What is Lionidas? One is opening in Century City

[deadre]

I'm just curious as I see that it's probably a chain. Thanks

[Jerome]

speaking of which, does anyone know if katalin who made the chocolates at Bit of Sweetland on 3rd st still makes the lehar, krokant, figaro, etc. chocolates that were, to my mind, the finest in the city?

[TravelPath]

It is a very popular low-end factory made Belgian chocolate that is superior to most US chocolate because of the laws in Belgium governing the product and its content (if it has preservatives it can not be sold in Belgium!)...this being said, it never tastes as good/fresh here as it does in Belgium (I am lucky to work there 6-7 times per year so I eat a lot of chocolate) ...besides this, there is so much chocolate competition in Belgium, the quality must be good.

Neuhaus pulled its stores from California because of supply problems...and freshness problems...now there are stores in D.C. and New York only, but occasionally their products can be found at a variety of small independent chocolate shops across the country...Neiman Marcus sometimes has it at Christmas time!

For what it is worth, the best European chocolate I have found in SoCal is the French Michel Cluizel which can be found at Vicente Foods in Brentwood...of all places!

Theobroma Cacao...It really is the food of the gods!

[J.L.]

The gold standard is still Pierre Marcolini.... It cannot be found in SoCal, as far as I know.

[TravelPath]

No, not in SoCal...but their NYC store will ship it "overnight"...it is pricy though! It always amazes me that this region can't support a "premier" chocolate outlet! Yes, we have a number of "good" ones, but why no Maison du Chocolat, Pierre Marcolini or any number of stellar chocolate manufacturers...Sigh!...Well, at least I get to go back to Brussels in September.

[J.L.]

www.leonidas-chocolate.com

[jeanmomo]

It's a Belgian chain, yes :). But I prefer Bouchard ( http://www.bouchard.be/en/node/10 ), Leonidas is more and more a multinational, and less and less just Belgian chocolate :D.

[FoodieKat]

It's a very, very good chocolate store. Looks like they're opening up cafes here. Used to buy their chocolates all the time from their shops when I lived in England. There's a cafe opening in Huntington Beach too. I can't wait!

[vegas2500]

I heard that the beverly hills leonidas is going to have Haagen-Dazs!!

[mandelabra]

Leonidas, disappointingly, uses preservatives in their chocolate I heard recently. Why I don't know, if in fact they are regularly flown over from Belgium.....

[dbe]

That's not true. They import directly from Brussels and only sell fresh. Never frozen or no preservatives.

[PayOrPlay]

Another Leonidas outlet is opening on South Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills. In a former Jamba Juice, whatever that may mean.

As other mention the chocolates are just OK for the price; in Beverly Hills, I much prefer Edelweiss. But Leonidas' hot chocolate is one of the very best in Los Angeles. Especially the "Mexican Hot Chocolate" with almond and cinnamon.

[slacker]

While I think Leonida's is quite average, when compared to Edelweiss, Leonida's becomes astronomically excellent.
As I see it, if you're gonna be in Beverly hills, just go to Teuscher and get some real chocolate.

[Jolly]

Teuscher in Bev. Hills has excellent cappuccino as well. I think the chocolates are pretty good. I'm going to go try L'artisan Du Chocolat and I hope they are really good.

[Jerome]

there is an older leonidas store on larchmont that only sells the chocolates.

the pasadena and santa monica stores have varieties of chocolate and coffee drinks as well as the chocolate bonbons.

the variety may differ - the larchmont is separately owned.

[AquaW]

It's a fairly high-end chocolate chain with Belgian chocolates (when I visited their Pasadena store they made a point of telling me that it's flown in from there...) It's good but not particularly remarkable, especially given the current chocolate trend of unique/eccentric flavors and fillings, theirs are pretty old-school (nuts and fruits).

~H.C.
http://la-oc-foodie.blogspot.com

[namstermonster]

leonidas is good but i wish they would learn and grace soKaLi with other belgian chocs such as neuhaus and galler. -sigh-

[slacker]

There used to be a neuhaus in the beverly center and one at hollywood/highland. It's definitely better than Leonidas, which I think is very average, on the high end chocolate scale.

[namstermonster]

omi... we used to have neuhaus?!! when was this and why did they disappear?? >.<

[slacker]

A few years back, or maybe more--it's all muddling together now. When Hollywood/Highland was still fairly new, there was a Neuhaus; I think the Bev cnter one was there before and during that time. I believe the beverly center one closed first.

[choctastic]

I know this is an old post but your memory is good. Or at least that's what I remember too.

[deadre]

thank you. i love my See's which is very close but will be very happy to try this.

[westsidegal]

comparing see's with leonidas is sort of like comparing tito's tacos with la serenata de garibaldi; each has it's following but if you truly love one type, it is not very likely that you'll truly love the other.. . .

[Joe Blowe]

Add one more "It's chocolate from Belgium" response to the pile!

Also, not sure if most are aware of this, but their chocolate is sold through franchises in the U.S.

http://www.leonidas.com/pralines?id=184 (main corporate site)

Hence, some stores are better than others...

[Jack Flash]

high quality chocolates from Belgium.

[notmartha]

It's Leonida's Chocolates. They sell chocolates from Belgium, and chocolate drinks.

I love their vanilla cream chocolates and the caramel ones.

[mollyomormon]

chocolate store:
http://www.myleonidas.com/leonidas_st...