Vosges Chocolate bars

[amishad]

Hi CHounders, where can I find the Vosges chocolate bars in the easy bay? I have been craving them for a while now, had tried the goji berry one and that was excellent!! Thanks in advnace!

[SteveG]

This is starting to be my answer for everything that doesn't involve meat, but Rainbow Grocery carries Vosges bars, along with Theo and plenty of other great and just good options. Note that Rainbow is a vegetarian market, so no bacon bar. I think they were more like the average price of $6 reported in this thread, not a gouging $8.

[jiongliu]

Whole Foods in Potrero Hill also carries the Vosges Wink of the Rabbit Caramels (4 pieces - extremely delicious) and their truffles.

[kumuki]

Vosges sightings:
1) Lulu Rae's cafe, 6311 College Ave, Oakland (Rockridge)
2) Chocolat, 1485 Solano Ave, Albany

[oaktowngirl]

Has anyone tried the Vosges ice cream? Saw four flavors at Market Hall in Oakland (The produce shop freezer), did not get a chance to pick any up.

[dreamsicle]

I spotted the Vosges Exotic Chocolate Bars at Berkeley Bowl this morning. They had 4 flavors: Mo's Bacon, Creole, Oaxaca, and Red Fire. They're opposite the cereal/energy bars on a shelf by the checkout counter along with other chocolate bars such as Endangered Species and Theo. The great news ... they're only $5.99!

[Ruth Lafler]

I noticed yesterday that Berkeley Bowl has a really good selection of premium chocolate bars (especially since in addtion to their chocolate bar display at the front on either side of the freezer aisle, they have the Vintage Plantation and Lindt Excellence bars, plus Dagoba 73 percent chocolate "drops" in the baking section). And of course the prices are grocery store mark-up, not specialty shop mark-up.

[charliemyboy]

Tonight I finally scored my first Vosges Macha Bar at the San Mateo Whole Foods. On prior trips they only had other flavors, though I did touch off an amusing and animated debate between the French guy who works behind the counter and the American worker who insisted the brand name was pronounced "VAHZ-GEHZ".
Normally I consider it beneath my dignity to let milk chocolate pass my lips but after this experience I may have to reconsider my bias. I still wonder if a little more dark chocolate and less milk chocolate would be even better, but it is truly fine as it is. It also confirms my belief that very high cacao content is not necessarily better-- the Macha Bar is only 41%.

[Pistou]

Bristol Farms in the Westfield center has a nice selection, including the Bacon Bar.

[paper_bag_princess]

I have a bunch of Vosges chocolate bars right now, anyone know if I can store them in the fridge?

[jsaimd]

Chocolate should be stored in a cool dry place. Not in the fridge. They can keep up to a year if they are a high percentage of cocoa. A few months no problem. White chocolate spoils the quickest.

[Ruth Lafler]

The bacon bars have a "best by" date that's fairly short -- about three months, IIRC. Apparently the shelf life/perishability issue was one hold up in getting those on the market.

[hhc]

I found Vosges Mo's Bacon Bar at Whole Foods in the new Cupertino store. It's $6.99 and not bad like others have said.

Also picked up Chuao Chocolatier Caracas: dark chocolate bar w/ almonds, hazelnuts & pistachios $6.99.

Whole Foods Market
20955 Stevens Creek Blvd @ N. Stelling Rd.
Cupertino, CA 95014
[phone]

[oaktowngirl]

And Whole Foods in Berkeley.

[maigre]

I've seen a bountiful variety at most Whole Foods, too. Bittersweet on College Ave. might have them. They've got lots of different bars. If you go to check them out, the various Michel Cluizel bars are beyond fabulous.

[oaktowngirl]

Fog City news had all of them on Thursday, Bittersweet in Oakland had all but bacon today, Lulu Rae on College in Berk/land had all of them today. MMMmmmm.....chocolate.

[aktormedic]

Farmstead Cheese+Wines has them now also...

[Ruth Lafler]

Yeah, I can't escape them. That means that stores half a block (literally) from my house now carry virtually all of my favorite chocolate bars (the others being the Vintage Plantations and Equal Exchange bars that Alameda Natural Grocery carries).

[Pistou]

Also not in the East Bay, but I was just in Miette on Octavia, and they had a few. Creole, and the one with chiles, and 2 others I believe. Like Fog City, no prices, grrr, and I didn't get one so I still don't know.

[Lori SF]

Neiman Marcus carries a good selection of their bars, my fav. is the Barcelona Bar. Also, the flower/gift shop next to Bi-Rite Creamery carries them..see you can have a scoop and go next door to pick up some bars.

[chemchef]

I bought one at Chocolat on Solano Ave. in Albany last night. Not sure if they had all the flavors, but they had at least 5 or 6 different ones. I ended up getting the Woolloomooloo Bar, but I plan to go back and try the others eventually.

[TopoTail]

A friend gave me a couple of bars (green tea and goji berries with pink salt) , and I was dubious, because they both said "milk chocolate," and I'm a dark chocolate kind of guy. But these were no ordinary chocolate bars and I started looking for a local dealer.

Found them at Country Cheese on San Pablo south of University,

[Windy]

The Japanese bar with the wasabi and black sesame is quite good. I found it hard to predict which of the odd combinations would appeal. Looking forward to trying the bacon bar after the high acclaim above though.

