Sad about east bay chocolate

[annec]

I am a little late on these but I am sad that Charles Chocolates and XOX Truffles have left the East Bay and moved to San Francisco. I never took to Bittersweet, they have so much....everything. Any recommendations on where I can look? Is the place that took over Sketch's site on 4th Street, Berkeley worth trying? Thanks.

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XOX Truffles
754 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133

Charles Chocolates
6529 Hollis St, Emeryville, CA 94608

[steflesh]

Yes, I know, they come and go, but I love the Xocolate Bar on Solano. The product is great and I love the spirit of the place. They are a couple who 'went for it' on a shoestring, went to some cholatier's institue, borrowed lots of money and made it happen. And they are still really excited about chocolate.

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The Xocolate Bar
1709 Solano Ave, Berkeley, CA 94707

[skwid]

Did XOX leave montclair?

[shu0912]

Yes I parked in front yesterday, the store is emptied and all the signs are gone. I used to love their stuff back in the days when the chef was rolling out truffles all day long in the little storefront on Columbus. With the opening of the Montclair branch, quality suffers tremendously. I think the main reason is that they refrigerate the truffles at the Montclair location. I questioned the chef once about it and he said it didn't affect quality. Oh well it does for me. I hope now that they are back to the original setup, they can do better quality control and I can enjoy their truffles once again.

[Ruth Lafler]

I thought I was the only one who thought the truffles weren't as good after the expansion. Just to clarify, though, as far as I know they were making all their truffles at the Oakland location, which was a lot bigger than the SF location. That was, as I understand it, the reason they opened the Oakland location in the first place: to have more room for production. I guess with the economy they decided to scale back.

[annec]

Thanks, I will try Chocolatier Blue and Berkeley Bowl West. If I find myself Solano way I will try Xocolate but that is a bit north of my usual stomping grounds. I have tried Michael Mischer, yummy but not a favorite. I agree about Cosmic, it is not my taste.

Charles Chocolate chocolate almonds are phenomenal. I have found no others that compare. Piedmont Grocery supposedly still carries them though I have yet to confirm it personally.

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Charles Chocolates
6529 Hollis St, Emeryville, CA 94608

The Xocolate Bar
1709 Solano Ave, Berkeley, CA 94707

Chocolatier Blue
1964 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94701

Berkeley Bowl West
920 Heinz Ave, Berkeley, CA

[daveena]

Whole Foods in Oakland carries a pretty decent selection of local chocolates, including Charles Chocolates. The chocolate selection is one of the few reasons to shop there, IMHO (the dry-aged rib eye is the other).

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Charles Chocolates
6529 Hollis St, Emeryville, CA 94608

[Ruth Lafler]

There's lots of good chocolate in the East Bay, and Charles Chocolate is no loss, as the ones that remain are much better (and less pretentious). The place that took over Sketch is Chocolatier Blue, and they're excellent. Xocolate Bar is also excellent. I'm not a fan of Cosmic (which is in Temescal) but other people seem to be. Michael Mischer. Vice and Barlovento are available at farmers markets.

Berkeley Bowl West has a really good chocolate bar selection at very reasonable prices. I believe they also have truffles, etc. in their service bakery.

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The Xocolate Bar
1709 Solano Ave, Berkeley, CA 94707

Chocolatier Blue
1964 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94701

Berkeley Bowl West
920 Heinz Ave, Berkeley, CA

[wolfe]

Have you tried Michael Mischer?
http://www.michaelmischerchocolates.com/

[Robert Lauriston]

Chocolatier Blue is good. There's also Xocolate Bar.

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The Xocolate Bar
1709 Solano Ave, Berkeley, CA 94707

Chocolatier Blue
1964 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94701

Chocolatier Blue Patisserie
1809 4th St, Berkeley, CA 94710