Avant le Blog pt. 4

Here is the list of what I ate in 2008 (in two parts.)

The best ones from this list (including the lower half, below) are: Phinney 3400: Bread & Chocolate; Blanxart: Chocolate Negro con Almendras; Zotter: Almonds & Roses; Vosges: Calindia; and Green & Blacks: Ginger.

Another one of note is the Michel Cluizel: Noir Infini bar, which is 99% cocoa. Unspeakably dense and muddy, not exactly tasty but a pleasurable, earthy experience.

Zotter and Blanxart are probably the most interesting brands I tried last year -- both of them I have only ever seen at the fancy Food Emporium Fine Chocolates Shop on 68th and 3rd. Zotter is Austrian and Blanxart is Spanish. I am looking to get my hands on more of both of these.  

Avant le Blog pt. 3

This is a list of what I've been eating so far in 2009. If you can read this, you'll see that the only wrapper I didn't manage to save was Frans: Roasted Nib (65%). Nibs are nice; this bar was boring. I ended up letting a bunch of other people eat it for me. 2008's list to come -- soon.

Avant le Blog pt. 2

Here are some more bars from the last few weeks, with notes below.

Le Pain Quotidien: Noir Extra. LPQ is a Belgian chain of cafes -- they have a dozen locations in NYC. I got this at the one on 63rd and Lexington. If you go there for lunch, get the black bean hummus tartine. Their chocolate is nice but not as nice as their pastry. B.

Amattler: Extrafino Con 70% Cacao. My boyfriend got this for me -- I think it is from Cardullo's in Cambridge, MA. This bar was ridiculously good and far sweeter than your average 70%. It spoke to me. The list of ingredients lists "vanillin," which I don't usually see and which may explain the sweetness. This was out of control. A.

NewTree: SEXY. This is also from Michael, from Cardullo's. NewTree has names for all of its bars: SEXY is the ginger one. I mean to say that it is infused with ginger, not that it has red hair. I am almost as obsessed with ginger as I am with chocolate, so this is a special combo, but it is by no means rare. I've had a lot of ginger chocolate bars and I think Green & Blacks does it best, with the chewy chunks of crystallized ginger. This was still tasty, but not incredibly so. B.

Avant le Blog pt. 1

I ate a lot of chocolate before I started this blog, and I want to document some of that. Unfortunately, I have only been pressing and saving my wrappers for a short time. Here are a few that I have salvaged from this semester, with minimal notes below the pictures. There will be more to come in the next few days.

Dagoba: Lavender. I bought this bar in the organic section at Stop & Shop in Yonkers, NY. I am interested in lavender flavored candies because my mother eats them and to me they taste like soap. This bar didn't taste like soap -- it was divine, Dagoba at its (near) best. A-.

Taza: Stone Ground 70%. My friend Hannah brought this to me -- she got it at Whole Foods. I dig Taza -- I think they are based in Somerville, MA, and I used to buy their chocolate at the farmers' market in Lexington, Mass. This was delicious, solid dark chocolate with an almost gritty consistency. B+.

Dolfin: Dark Pink Peppercorns. This bar is wrapped beautifully. I bought it at Eden Gourmet in South Orange, NJ. Dolfin is not super special chocolate but I was interested in this because it combined hot spice (pink peppercorn) with a cocoa content in my "dark milk" range. That is unusual. This was not fantastic chocolate, but I enjoyed it and the packaging is tight. B.