The Chocolate Odyssey Continues

Beautiful, bar none.

Today I went to H.'s and my physician, Dr. B., whose office happens to be on East 85th Street, near Madison Avenue. [Read: Coach store right on corner.] I like to walk all the way there from the Port Authority--it takes almost an hour--but we had a meeting with our contractor at the house this morning, so I had to take a cab most of the way. However, did walk back. And oh, what a rich walk it was, as always.

Uptown Girl
Here's the prime real estate. Across from Coach is Dean & DeLuca. Can easily spend an hour there, just studying the products, the names, the places they're made [dairy products from upstate, a sack of frozen biscuits from the South]. I pick them up, feel their heft, study their lofty price tags, put them back. Or occasionally buy them. After all, consumer reporting is my specialty. I love it.

Today, I drank in the beautiful view of carefully arranged sweets, as I've often done before. Rich, dense brownies; dainty, sugar-dusted cookies [$26 per pound]; homemade chocolate sandwich treats, a spin-off on the Oreo but better, of course. Two Red Hens red velvet cupcakes in their pleated skirts with swirly caps and Black Hound's signature Busy Bee Cake, with baby bees made from marzipan and almond petals. Ample S&S cheesecake wedges [they sure looked good] and MarieBelle toffee. Whimsical marshmallows, luxe Christopher Norman Chocolates, chocolate babka and roly-poly doughnuts with the filling [jelly or cream] oozing out.

But there, among the stash, something new to my very experienced chocolate lover's eye: Mast Brothers Chocolate, made in Brooklyn.

Wrapsody in Dark
What drew me in first was the way the 2.5-ounce artisanal bars are wrapped--like gifts in thoughtfully chosen paper. The Almonds & Sea Salt version was particularly alluring, in crisp white paper strewn with little red and navy anchors. Chips, I mean Ships Ahoy! The corners are perfectly folded, like a dream gift you might find in your Christmas stocking.


Surprise
The kind young man behind the counter happened to have cocoa-brown skin.

How's this brand? I asked, picking up a bar. Have you ever tried it?
No, I haven't. But we can open one so you can sample it.
Wow, thanks. Great. You have to try it, too!

I thought he'd break off a tiny, tiny piece for me--the size of the samples today at Vosges Haut Chocolat on Madison and Godiva at the AOL Time Warner Center [not so at La Maison du Chocolat; the man there offered me a full-size piece.] But bless his heart, the D&D fellow in white gave me a row of four little segments. I was sold.
It's dark, 70 percent cacao, wonderful and deep. I can't wait to go back. So what if I used up my cash and then was sweating to death on the long walk back to the Port, with no dough left for a bottle of water? That's how I live my food life, close to the edge. Plenty of ice water back at home.


Here's the link: www.mastbrotherschocolate.com. I'd love to write more about this, but have a busy lifeday and workday tomorrow, starting with leaving at 6:30 A.M. to tuck in a visit to Dad first. Sure hope my right front tire with slow leak does not go flat. 


Signing off more cultured for today's find!