37733 Mon Jul 11 02:35:56 -0700 2005 15 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 176199 Mrs. Mousse and I are planning a confections survey in SF and the East Bay. We've found good truffle leads. I'm looking for: caramel, brittle, toffee and especially nougat. I've done some research and found: XOX Truffles, Z Cioccolato, Joseph Schmidt, Richart. What are we missing that's worth trying? We'll post our results, naturally. Mon Jul 11 02:35:56 -0700 2005 0 Morton the Mousse 1 176203 Sharffen Berger chocolate. You may have had their chocolate bars, but their boxed chocolates are delish. They have tea infused ones (which aren't on your list, but are wonderful) as well as a fleur de sel (salt carmel) that you might enjoy. In general, I prefer SB's chocolates to Recchiuti's but I think Recchiuti makes a superior fleur de sel. In the brittle vein - See's Candies' Awesome peanut brittle bar is pretty tasty. (but may not be as regionally exclusive as your survey demands.) Link: http://bunrab.com/yummychow/yummytitle.html Mon Jul 11 03:14:37 -0700 2005 176199 0 Edie 2 176407 I second Sharffen Berger. I taste fruit-type flavors in their chocolate that I don't taste in any other I've tried, and I've tried a lot. As your mother may have told you about chewing your food (40 times?), chew SB dark chocolate (62%, 70%, 82%) many times before swallowing to get all the flavor. For milk chocolate fans, they've been making a milk chocolate for about two years that lifts that item to a new level. Tue Jul 12 00:23:11 -0700 2005 176203 0 Mick Ruthven 1 176207 I second the recommendation for Rechuitti's fleur de sel caramels; I also like their rose caramels. A couple of other favorites are the cassis strata (a layer of cassis pate de fruit and a layer of chocolate ganache) and the honeycomb malt. If you're looking for brittle, you might want to check out Anette's in downtown Napa. Their spicy beer brittle is addictive. Some of Anette's other confections are good, too. I particularly liked the apricot cream chocolates. And finally, for a special treat head up the valley to St. Helena and check out Woodhouse Chocolates. Fabulous chocolates in a store that looks like it should be selling fine jewelry -- the Tiffany's of chocolate. Link: http://www.anettes.com/ Mon Jul 11 03:43:00 -0700 2005 176199 0 Ruth Lafler 1 176213 I found XOX's caramel truffles to be a thing of wonder. I could have eaten 20 of them. Mon Jul 11 08:50:01 -0700 2005 176199 0 YourPalWil 1 176218 XOX caramel truffles are to die for! You can get them at their store in SF (http://www.xoxtruffles.com/) or my hidden find is that they are sold on the Peninsula in San Carlos at the Laurel Street Cafe (or were the last time I checked which was a couple of months ago) (I believe the owner of the cafe is friends with the owner of XOX chocolates.) Just an idea for Scharffen Berger, you can either see their store in the ferry building in San Fran or you can eat at their cafe in Emeryville/Berkeley: Café Cacao (http://www.cafecacao.biz/) - they have salads that have cocoa nibs in them. They also had a frozen hot chocolate when I ate there last that was awesome. Mon Jul 11 10:37:18 -0700 2005 176199 0 Anne Sinha 2 176236 Scharffen Berger just opened a shop in Healdsburg too. It's in Plaza Farms across the street from the plaza on Matheson. Mon Jul 11 12:53:26 -0700 2005 176218 0 Melanie Wong 3 176349 That's all I need. When I'm in Healdsburg at lunch time I usually eat at Lotus Thai and finish off with fried bananas with vanilla ice cream. Now I have to add Scharffenberger to that... Mon Jul 11 19:30:19 -0700 2005 176236 0 Mick Ruthven 1 176257 I haven't been yet but the California Academy of Sciences new exhibit is all about Chocolate - http://www.calacademy.org/naturalhistory/chocolate.cfm I often find myself giving chocolates as gifts, below is my list of the various sources I've used over the years. Rochelle's Sources for Chocolate List Bernard C. Chocolates (75 O'Farrell Street, 415-781-2601). Very good bonbons, molded chocolates, and truffles. Chocolate Covered (3977 24th St. at Noe 415.641.8123) They have good selection of gourmet chocolates from a dozen different countries. Good gift/souvenir - using any photographic image, they will create a custom tin/unchbox for $10 plus the cost of the box ($15-$22.50 for the tins; $40 for the lunchbox). CocoaBella Chocolates (2102 Union Street (415-931-6213) CocoaBella carries a wide variety of artisan chocolate from the US and Europe. http://www.cocoabellachocolates.com Confetti Le Chocolatier (525 Market St., 1st Fl. at Bush St. 415-543-2885) café and gourmet chocolate store - truffles, enormous chocolate-dipped strawberries, and all kinds of goodies. Double Rainbow Ice Cream (various locations, one on Powell Street near Union Square) - beautiful chocolate sorbet Fog City News (455 Market Street) narrow news store that has a great selection of chocolates from around the world Ghirardelli (900 N Point St # 52 at Larkin