Monday, March 18, 2002


ok, ok, i've got to get over jacques torres. . .there are other chocolate artists in the world. . .

and one of the most interesting is the california-based richard donnelly. never heard of him? dear readers, i have mentioned him before! still, he'll be even more famous quite soon; there are rumors that starbucks will start to carry his artisan creations in their stores nation-wide. those of you near a peet's coffee location may know him already, since his products are featured there.

and it would be no wonder -- donnelly's an award winning chocolatier, taking home several international chocolate prizes, notably the 1998 prize from the eurochocolate festival in perugia. he's been in business in santa cruz since 1988, when he returned from studying chocolate in europe. donnelly's delights are based on french (valrhona) and belgian chocolates. (note that he's been quoted as not totally admiring scharffen-berger chocolate.)

further, he's famous for a fanatical devotion to detail in his craft. yet donnelly's a nice guy too: when i recently took the liberty to write him out of the blue, he was kind enough to reply himself the very same day. and he does yoga! you're my kinda genius, richard donnelly. . .

i wrote to ask him what he thought was most important in chocolate artistry. and in a nutshell, he replied that it was preserving the sensuous qualities of fine chocolate. or, verbatim:

we think what is interesting in great chocolate is the taste and smell. to develop interesting and delicious chocolates we make very small batches with good ingredients and time tested/developed recipes.

btw, we are working on new products. when they work out you can find information on the web site (chocolate lip balm, chocolate bread, jams, chutneys).

donnelly offers traditional european flavors in his chocolate: almond, hazelnut, caramel, orange and coffee. he also features newer, exciting eastern flavors like ginger, cardomom, and chinese five spice. however, you won't find any of the crazy confusion flavors i've ranted against before. no merlot/pumpkin/ginseng/foie-gras or rosewater/fennel/peanut butter/saffron all-in-one-truffle stuff here. donnelly's palate is clearly elegant and disciplined.

as for those new products, chocolate lip balm! chef donnelly, i'll be virtually sleeping in that cyberspace line waiting for you to unveil that one. could it be even better than the orange-chocolate shea butter balm i've mentioned before?



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