Thursday, April 01, 2004


chocophiles united

so i had the great privilege last night of attending clay gordon's dinner highlighting artisan chocolatiers. i ordered the duck, thank you very much, with cherry-chocolate sauce. no, it wasn't sweet.

this sold-out and highly successful event also featured don schoenholt's gillies coffee. he created a special blend for the dinner, nicknamed chocolate finish.

it seemed very popular. at least the lovely and charming woman from chocolatier loved it.

but i know you wanna hear about the chocolate artists, right? my long-time chocolate hero and world pastry champion-type patrick coston was there; as was richard m.; joan; john; and fritz.

alas not all the chocolate-makers participating could be present. lemme just give ya the list here:

  • fran's chocolate -- smoked gray sea-salt caramel in milk chocolate shell. to my mind, this piece, while interesting, wasn't anywhere in the same league as the rest of the pieces. forgive me.
  • andrew schotts/garrison -- mango/passion paté de fruit palet. very interesting piece but too sweet.
  • fritz -- a lovely dark chocolate molded playing card dusted with edible copper and a white cardamom soft white chocolate cream center. a beautiful beautiful piece.
  • patrick -- dark chocolate and milk hand-brushed marbled square with crunchy hazelnut praline and hazelnut ganache. the best piece of the dinner. the show-stealer. the real deal.
  • joan -- dark chocolate grapefruit and caramel palet with a gilded top. don't be surprised. the unusual grapefruit flavor in this piece worked really, really well. one of the top pieces there.
  • richard m. -- a beautiful rough, hand-formed truffe nature port-infused 72% ganache truffle rolled in ground roasted crystallized cinnamon almonds. another top piece. perhaps the purest expression of classic french style there. simple. exquisite.
  • kee ling tong -- dark chocolate bon-bon filled with crème brulée. imagine a chocolate-covered flan.
  • john -- white chocolate, champagne, black pepper, fresh goat cheese truffle with roasted herbs, enrobed in dark chocolate. the most adventurous piece there, a play from jean-paul hévin's notebook.

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