St. 415-359-9335)http://www.ghirardelli.com - Note they host a chocolate festival every September Goldleaf Chocolatier (2250 Union Street at Fillmore 415-922-5711) truffles, fudge, molded chocolates http://www.goldleafchocolatier.com I Love Chocolate (397 Arguello Blvd 415-750-9460) – store with good selection Joseph Schmidt (1489 16th St. at Sanchez 415.861.8682) Not my favorite but a SF institution for 20 years. http://josephschmidtconfections.com Poco Dolce (415-255-1443) http://www.pocodolce.com This SF company only sells online but has a nice assortment of bittersweet chocolate with one of four ingredients: almond, hazelnut, crystallized ginger, burnt caramel toffee and topped with grey sea salt. YUM!! Recchiuti Confections (1 Embarcadero in the Ferry Building 415-834-9494)http://www.recchiuticonfections.com Richart (393 Sutter St.@ Stockton 415.291.9600) http://www.richart.com RoCocoa's Faerie Queene Chocolates (415 Castro, 415-252-5814). they have their own line of chocolates and fudge and sell other as well, its one of very few places where you can get Manon chocolates. San Francisco Chocolate Factory (286 12th St. 888-732-4626)corporate/touristy Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker (1 Ferry Building 415.981.9150) http://www.scharffenberger.com Shaw's (122 West Portal Avenue 415.681.2702) opened in 1931, sell their line of chocolates and ice cream, candy is hand made using copper kettles. See's Candies (542 Market Street between Battery & Montgomery 415.362.1593) good quality regional brand XOX Truffles (754 Columbus, 415-421-4814). Jean-Marc and Casimira Gorce produce truffles in 21 varieties, both with and without liqueur. There's even a vegan soy truffle. Mon Jul 11 13:42:19 -0700 2005 176199 0 Pssst 2 176269 Great list. If anyone would know, who's that woman in the East Bay that is supposed to make terrific truffles. People who don't like XOX usually are fans of her truffles. Mon Jul 11 14:25:37 -0700 2005 176257 0 rworange 1 176393 There's some guy who makes his own chocolates on Grand Avenue who's supposed to be good. Mon Jul 11 22:56:41 -0700 2005 176199 0 heidipie 2 176395 That would be Michael Mischer . . . haven't tried the candy yet. Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/29125#122713 Mon Jul 11 23:19:58 -0700 2005 176393 0 Melanie Wong 1 176447 BTW the price of La Maison du Chocolat wares are going up, possibly this week. Something about the Euro and political problems in the Ivory Coast. I second whoever said something good about Rechiutti's fleur de sel caramels and rose caramel. I can eat those by the handful. I like their other chocs as well but the fleur de sel caramel in particular is pretty damn good even for people who don't particularly like chocolate! Yes there was a time when i did not get Recchiutti,but I have since learned the error of my ways, by avoiding the pieces I dislike (pink peppercorn). I know someone who likes only mild/milk chocs and he likes the peanut butter chocolate hockey puck and the hazelnut round piece. Their pate de fruits have never knocked my socks off. Just had the white peach and some of the others and gotta say the white peach in particular tasted a little...artificial. I hope I'm wrong. There's also Teuscher. Rather expensive Swiss chocolates that I personally don't like as much as say Rechiutti, or even Sees at times. Cute, expensive gift boxes, probably the prettiest around these parts. Tue Jul 12 05:04:49 -0700 2005 176199 0 jschyun 2 176506 I'm not a big fan of Teuscher or Neuhaus, but if you can find some Leonidas, don't miss them! According to the Leonidas site, they're available: LULU REA CONFECTIONS 6311 COLLEGE AVE 94618 OAKLAND (CA) Pacific Coast Chocolates 1397 north main street 94596 WALNUT CREEK (CA) Draegers 222 East 4th Avenue 94401 SAN MATEO (CA) Chocolate Dream Box 309 North Santa Cruz Avenue 95030 LOS GATOS (CA) Link: http://www.leonidas.com/uk/index.asp?langue=uk Tue Jul 12 14:34:41 -0700 2005 176447 0 Ruth Lafler 3 176515 Leonidas is very sweet, FYI if you guys don't like real sweet stuff. Not particularly high end chocolate, but it's pretty cheap esp if you can wheedle a Belgian friend to bring it back for you as a present. Everyone raves about their hot chocolate. I haven't had enough different kinds of hot chocolate to say if it's awesome or not and why. I thought it was pretty good. Neuhaus used to sell these awesome chocolate turtles. Oh my God. The caramel was silky smooth, yet gently resistant to the tooth. I liked the pecan one and the pecans were crunchy and fresh. Haven't seen those turtles in years. I think the chocolate at Neuhaus in general is of higher quality than Leonidas. But obviously I will not turn down leonidas. Tue Jul 12 15:01:28 -0700 2005 176506 0 jschyun 3 176617 Ruth, what are your favorites of Leonidas? I've never tried any of their chocolates so if u can name some I'll go carry the list to the store with me. Thanks. Wed Jul 13 00:00:30 -0700 2005 176506 0 Arlene