In honor of National Chocolate Day, I wanted to share pictures from my recent visit to NYC for a chocolate tour of the city. We had a wonderful, funny tour guide named Alex, and he was quite knowledgeable about not only chocolate, but about the city and architecture as well. We visited multiple bakeries, and chocolate shops, sampling their treats along the way.Enjoy the pictures!
Our tour guide Alex, had a great sense of humor and did a great job of showing us around the city.
Our group gathered at the Chelsea Market, where Food Network lives. We then walked to a little chocolate shop called the Chocolate Bar. It was a quaint little shop where we each sampled a small piece of chocolate. It was good, but I was honestly thinking to myself that I hoped we would be sampling more than a one inch square piece of chocolate! From there, we walked to one of the oldest chocolatiers in NYC, Lilac Chocolates. www.li-lacchocolates.com . At this stop, we sampled a small piece of dark chocolate, along with a delicious piece of butter crunch toffee....which truly was divine.
As we walked along, out guide Alex gave us lots of information about the city, and different types of buildings, street signs etc...in his French accent, which made the tour that much more fun!
Our next stop was Magnolia Bakery ,www.magnoliabakery.com ,which is infamous for its cupcakes. We were each treated to a chocolate cupcake with a creamy chocolate frosting. Unfortunately, I ate mine before I remembered to take a picture of it...sorry about that.
We continued our walk until we came upon Milk & Cookies,www.milk&cookiesbakery.com ,where we were each given a large chocolate chocolate chip cookie. At this point, some people were a bit full, but as a chocolate lover, I was happy to sample mine.It was delicious!
We then moved on to a place called Xocolatti's www.xocolatti.com ,in SOHO. Here, as you can see, the walls were stacked with candy boxes, making it a very attractive place to shop.My only disappointment came when they told us we would be sampling a piece of white chocolate, with mango and topped with....are you ready? PAPRIKA! Now, I love white chocolate , but I was less than enthusiastic. However, I tried it , and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. I loved it.....chocolate, with hints of mango, and then the paprika hits you at the end. Normally, I would never have tried something like that...but I am glad I did because it was really good......and $25 per pound!
Next, we went to the place I would have to call my favorite of all....a specialty shop called Bisous Ciao.www.bisousciao.com . They make French macaron cookies in a wide array of flavors. Of course, we sampled chocolate since we were on a chocolate tour. These were magnificent....decadent and absolutely delicious. I have added this store to my list of possible online gifts for the holidays. Definitely my new favorite treat!
Our next stop was Pasticceria Bruno www.pasticceriabruno.com ,on Bleecker Street. We passed Murray's cheese shop, and although the huge wheels of Parmeggiano Reggiano were calling my name, we walked on. At Bruno, we sampled cannoli, which we were told beat Bobby Flay's in a throw down....but hey, he is Irish,so was to be expected! I did a little shopping at this stop and bought some cannoli and cookies to bring home to my hubby and boys. It was a beautiful bakery, but quite expensive.
Our final stop was at Vosges,www.vosges.com where we sampled chocolate with chipotles in it. It was good, and spicy! Again, not my typical choice, but a nice treat .
All in all, we walked over 40 city blocks, which I would have to say took care of our calorie intake for the day! It was a fun evening, and something I would suggest if you are in NYC and love chocolate! Find more information at www.sweetwalks.com . Now, I have to start planning for the cupcake tour!!
