though nothing beats a Bittersweet hot chocolate, Citizen Cake re-opening around the corner is yummy consolation. And finally, Mary Loomas of Saratoga Chocolates quietly closed her San Francisco location at the end of December (in the old and beloved Joseph Schmidt shop).

3. Comfort Chocolate
From the looks of the average Bay Area restaurant dessert menu, comfort desserts just never go out of style. High class donuts at the end of a meal – who can resist? There is a definite trend in comfort chocolate flavors, with toffee leading the way. Gourmet Walks guides are loving the Chocolat Moderne Kashmir Bar (55% dark with toffee, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves), Xocolatl de David 72% dark milk salted caramel bar and the Patric PB&J Bar (jelly flavor only comes from the fruity notes of the cacao beans). You’ll likely find all three at Fog City News. As for comfort truffles, consider the Norman Love Vanilla Cupcake truffle (Cocoa Bella) and Christopher Elbow’s new Maple Walnut (Elbow Hayes Valley).

4. Micro-batch
Smaller is pretty much always considered better in the world of chocolate, wine, beer and other artisan foods. The concept of micro-batch chocolate is not new. After Scharffen Berger paved the way, Steve DeVries took pride in being “100 Years Behind the Times” and creating micro-batches in 2005. Patric, Taza, Amano, Mast Brothers and Rogue soon followed. One tour guide’s favorite micro-batch chocolate from this year is Rogue Chocolatier’s Piura Bar – made from just 4 bags of cacao beans purchased from a small organic farm in Piura, Peru. Savor the taste….you might not find it again.

5. More of the Bizarre
While comfort chocolate flavors are big, we still haven’t seen the end of bizarre flavor combinations in both truffles and bars. Bacon is old news, though Vosges continues to milk the success of its Bacon Bar with even a bacon chocolate chip pancake mix! My top choice for weirdest flavor of the year was East Bay Michael Mischer’s barbeque truffle, often carried by Cocoa Bella. It tastes like a smoky barbeque sauce and chocolate. Try that one with a microbrew.

6. Extreme Pairings
Foodies once thought pairing chocolate with anything but port was a mistake. Local chocolate companies are now embracing unusual pairings and from our perspective, consumers love it (especially the young ones). This year Recchiuti launched boxes for Beer Pairings, Whisky Pairings and Spirits Pairings. His suggestion – a tarragon grapefruit ganache with absinthe. On the extreme side, TCHO even sponsored a tequila and chocolate pairing night. Ugh, I’ll pass on that one.

7. Revamped Packaging
Vosges is the queen of sexy packaging and, until this year, the only chocolate maker I know of with a picture of the owner/creator on the back. Patric Chocolate, based in Missouri, said farewell to its nondescript small brown bars and launched a splashy new wave-ish design with his photo on the cover. Yes, he has a purple face but I think that was the idea. And the titles of his bars almost sound like a teenager’s text message, as in “PBJ OMG.” I also want to point out Rococo’s beautiful new packaging, even though founder Chantal Coady neglected to include the name of the company on front of the bar!

8. Pies, etc.
Are you tired yet of hearing predictions on what will be the next cupcake? The 2010 consensus is the pie and chocolate will most definitely play a role. Mission Pie (so ahead of this trend) makes a yummy chocolate cream pie. But my favorite pie variation is the whoopie pie, the dense New England treat that is finally making its way to California. Susie Cakes is serving whoopie pies for birthday parties and even (believe it) weddings. When summer rolls in, be sure to check out Michael Recchiuti’s unique whoopie pies, laced with candied orange peel, coated in dark chocolate and filled with burnt caramel buttercream.

9. An Education
More and more local chocolate makers are opening their doors and kitchens for chocolate making classes. It’s not enough that we consume lots of gourmet chocolate; we want to learn how to make it! Coco-luxe charges $160/pp for a “Build Your Own Chocolate Bar” class and you’ll take home 6 tasty bars. (Birthday party blues? Kids 10 and up welcome) Saratoga Chocolates, Cocoa Delice and Charles Chocolate have all offered different types of classes in the past. At Gourmet Walks, you can combine a Chocolate Tour with a chocolate truffle making class from SOMA based Baking Arts. A full day of indulgence!

10. Newsworthy
The big story of 2010 is that the price of chocolate is expected to go up, way up. This will primarily affect candy bar companies who shall remain nameless – not the good stuff we regularly sample on our tours! And it is a reminder why it’s important to support small batch chocolate makers who are paying cacao workers fair wages or even sharing the profits. Closer to home, John Scharffenberger took a position as CEO of Hodo Soy’s gourmet organic tofu company, based in Oakland. (Psst…that is some good tofu!) And finally, TCHO is stirring up a battle vs. Guittard for a starring role on fine dessert menus around San Francisco and beyond.

To taste some of these trends, take a Chocolate Tour with Gourmet Walks! Offered Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays year round.

Talking Chocolate with Mary Loomas

Last Friday Mary Loomas of Saratoga Chocolates joined Gourmet Walks on our third Celebrity Chocolate Tour in San Francisco. Our guests have had a great time on these special summer tours. (If you missed them, there are still spots on our last Celebrity Tour with Chuck Siegel of Charles Chocolates on September 4th!) Mary brought some of her own tasty samples and chimed in with feedback as we visited seven different downtown chocolate boutiques. Mary's kitchen and original location is, of course, in Saratoga on Big Basin Way but she also has a quaint shop in the Castro.

I caught up with Mary before the tour to get a feeling for her position on some classic chocolate topics. And I also discovered a wonderful recipe for those who want to enjoy chocolate without loading up on cream and sugar.

