If you could have any chocolate for Val Day from a chain store or chocolatier what would you want?

[chompie]

Would love to hear your picks for boxed as well as bars/chunk for milk chocolate especially but dark and white choices are welcome as well. Would like to hear your choice of both readily available in drugstores, dept stores, supermarkets and also from chocolatiers and specialty markets. thanks! North of Boston is a plus for me!

[ChinaCat]

I really like Cocoapelli Chocolates. They are made in Natick, and I buy them from the small Italian market in Southborough, Panzano's (near Tomasso's, right on route 9).

http://www.cocoapellichocolates.com/i...

[11earl]

I enjoy buying and my wife enjoys eating the chocolates from a vintage chocolate store in Marblehead named Stowaway Sweets.

http://goo.gl/maps/Dlg0S

[ipsofatso]

Turtle Alley, Gloucester................yum....love them terrapins!

[bostonfoodz]

not sure about whether or not this is v- day quality, but I've been crushing Lindt 72 dark with sea salt lately. it's sorta an issue. also, the dark chocolate sea salt caramels from whole foods are slap your momma good.

[Bob W]

If you're in Boston you're in range of Garrison Confections down in Central Falls RI!

The Legendary Lovers collection is worth every penny.

http://www.garrisonconfections.com/

[jupiter]

Since i don't live in Brookline anymore, i can't help you with the local chocolatiers (but i can absolutely vouch one hundred and ten percent for the mini eclairs from Virginia's in Brookline Village. and i am not sure if they are still there, but Serenade hand made chocolates were a staple in our house growing up and my dad swears they were the best.)

However, my favorite and i think completely underrated store chocolate bar is from Cadbury. I think Cadbury still makes an excellent milk chocolate bar. the Dairy Milk one. also, i think that the the cadbury dairy milk with caramel is delicious as well.
And maybe the whole foods or some other fancy storemight carry Scharffen Berger's chocolate bars, again, i am a fan of the milk chocolate, but their dark bars are good too.

Also, in a pinch i would never turn away a twix or a reeses peanut butter cup. :)

[chompie]

i started this post but was afraid to come back on since i will probably not be getting a chance to get to any of these fancy places but since others have ventured into the world of more pedestrian chocolate, i feel like i can now come back! I used to like Cadbury a lot but got tired of it. I just had a Heberts Chocolate filled with caramel and it was really good. It was that kind of velvety milk chocolate that melts instantly on your tongue, although the caramel was pretty tastless it added a nice touch. I also noticed a brand called Hammonds from Colorado with some interesting flavors.. has anyone had that? (i was at Farmland in Wakefield) They used to carry Droste pastilles which i loved but havent seen. Are they still around? There are several gourmet-ish sources of reviews of top chocolate bars and I was really surprised to see Dove at #1 way above ScharfenBerger and way way above Green and Black. I thought of getting some Callebut chocolate chunks at MB. Would Callebut be close to any of these upscale ones that have been recommended? I'd love to try Burdicks but know I won't be anytime soon . I thought maybe some specialty markets on the North Shore like Henrys or Karls etc or Wilson Farms might carry something good. Anyone know if they do? Or has anyone been to Nichols in Gloucester? I havent loved Winfreys or Russos as far as old fashioned places go..

[jupiter]

Droste pastilles! So good. We used to get the rounds of drops that were half milk and half dark chocolate and we would pull them apart and my dad would eat the dark and i would eat the milk. Yum. My sister was always a fan of callebaut, and i like it. i for a dark chocolate it has a great mouth feel and is nice and creamy, not chalky or brittle in any way. I usually use it for baking or sauces or drinking chocolate, but its good for eating too.

[opinionatedchef]

Caillebaut is a super chocolate. Trader Joe's large bars are purported to be Caillebaut. I use their 72% Dark chocolate bar for all my baking and candies. The nationally known Harbor Sweets is located in Salem on the way to Marblehead and you may like them alot. There is another choc shop in Salem on the pedestrian mall but i think their stuff is very meh.

