Skip to content, or skip to search.

Skip to content, or skip to search.

Grub Street

Edited by Josh Ozersky with Daniel Maurer

All Posts Tagged: ‘chocolate’

Openings 

8/ 4/08

3:30 PM

La Maison du Chocolat to Open on Wall Street With New Look

La Maison du Chocolat

From left, La Maison du Chocolat uptown and the chocolatier's sleek new look. Photo Courtesy of La Maison du Chocolate.

Parisian-based chocolatier La Maison du Chocolat will open a boutique and dessert café (its third New York location) at 63 Wall Street in October. The 30-year-old brand is eschewing its old-world, dark-wood look for a spare, bleached-blond setting that’s been unveiled in Paris and will eventually be adopted at both the Rockefeller Center and Madison Avenues outlets. Look for the usual platoons of cacao-rich bonbons and macarons, as well as a small seating area for hot chocolate and pastries. The new design is more Louis Vuitton than a sweets shop, but La Maison will fit in nicely with chichi neighbors such as Tiffany and Hermés. And in these troubling economic times, chocolate is a much more affordable treat for the courtesan than anything in a little blue box. —Alexandra Vallis

NewsFeed 

3/20/08

12:25 PM

Daniel’s Dominique Ansel Lays the City’s Biggest Easter Egg

dominque ansel

Don't even ask about the creamy center.Photo: Barry Johnson

Yesterday, we presented some nice dessert porn, in the form of a gorgeous slideshow of the city’s top Easter treats. Today brings us an even more prurient image: the 80-pound, three-foot-high chocolate egg created by Dominique Ansel of Daniel to celebrate Easter. Sadly, the brown behemoth won’t be available for eating anytime soon. “You could eat it, though; it’s very good,” the chef says. “It’s all Valrhona chocolate. I just decided to make it one day. I told Daniel, ‘I have a small egg here.’ He saw it and said, ‘Oh, shit!’ He loves it.” The egg will be on display through next week in Daniel’s lobby.

Earlier: Slideshow: It's an Especially Edible Easter This Year

NewsFeed 

11/12/07

12:21 PM

People Apparently Really Like Chocolate

No, it’s not the new iPhone.Photo: Daniel Maurer

Today’s New York Diet, model Catherine McNeil, told us her one weakness is chocolate. No sign of her outside the Chocolate Show this Sunday, but there were plenty of others in line — over 150 down the block, by our count. Did the massive hype behind this operation pay off? Uh, yes.

Related: Zac Young's Chocolate Cookie Dress Is Red-Carpet Ready

Foodievents 

11/ 8/07

7:38 PM

Zac Young's Chocolate Cookie Dress Is Red-Carpet Ready

Bet you'd like a bite!Photo: Melissa Hom

Pastry chef Zac Young of Butter has teamed up with designer Nicole Romano to showcase what they consider their masterpiece: "Bakewear," a tempting — and totally edible — dress. The fashion statement will make its debut at the 10th Anniversary Chocolate Show tonight, where, among the various demonstrations and tastings, designers will unveil their chocolate-inspired looks. During last night's pre-show fitting, Young talked about how model Ashley Moss would be sporting the frock — which is made of 600 cookies — on the CBS Early Show come Friday morning: "She's gonna be outside in the freezing cold with her ta-tas getting all hard, breaking my cookies!"

Read more»

In Other Magazines 

10/22/07

12:51 PM

Chocolate and Corned Beef Get Their Journalistic Due

Bill Buford

Chocolate makes people crazy. Including Bill Buford.Photo: Getty Images

Ah, had we the luxury to lie around and read densely packed food features! As it happens, there are two out now both worth your time. In the current New Yorker, everybody's favorite roving food writer, Bill Buford, does a number on the chocolate wars and the quest, now dominating the minds of choconauts, to find the perfect cacao bean. And here we were just coming up to speed on coffee! (The article is not online, but there's a cool slideshow from Buford's trip.) The other piece, on a subject matter we're much more familiar with, is a very fine feature from the Times magazine on the Lebewohl family and their efforts to relaunch, in the face of an increasingly alien world, the new and improved 2nd Avenue Deli.

A Counter History [NYT]
Slideshow: Food of the Gods [NYer]

NewsFeed 

9/11/07

2:07 PM

A Bacon Tribute Product We Can Get Behind

One bacon tribute worth eating.Photo courtesy Vosges chocolate

Despite our recent stance against all bacon-related products, which we continue to find too cute and not enough like actual bacon, we couldn’t help but sit up when we saw, on our own Best Bets, this bacon-flavored chocolate bar by Vosges. Normally, we would come down hard on such a thing, but (a) we hate to disagree with Best Bets and (b) it’s really good! We even singled it out for praise in our earlier post, so we’ll second the recommendation here.