[Windy]

Okay, finally had a bacon bar and didn't find it that exciting beyond the "it's not as awful as it sounds" factor. It did score points at breakfast this morning with the cook.

I got it at Chocolate Covered, which is a very nice place to buy assorted chocolate bars, but not a cheap one. Vosges bars there are $8; they're charging $4 for the same Dagoba bars that are $2.49 every where else and I think an extra dollar for the Dagoba single source.

By comparison Canyon Market in Glen Park, not the cheapest market in town, sells Vosges for $6.

While I appreciate good chocolate and all the creativity in the business, and the needs of small merchants to make a living, this range of markups offends me. It's like taking a taxi in a foreign city.

[jsaimd]

I got the bacon bar at Andronicos. Definitely not my favorite one, but novel. Although it actually made a decent smore. I usually think smores are a waste of good chocolate, but it seemed to mellow out the bacon and balance it a bit more.

[Windy]

Has anyone tried the bacon bar yet?

[sylphi]

Yes, I have. My husband LOVES it. It actually has real crunchy bacon bits in there. Pretty interesting stuff.

[Windy]

Great, thanks!

Did you order it online or find it somewhere local? I've been curious since I first read about it.

[Ruth Lafler]

Fog City News has it. I tried some pre-release samples and posted my not-very-favorable impressions, but the final product is pretty damn tasty.

[sylphi]

I actually bought it locally at Chocolate Covered on 24th St. It was a pretty hefty price of $8 a bar though. The cashiers were telling me that they sell out pretty quick so you might want to call ahead to see if they have any in stock.

[Ruth Lafler]

It's only $6.95 at Fog City -- I always thought they had the most egregious markups in town!

[Windy]

It'd be apparent if they would put the prices on the bars.

[Ruth Lafler]

I know -- I've complained vociferously both here and in person to the management at Fog City. Drives me crazy. I work right next door, though, so proximity has come to outweigh my dislike for their attitude.

[foodeye]

Ha! I loved it when I was having a conversation with the owner of Fog City about some obscure wine, and I said I would look at Ferry Building Wines and he said "Oh, I would never shop there; their mark-ups are SO high!" Of course, I turned that right back around on him, and he got it!

[foodeye]

Oh, and speaking of the Ferry Building, the Village Market carries at least a couple of the Vosge Bars, inluding the Barcelona and the Goji (I'm not sure if the prices are ridiculous or competitive, though). They also have some other unique chocolate bars, including a Sicilian one that I haven't tried yet, as it is $12.

[Ruth Lafler]

The Barcelona is outstanding. Similar flavor profile to the bacon bar (salty, smoky, but from almonds, not bacon), but a little more conventional.

The Vosges milk chocolate is 41 percent cocoa solids, so it's more chocolately than what you normally think of when you think milk chocolate. The milk adds smoothness and richness, which balances well with the salt and smoke (better than dark chocolate, IMHO).

[Ruth Lafler]

The bars are now $7.95 at Fog City News.

[hhc]

I found only 2 flavors of Vosges candy bars at the Cost Plus Market in SJ:

Barcelona Bar $5.99 - on the website it's a bestseller.
Creole Exotic Candy Bar (didn't buy this, might be the same price)

http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/

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cost plus world market
555 Coleman Ave, San Jose, CA 95110

[amishad]

hey! so my husband was really sweet to get me both the bars from the Walnut creek CostPlus location since he works there. And you are correct hhc, they have only those 2 flavors there. I love the goji berry one a lot. I wish they would sell the other ones too. In any case, I might just get it from the website. thank you eone!

[pane]

They have them at Bi-Rite, in their new wall-o-chocolate.

[Cynsa]

I am almost certain that Fog City News on Market Street has Vosges.
www.fogcitynews.com

I am searching for Claudio Corallo - bars of pure cocoa with sugar crystals...

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Fog City News
455 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94105

[Ruth Lafler]

Yeah, I buy Vosges at Fog City News.

[bernalgirl]

I'm fairly certain I've seen the Claudio Corallo bars at Chocolate Covered in Noe Valley.

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Chocolate Covered
3977 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94114

[bernalgirl]

I went by today and they didn't have them. But if this location is convenient to you, give a call to see if they're in or arriving soon.

[JasmineG]

They definitely have them at Bittersweet on College Ave in Oakland.

[oaktowngirl]

Vosges ice cream at Whole Foods today. Berkeley

[VirgoBlue]

Yup, I always get mine at Whole Foods. I believe you can get them at most of their locations. Apparently they're at the Berkeley one, and I've gotten mine at the Mountain View as well as the San Mateo locations.

[rgd]

They have them at Bittersweet Cafe on Fillmore, so they probably have them at the EB location.

[koi]

I saw them at the Pasta Shop in Berkeley on 4th.

[OCEllen]

You should be able to find them at Cost Plus World Market as they are available in the stores down here in SoCal.

[amishad]

I checked at one location of CostPlus and was disappointed coz they didnt have them:( Any other location?

[Ruth Lafler]

I saw them at the Oakland/Jack London Square Cost Plus last weekend. They're in the big premium chocolate display toward the back of the store.

[Gary Soup]

The SF Cost Plus has them as of this week, too. amishad might want to look again.