[fesenjan]

I'd join those going for Taza -- either Guajillo chile, or salt and pepper -- which you can get at Whole Foods or several local stores, or go to Taza and take the tour. Also maybe the 85% dark Green&Black bar, which if you can believe it they tend to have at Market Basket. I try to avoid the stuff sourced from West Africa because of the child slavery issues there, so that would rule out most mainstream chocolate manufacturers.

[digga]

I don't have a sweet tooth but...

EH Chocolatier salted caramels
TAZA (we especially like their dark chocolate-covered almonds)

Both in Somerville.

[nasirshakouri]

any toffee from Terry's Toffee in Chicago

[dkneesptoes]

Chocolatier Blue in Camden, Maine- rec'd a box for our anniversary and ate most of it myself!! Lovely!

[finchfinch8]

def burdick's

[UnclePH]

I must agree! Burdicks is amazing. For plain old supermarket finds Green and Blacks makes a great chocolate bar. For mail order, Bissinger's is on a par with Burdick's.

[Science Chick]

Y'know, its funny, but I tried Burdicks and found them cloyingly sweet and without flavor distinctions. What am I missing? I might have got milk chocolate type things......is the dark better?

[Allstonian]

Nope. I'm right there with you, particularly on the opinion that you can't actually taste the flavors.

[Jenny Ondioline]

Third. The appeal of Burdicks has always passed me by. I don't even care for the much-vaunted hot chocolate: if I wanted to drink melted Hershey bars, I'd just melt some Hershey bars.

[GraydonCarter]

It is a little out of the way but I'll have the Rolling Stones' Chocolate Shooter from Dominique Persoone, Shock-O-Latier, Brugge, Belgium

[chompie]

mmm decadance galore! Any chance of any thing North of of Boston? specialty shops that carry some of these etc?

[CocoDan]

Kron's pineapple chunks dipped in their dark chocolate!!!
Enjoy,
CocoDan

[catsmeow]

If I'm remembering the right place, Kron use to have a shop at Bal Harbour Shops in North Miami Beach Fl. That was a very long time ago. I loved them and forgot all about them.

[kimfair1]

If I don't bring home a box of Burdick's assortment for Valentine's Day, I might as well not go home.

[drewinmrblhd]

The white chocolate sailboats from Harbor Sweets!

http://www.harborsweets.com/

[stomachofsteel]

I'm not a white chocolate fan, but I love the sand dollars from Harbor Sweets -- dark chocolate, caramel and pecans. They are based in Salem but according to their website, they are sold at The Paper Store and lots of other MA locations.

[SeaSide Tomato]

Oy yay!!! I just got my boating sweetie some Harbor sweets(based on looks and ingredients--of the chocolates, not his--although that could also be accurate!!) and was hoping they were as good as they looked. Thanks!

[epicureanforlife]

Chocolee - Lee Napoli, Teuscher, La Maison Du Chocolat, Jacques Torres.

[opinionatedchef]

YESSS,chocolee. She makes everything in house in small batches and uses excellent ingredients; some lovely things.

[verka]

Blood Orange Fleur de Lis Truffles from the Beacon HIll Chocolates. These are the best in town !

http://www.beaconhillchocolates.com/

[bear]

Those sound delicious!

[meeps2002]

Taza Salted Almond

[Allstonian]

Assorted chocolates from Serenade Chocolatier in Brookline.

[Bugsey34]

+1 for Serenade - all chocolate made in house in the tiny shop. For boxed chocolates my favorites are key lime, strawberry & balsamic and marzipan.

[viperlush]

Fromaggio Kitchen Cambridge for an assortment of dark chocolate bars. Staff is very knowledgable and helpful.

Burdicks Cambridge for boxed chocolate.

[beetlebug]

At Formaggio, you can also put together a selection of boxed chocolates. They have a wide assortment with lots of flavor combinations.

[valcfield]

I like the truffles from Vosges. They may not be the highest quality chocolate, but the flavor combinations are always interesting and fun enough to make up for that...

[BlueMagic]

Chocolate truffles from Van Otis.

[Pegmeister]

I would want those little chocolate mice from Burdicks or; the long stem chocolate covered cherries from the Phillips House. Milk chocolate and white chocolate selection for me.

[catsmeow]

Teuscher champagne truffles...decadent! Located on Newbury St but also available by mail order.