Madecasse citrus and pink pepper bar

We got this Madecasse bar at Whole Foods. What makes Madecasse unique is that they not only harvest the cacao beans in Madagascar; they actually make the chocolate bars there, package them, the whole bit. What happens out of their Brooklyn factory is the distribution, not any of the chocolate-making.

According to this article I read about Madecasse:

Seventy percent of the world’s cocoa beans come from Africa, but less than one percent of the world’s chocolate is produced there. Most African cocoa winds up in chocolate factories in Belgium, Switzerland, and France.

There are people who farm cacao plantations who have never actually tasted chocolate, or, even if they have, they may not have tasted chocolate created from the beans that they're harvesting. This is why you can go to a country like Ecuador, which grows great cacao, and have trouble finding a decent bar of chocolate to eat. This is why Madecasse is special.



So, that's the sociopolitical background. The question now is: how's the chocolate?

Answer: it's interesting. The pepper is not too spicy, and it's not textural, either, but you can definitely taste it. It works well. The "combava fruit" advertised on the package is just a lime. This lends the bar an almost juicy taste, like biting into one of those pieces of gum that has a fruity liquid interior.

Overall, it was good, and unlike other bars. But it was not very chocolatey. I mean, it clearly was chocolate, but the flavor notes were not "chocolatey."

BOTTOM LINE: A tasty, unique bar, but without a strong chocolate flavor.

Champ's

Champ's is a vegan diner and bakery in Williamsburg (that has recently opened a smaller counter in Greenpoint).  They serve healthy vegan options like these chocolate chip pancakes:

Honestly, they were some of the best vegan pancakes I'd ever had.  Vegan pancakes are often dry, but these weren't -- perhaps the chocolate chips helped?  I mean, chocolate chips usually help.

Even the chocolate milkshake was good, even if one would not mistake it for the real thing:

Chocolatiest was the cheesecake brownie.  I usually oppose vegan cheesecake.  I usually oppose combining chocolate and cheesecake.  But apparently if you combine chocolate AND cheesecake AND vegan, you get something great!

Bottom Line: A rare example of a place with great food AND great dessert.  Anything at Champ's would make a nice meal even if you're not vegan, but it is truly special if you are.

Vosges Marzipan Bar, Green Tea Bar, and Hot Chocolate

I stopped by the Vosges shop in Soho recently, and they are really just a solid company.

So the matcha green tea bar with spirulina was not the biggest hit.  I mean, it was ok.  But Roh-Kaolade did it better.  Still, it was interesting.

The marzipan bar was really excellent.  The marzipan was fresher and gooey-er than the Rittersport version.  The only downside was that it had a stronger taste, so that -- despite have a higher chocolate-to-marzipan quantity ratio than the Rittersport -- it did not have a substantially higher chocolate-to-marzipan taste ratio.

It should also be noted that Vosges makes excellent hot chocolate.  It is not thick like City Bakery's.  It is for drinking.  It is a drink.  That is ok.  It is delicious.  It tastes like chocolate.

Bottom Line: Vosges is great, because they do simple things really well but also have really wacky ideas that are usually worth a try.

Nouveau Chocolates in Tulsa, OK

A friend sent me these, from Tulsa!:

Ok, technically from Broken Arrow, but I think that is pretty much the same thing.  Google says they are 20 minutes apart.  I don't know whether that is a lot.

Anyways, these are Oklahoma-made, Belgian-style chocolates -- apparently the family has a shop in Belgium.  I could not discover the Belgian brand, despite diligent (ok, actually not-at-all diligent) online research.

The bon bons were very good.  They tasted hand-made and quality.  The dark chocolate discs were good as well, but I am fairly certain they were simply re-tempered Valrhona (or something similar).

Bottom Line: If you're in Tulsa (or Broken Arrow), stop by.  Try to uncover the family mystery!

Lula's Sweet Apothecary

Lula's is probably the reigning favorite vegan ice cream shop in NYC, and has been for as long as I can remember.  They recently closed for a while, allegedly due to some dispute between the owners, but they are open now, and rejoicing is abundant.

Their chocolate ice cream is good, but honestly no better than a number of others we've reviewed.  What's nice is that they are an actual shop, where everything is vegan.  So you can get a vegan egg cream, a vegan milkshake, a vegan float, a vegan sundae, etc.

To give you an idea of the quality, the first time I went there (many years ago), I didn't realize it was vegan and ordered a chocolate egg cream.  I thought, "This is pretty good, but it's nothing special.  Ray's makes a way better egg cream just down the block.  Why does everyone make such a big deal about this place?"  But notice that (1) I thought it was pretty good and (2) I did not realize it was vegan.

Bottom Line: There is no particularly compelling reason to go to Lula's if you're not vegan, but if you are, and you're craving a real ice cream parlor experience, then Lula's is a great -- and as far as I'm aware unique -- option.

Where is your favorite place of worship?

Mine is in Heathrow:

(photo courtesy of my brother)

Bottom Line: I'm pretty ready to support dark chocolate in a holy war against the imposter chocolate faiths.

Macaron Day round-up

Thursday was NYC Macaron Day, which is an annual day of amazement and wonder when you can walk around the city and get free macarons from participating bakeries. I took my lunch break to hit up the West Village stops.

First up was Francois Payard, which is the originator of the amazingness of Macaron Day. I got a chocolate macaron and it was so, so awesome. Perfect texture, flavor, everything.

I would have eaten about a zillion more. Fortunately, there were two more stops on my walk.

Next up was Mille-Feuille Bakery Cafe. They weren't offering chocolate macarons when I was there, only caramel. But even the caramel was delightful, despite its handicap of not being chocolate. They also had other appealing-looking chocolate baked goods on display. I would go back.

Third stop was bisous, ciao, which you know is going to be good because they only sell macarons. They had more than a dozen flavors, though not all were available for the free sample.

The one I got was blood orange with a dark chocolate cream in the middle. Phenomenal. So flavorful. I would go back here, too, and try more of their many flavors, like the peppermint dark chocolate one, which sounds like it's designed for me.



BOTTOM LINE: Macarons are expensive. So it's really nice to have a day when you can eat them for free.