36683 Wed Jun 01 03:28:27 -0700 2005 9 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 169703 Tried the pot au creme there, kinda had a funny taste, fruity chocolate aftertaste. Is it just me? If so, recommendations for other items on their menus are welcomed. Thanks! Wed Jun 01 03:28:27 -0700 2005 0 SumoSized 1 169749 I was there last Friday for the last time, because I have been just too dissatisfied with the place. Recommendation: the pressed sandwiches are good, particularly the ham and gruyere. The caesar salad with chicken was also good. The service is never good. Best of luck getting bread and butter. Our desserts were the chocolate cardamom souffle, and the cookie plate which came with a chocolate dipping sauce. The souffle garnered the same reaction from me that their Tribute Cake and the hot chocolate both did before: what is the deal with this watered-down flavor? Doesn't the dessert chef realize the people who are coming here want a big chocolate punch? The souffle wasn't even a very dark brown. But the cookie plate got us even more upset. Decent enough cookies, a generous little ramekin of thick sauce. But that sauce typified everything I'm hating now about the new trend in ultra-bittersweet chocolate: it was sharp in my mouth like eggplant sometimes can be; it was sour like cheap chianti, with all the "fruity notes" but no mitigating roundness or fullness that more careful blending or even a drop of cream could have provided. As we ate it we got more and more thirsty, and more and more buzzed like too much bad coffee, until we left in a foul humor and drove home too aggressively. I think this current fixation on high-percentage cocoa solids and single-source beans is producing a lot of lousy chocolate. It can't be merely that the prevailing flavor palate isn't to my taste, because I've been a chocolate obsessive for a long time and like a lot of good serious chocolate. It's that the chocolate world is being infected with a "kick it up a notch" attitude, at the expense of finesse. The "European" hot chocolate at Bittersweet is another example. It's sour, it's thin (they claim that serious hot chocolate in Europe isn't made with milk or cream, which is not true), it's rough and strong but not actually rich. (And the "American" is too weak...) Anyway, SumoSized, it isn't just you, it's me too, and my friend Marci. Cafe Cacao doesn't deliver the goods. Wed Jun 01 13:24:22 -0700 2005 169703 0 heidipie 2 169754 Have you found a good East Bay version of European-style hot chocolate, rich flavor (not too sweet doesn't mean austere or sour), rich texture (whether with milk/cream or not)? Wed Jun 01 13:36:53 -0700 2005 169749 0 lqf 3 169908 No, but I haven't dedicated myself to looking, either. It's easier to make at home than a hot fudge sundae with real chewy hot fudge, which I continue to be on the lookout for (but also haven't located in the region since The Daily Scoop closed on Potrero Hill). Thu Jun 02 00:34:49 -0700 2005 169754 0 heidipie 3 169932 Have you tried the hot chocolate from XOX Truffles? I haven't been to the Oakland store but have had this from the North Beach location. It's made from a ganache base so has opulent texture. I liked it, but prefer a more complex blend for a beverage. This was more like candy. But worth a try, as it might suit your tastes. Thu Jun 02 03:28:48 -0700 2005 169754 0 Melanie Wong 3 169988 I've found all those good features when I make my own MarieBelle Aztec Hot Chocolate at home in the East Bay :-) It's available at the Pasta Shop in the Market Hall on College Avenue (and probably Fourth Street in Berkeley). My own preference is to make it with hot water... Image: http://www.mariebelle.com/images/product/darkhc200.jpg Thu Jun 02 13:10:48 -0700 2005 169754 0 Rod Williams 2 169766 Same experience here, Cafe Cacao's sandwiches and salads were good and I'd eat them anytime I wasn't in a hurry. I wouldn't order dessert, hot chocolate, or cocoa there again. Hot chocolate in Italy is typically made with superior cocoa, low-fat milk, and arrowroot or constarch to make it thick. Wed Jun 01 14:38:04 -0700 2005 169749 0 Robert Lauriston 2 169796 I'm going to take this discussion of high-cocoa solids chocolate on the General Topics board, because I agree with you! Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/300356#1668701 Wed Jun 01 16:39:09 -0700 2005 169749 0 Ruth Lafler 2 169804 Thanks. I thought my tastes buds were off kilter! So now I know that I was not imagining that sour taste. After trying that dessert, it kinda put me off on Scharfenberger chocolates. Thanks for all the recommendations. I'll try the sandwiches and salads next time I'm there. Wed Jun 01 17:11:05 -0700 2005 169749 0 SumoSized 1 170021 I've had a couple of very good breakfasts there. I remember the first time I went there for breakfast and thought the menu was a bit "plain". But I ordered the poached eggs with ham etc. and when it arrived it looked like a work of art and tasted great. It was one of those things where the whole was more than the sum of the parts. I also remember thinking that I could really see the "Chez Panisse" influence of the chef. I don't think I've ever had the hot chocolate there so can't comment on that. I will say I've taken some out-of-town visitors (who know their food) there and they loved the food. I'd better reveal that, contrary to some posters in this thread, I love the high % Sharffenberger chocolate. I've never tasted that kind of flavor in any other chocolate. I will also say that the flavor isn't immediately accessable. I have to take my Mother's long-ago advice to chew each bite 20 (was it 40?) times and apply it to that chocolate. That's when I get the flavor... Thu Jun 02 15:18:01 -0700 2005 169703 0 Mick Ruthven