1. Chocolate and bacon - where do you stand?
Okay with me. Not my favorite. I make a smoked almond caramel that’ll knock your socks off. Something about the sweet, smokey and dark chocolate.

2. Wine and chocolate - do you mix and what are your favorite combos?
We have a line of chocolates made to pair with reds. We hold classes on wine and chocolate pairing. Many favorites but wine needs to be specifically paired.

3. Madagascar or Venezuala - what are your favorite origins when it comes to dark chocolate?
St. Dominique by Cocoa Barry is my favorite: beans are from Dominican Republic.

4. Guittard or TCHO - who is now the local bean to bar chocolate maker of choice?
E. Guittard is great. TCHO is getting there. I’m working with them on a custom blend but they have some work to do to really be there. Try Amano (Utah’s not that far away) for something amazing.

5. Flavonoids and antioxidants - do you believe the hype about chocolate and health benefits?
I’m living proof. Dropped my cholesterol by leaps with chocolate, wine and exercise. I work with the Cardio department at El Camino Hospital and teach classes with them on heart healthy diets…it’s true…..

Mary's Guilt-free Chocolate Recipe: Le Jardin de Couers

1/2 cup Chopped Dried Apricots
1/4 cup Chopped Candied Ginger
1/2 cup Chopped Candied Orange Peel
1/2 cup Whole Roasted Almonds (no salt)
1/2 cup Whole Shelled Roasted Pistachio Nuts (no salt)
1 pound Dark Chocolate (your favorite to eat, preferably 70% cacao or more)
Using tempered chocolate. Pipe chocolate directly into heart shaped molds or pipe chocolate onto waxed or parchment paper, 2-4 rows at a time. Jiggle to remove bubbles.

Decorate w/ 1 each of the fruits and nuts Let set in cool location. Store in airtight container at room temperature and product can be enjoyed over several weeks.

Note: Tempering or precrystallizing is to get the cocoa butter and chocolate in the most stable form - known in the industry as V form. This produces the characteristic "snap" when you bite into it and a shiny (molded) or satin (enrobed) finish. Well tempered chocolate also does not immediately melt in your fingers. Unstable or untempered chocolate has a melting point of 65F. Tempered chocolate has a melting point of 95F. Generally the process of tempering is melting the chocolate including all of its fatty acid crystals by heating the chocolate to 110-131F. Next we form seed crystals by cooling the chocolate to between 79-84F while continuously stirring (to ensure even temperature). Lastly, we warm the chocolate back up to melt unwanted crystals and hold temper. This is between 89-90F for dark chocolate and 86-87F for white and milk.

Pipe chocolate directly into heart shaped molds or pipe chocolate onto waxed or parchment paper, 2-4 rows at a time. Jiggle to remove bubbles.

Decorate w/ 1 each of the fruits and nuts. Let set in cool location. Store in airtight container at room temperature. Will last several months.

The Xocolate Bar

If Mexican artist Frida Kahlo owned a chocolate shop, it would probably look something like this. Vermillion walls, gold trim, a crystal chandelier. Chocolate medallions painted with luster dust sit next to hand crafted jewelry in a glass case. Multi-colored "frisky housewife" aprons lie next to long strips of chocolate banana jerky. All of this on Berkeley's Solano Avenue, an adorable 26 block stretch of restaurants and shops in between Albany and downtown Berkeley.

Malena Lopez-Maggi opened The Xocolate Bar with partner Clive Brown in July of 2008, after making chocolates in a San Rafael kitchen since 2006. The Xocolate Bar has been a regular at the San Francisco Chocolate Salons, picking up many awards including "Best in Show." They use organic, local and seasonal ingredients whenever possible, including rangpur lime grown by a neighbor and coffee beans from Ritual Coffee Roasters. They change flavors from week to week, and when I visited at the beginning of summer, rhubarb was just coming out of the kitchen. For vegans, there are many options, which makes sense in a neighborhood where there is even a new vegan fast food spot.

The Xocolate Bar plays with the notion of chocolate as an aphrodisiac, from their Make Out Truffle (with aphrodisiac ingredients) to their molded pieces in the shape of women's breasts and booties. It's a clever niche for them to fill, since the average Union Square chocolate shop is well buttoned up. Women planning a slightly naughty bachelorette party would have a blast picking erotic chocolates from the shop, or working with Malena on custom creations. For example, when SATC2 came out Malena created the "Sex and the Titty" truffle - dark chocolate breasts filled with organic cranberry-lime ganache inspired by Carrie's cosmos. I'd take one of those over the movie any day!

I sampled The Xocolate Bar's incredibly rich sipping chocolate, made simply with bittersweet chocolate and water, $2.75 for one potent 4 ounce shot. I then chose the prettiest of the fresh truffles, from the organic coconut to the Aztec Amor to the passionfruit heart. It's almost a shame to eat them because the truffle molds used by the Xocolate Bar are so unique. My favorite was the salted honey, which came right from the small working kitchen behind the shop's counter. Malena uses Marin Wildflower Honey from Marshall's Honey Farm, and just two other ingredients: sea salt and dark chocolate. Another sweet option is the rangpur lime, not overly tangy since the rangpur lime is actually a mix between a lemon and a mandarin orange. For budding amateur chocolatiers, Malena actually posts most of her recipes on her blog, idreamofchocolate.com.

Want to learn more about Malena and the Xocolate Bar? Gourmet Walks is planning our second Celebrity Chocolate Tour on Saturday, July 17 at 1pm. Malena will be accompanying the tour and sharing her thoughts on the art of making gourmet chocolate and making it a business. If you're very good, she'll be sharing her own samples too! Click here to purchase tickets for the July 17th Tour.