Pure Dark, My Lark

Finally got there. Have been dying to go ever since I first read about the place. Pure Dark [Chocolate Harvested from Nature], on 350 Bleecker Street.

I was at the Javits Center from 1 to 4 P.M. for the International Contemporary Furniture Fair [ICFF] and National Stationery Show. When I was leaving, I could have headed straight for the Port Authority and back to suburbia. How boring. I knew H. had safely chauffeured Figgy to the orthodontist, and I had a little bit of wiggle room with work deadlines. The urge struck. Pure Dark.

If not then, when?

Follow the Yellow Brick Road
I flagged down a yellow cab. It was pricey; $11.20 plus tip, so $13.

I saw 350 was on the awning of what looked like an apartment building.

"That's the number, but I'm looking for a chocolate store," I said to the cabbie, puzzled. Thirteen bucks and no Pure Dark? But there it was, on the corner.

It was dimly lit, pared-down, simple, with a brown leather couch and a nice water cooler, the better to cleanse your palate between nibbles. Alluring, indulgent. Slabs of midnight chocolate [remember, dark is the one that's good for us, with little or no sugar and richer antioxidants]. Barks sprinkled with exotic mango, crystallized ginger, roasted pecans.

Tried a couple of samples [yum] and asked to taste the new flavor, named Stunning, with caramelized and roasted nibs. But if I bought some, would I have enough money left to catch a cab back to the Port Authority?

Black Gold
"How much is it a pound?" I asked the saleswoman.

"All the chocolate in the store is two seventy-five an ounce," she said. Woah, per ounce. That's a new one. I think the only other thing I've bought that's priced by the ounce is perfume, or, very rarely, caviar. I've not purchased pot, or wild truffles.

"Is there a subway nearby? I'd rather spend my money on this than on a cab, but first I have to make sure there's a subway nearby so I can catch my bus back home," I said.

"Yes," she said. "There is."

So I counted my dollar bills. If I ordered four ounces, I'd have $10 left, and I only needed $2.25 for the subway and $4.75 for the bus. I chose the new deep, dark Stunning. [It's so dark that you can't overindulge. And that, in itself, is a stunner.] Total, with tax: $11.38.

Had to go to the front to pay. The young woman there directed me to Christopher Street, one block away, to get the 1 train to Times Square. We agreed that if it's between spending money on a cab or spending it on Pure Dark, the chocolate has to win. Or, as the young lady put it, "You have to get the chocolate."

It's research. It's all research on this long winding road called life. And now I know how to get there on a MetroCard.

P.S. Brownie update: You know the brownies I made for Kevin Saturday night from the Baked cookbook? Rave reviews from Kevin, Moey, Figgy and me. I used dark Green & Black's organic dark chocolate [70 percent], and the recipe calls for a little espresso powder, five eggs [for a 9 x 13 pan], and some light brown sugar in addition to white. The photography in the book is amazing, but for some reason, the brownie photo falls short; the squares look dry, and who wants dry brownies? The good news is, they were moist and fudgy and absolutely delicious, especially the broken ones left over two nights later. Nirvana.