And you join them! Yes, folks, this is the January Hot Chocolate crawl. And on this cold, cold day, Barb and I joined the other hot chocolate fanatics on a 'crawl' through the city; despite the wind, freezing temps to taste chocolate. Would it be worth it?
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| Hot Cocoa Route #3 |
So I take a picture of the spots because I was certain somewhere along the way, we'd lose the group or we would lose the map.
Our first stop was at Marie Belle; I've had their chocolates before but was not that impressed by their ganache. The store is quite like a tea parlor. Very Queen Anne-ish; reminded me of places I've visited in London, like Brown Hotel or something like that. They had teas on the shelves and hot chocolate mixes like spicy chocolate.
It was a surprise but we got a hot chocolate tasting - it is about 62% dark chocolate and thick like a syrup. The taste was just a bit tangy like one of the others in our groups said. It was quite hot but as I am not a big fan of dark chocolate, I did not like it as much as I would have - also the tanginess was quite off-putting. Still, it ranked better than the thick stew-like consistency of hot chocolate in Spain.
We did not follow the route - we decided unanimously to not venture out of the immediate area...Should I be writing that here? Heh. We went to Ground Support for that spot was right around the corner from Marie Belle.
So, it was not so organized here - apparently, they didn't expect anyone to come or something and asked Gil how many there would be total. From the hot cocoa crawl...what?! Anyway, it was not really like a chocolate place but like an ordinary cafe but with communal seating...kinda. Even so - they could have put the cocoa which we bought 3 to split between all eight of us into separate cups. At any rate, they were nice but the hot chocolate was so watery. Literally, it was like water - or to be honest, like swiss miss watered down infinitely. Definitely, the worse hot chocolate I've had. Ever!
And then we went to Vosges Hot Chocolate. While we were waiting - Gil who was unanimously and without a vote, made leader - since Barb decided to opt out at Marie Belle by giving up the map to Gil, ordered the hot chocolate. (This is why I am cautious about holding out my hand with Barb around.)
The space at Vosges was more like a chocolate place. They had a large selection of goods on the shelves.The one that caught my eye was their giant caramel marshmallow. I didn't buy it of course. Even, I can resist temptation. (Well, it's only because I knew we would be going to dinner...at Melba's.)
It was a tight space and with so many folks, made it harder to go around. Barb and the other dude from the crawl group divided the hot chocolate. This one was milky chocolate - not so much tangy as it was milky chocolate. So I actually liked this chocolate more out of all the ones so far.
It was a toss between Jacques Torres and Little Cupcake Bake Shop and we went to the Little Bake Shop because it was closer and it was not that far away in the middle of nowhere like Jacques Torres. (But I love Jacques Torres - which was really good - good range of ganaches - very yummy chocolates/)
The Little Cupcake Bake shop has lots of delicious looking baked goods - cupcakes and cheesecakes. They even had a range of icebox cakes, which was unusual. Barb bought us red velvet cupcakes - I think she wanted to put me in a diabetic coma~
Definitely, we would need to come here sometime just to get their desserts. Maybe after hitting up Gitane.
Anyway, I think everyone was a little hungry by now because everyone bought cupcakes. As for their hot chocolate - they were the only ones with marshmallows in their hot chocolate. But the taste was kind of like Vosges? By now, I was really done with hot cocoa so I finished it because it was hot.
I think the best hot chocolate I've had was Charlotte Charbonnet's which you make with milk - and their hot chocolate (shavings of their chocolate - so good). Yeah - it was shavings of chocolate that you melt into the hot milk into a syrup consistency and then you add more milk to taste. And you can at least that I know of, only get this in London. Which I am so sad about - because I liked the champagne truffles.
Anyway, if you were to choose out of all the places - Marie Belle is good - if you like dark chocolate; either the Little Bake Shop or Vosges for anyone else. Just don't go to Ground Support for hot chocolate - I bet they were named for coffee.
Jacques Torres is one stop we didn't make it to but trust me, it's worth a go - maybe not all the way at Hudson.
Marie Belle
484 Broome Street
New York, NY 10013
tel. 212.925.6999
Hours: not posted on website.
Ground Support
399 W. Broadway (between Broome & Watts)
New York, NY 10012
tel. 212.219.8722
Hours:
Mon - Sun: 7 am -8 pm
Vosges Haut Chocolat
132 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012
tel. 212.625.2929
Hours:
Daily: 11 am - 8 pm
The Little Cupcake Bake Shop
30 Spring St
New York, NY 10012
tel. 212.941.9100
Hours:
Mon - Fri: 7:30 am - 11 pm
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