Saturday, May 18, 2002


lat night i braved the chill drizzle to make a swank event at spa, where the debut party for the new confection store chocolate bar took place. . . .

i did have a chance to talk to alison, one of the co-owners, but not her business partner matt. alison's original interest is in fact coffee, which naturally i can only applaud. i mentioned the planned opening of the chocolate bar before; but it actually threw its doors open to the public for business in the middle of last week.

the elegant alison and i found a moment to shout above the throbbing retro-disco music. our conversation went like this: "so you're featuring only new york chocolates, alison?" "yes, i want to show new yorkers the kind of fresh, world-class chocolates we have here locally." "well i guess that rules out the knipschildt truffle, then, since they're made in connecticut." "that's true, i'm sorry." the entire conversation then turned to what spectacular fellows various talented candymakers actually were.

a little chocolate groupie moment, if you will. sadly, we didn't get to talk about much about jacques torres, who she does carry, or about another of my heroes, chocolatier and pastry champion patrick coston. and we didn't get a chance to talk about coffee. alas!

in the few days she's been open, she told me, the hot sellers have been garrison's and jacques torres' chocolates. garrison is making some special flavors for her apparently, including a wasabi bon-bon. (until i sample one of these myself, i must say the idea for me ranks right up there with hevin's chocolate-covered cheeses. . . but i'm trying to have an open mind. chile and chocolate do work together rather well in the right hands. . .)

the chocolate bar is a small l-shaped space with just 12 seats. they are serving 5 kinds of hot chocolate, tea by serendiptea, and illy caffe. speaking of the illy coffee, when i dropped by the party, illy sales manager guido zoli and his compatriots were attempting to coax life out of a semi-automatic unic machine, sort of similar-looking to a diva, with a novel dual-pod grouphead. it had apparently blown a fuse. i did get a chance to have a great chat with zoli, who was quite impressive. even if you're not an illy fan, 20 minutes with zoli could shake your resolve. . .

but i did have to ask his no-nonsense girl barista what was up with the pods. she gave me a sharp look and, basically deciding i was being a pain, frankly told me that in busy restaurant situations with big staff turnover, pods were the way to go. naturally, even though i know new york city is especially espresso-challenged, this nearly made me weep hot tears. . .what will it take before we can get a real espresso in this town?

i certainly hope alison will be serving fresh coffee, not pod-water, at her place. (sorry, zoli!) still even tho' it was pod stuff, i would have loved to have had an espresso made with care by an illy-trained rep. . . by the time i had to go -- we yoginis need our rest if we're going for major chatarungas in the morning -- they had not had time to repair it. . .so perhaps i'll have a chance to test zoli's contention that fresh pods can make excellent coffee another time.

i myself plan to hop by alison's chocolate bar in the next couple of weeks after the initial shake-out. i'll report more then. . . the one thing i absolutely must have is one of their super-cute "chocolate girl" t-shirts, worn by young things standing on pedestals with trays of sample chocolates. (and maybe by that time they'll have fleshed out that website? hmm??) dear readers, if you're smart, you'll try to beat me there. . .do take the time to say hi to the awesome alison!

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