Hog Heaven [Best Bets]
Earlier: Bacon Has Jumped the Shark

At the Market 

7/16/07

2:00 PM

Fancy Food Show Brings Colonial Fruit Drinks and Our Old Friend Kulfi

Prepare to be assimilated.Photo: Zoe Singer

We took a break from our regularly scheduled Greenmarket food fest to hike through acres of fancy foods from the world over at last week’s Fancy Food Show. Over 2,000 displays filled the Javits Center with everything from antifreeze-green Chilean avocado oil to Brooklyn-made gummy bears that were actually the size of honey bears. To avoid going into fancy-food shock, we honed in on the (often overlapping) new and organic/natural categories. Here’s highlights, all currently available in the city.

Read more»

Mediavore 

6/25/07

10:11 AM

Merkat Busts Out Its Own Secret Room; Red Hook Vendors Safe Through Fall

Merkat has its own secret, PDT-style back room, Merkat Negre, with a chalkboard menu and a “young, pleasantly noisy crowd.” [Restaurant Girl]

A typical weekend for a Red Hook soccer-fields vendor involves endless prep work, setting up by 7:30 a.m., cooking all day, and breaking the stand down at night … [NYT]

But the vendors' rituals are safe until October 28, thanks to the intercession of Senator Chuck Schumer. [Serious Eats]

Read more»

Mediavore 

4/24/07

10:38 AM

McNally Loves Balthazar and Maria Bello; Imus Types Prank Chinese Restaurant

Keith McNally talks about Balthazar, where the breakfast service is "absurdly busy" and his last meal would be "on the navel of the actress Maria Bello." [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]

More radio morons in hot water: CBS suspends Elvis and JV for pranking a Chinese restaurant, asking for "shrimp flied lice," making dumb egg-roll jokes, and other old-time, racist vulgarities. [CBS News]

Spain’s El Bulli named top restaurant in the world again. No. 2? The Fat Duck in London. It’s a proud day for molecular gastronomy. [CNN]

Read more»

The In-box 

4/11/07

5:00 PM

I Am Stalking Gramercy Tavern’s Former Dessert Chef

The Modern’s dacquoise will blunt your feelings of loss.Photo: Everett Bogue

Dear Grub Street,
I have been an occasional customer of Gramercy Tavern over the past several years. On a recent visit, I was greatly dismayed to find that my favorite dessert, a chocolate dacquoise, was no longer on the menu. It was explained to me that Gramercy has a new pastry chef and he has put his stamp on the dessert menu, apparently at the expense of my dacquoise. I was wondering if perchance you knew the name of the former pastry chef and whether he is working elsewhere.
Mark Raskin

Read more»

Mediavore 

3/23/07

9:45 AM

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Restaurant Business

Did you know that Daniel has closed-circuit cameras watching every plate? That's one of ten dark secrets of the restaurant business [SmartMoney]

How good can a pizza delivered to New York from Oregon be? Pretty damn good, apparently. [Serious Eats]

Balthazar’s not all that — and not just because it’s busy, either. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]

Read more»

Back of the House 

2/15/07

10:14 AM

Restaurants Not Feeling the Love Last Night; Menu Secrets Kept From Riffraff

A brutal Valentine’s Day for New York restaurants, battered by cancellations owing to the lousy weather. [WCBS]

Many of the city’s best restaurants have off-the-menu specials: foie gras donuts at Telepan, Daniel Boulud’s lobster ravioli at Le Cirque, and more, all revealed here. [Restaurant Girl]

Chocolate, of all things, turns out to be New York’s No. 1 specialty-food export — if you eat it on the East Coast, chances are it came from here. Food processing is “by far the most stable major manufacturing sector” in the city, and one of the last. [NYT]

Read more»

The Annotated Dish 

1/ 9/07

5:00 PM

Del Posto’s Ever-So-Slightly Indulgent Chocolate-and-Rum Pairing

You’ll spoil your dinner!Photo: Melissa Hom

Adam Platt called the Chocolate Tasting at Del Posto one of the “Most Decadent Dishes” in New York, comparing it to “uncut cocaine.” You shouldn’t take this to mean that the dish is uncomplicated, however. Del Posto co-owner Joe Bastianich describes its elements — three different chocolates, three different rums — in this week’s Annotated Dish, where, as always, you simply scroll over the arrows on the image for the chef’s comments.

Read more»

Click and Save 

1/ 8/07

10:00 AM

The Ultimate Chocolate Luxury; Neroni Promoting Carrots

Make pork chops the way they did in 1959 — or update them, Marco Canora style. [NYT]

Who doesn't love carrots? Just ask Jason Neroni. [NYDN]

January, the month to buy kitchen appliances. [NYDN]

Read more»

Foodievents 

12/13/06

1:14 PM

A Hotel's ‘Chocolate Covered Weekend’

Sweet dreams are made of this ...Photo courtesy the Exchange Hotel

If Rob and Robin's gifts for chocoholics weren't extravagant enough for you, the Exchange Hotel is offering a "Chocolate Covered Weekend" — and starting Saturday, December 16, the price drops from $1,200 to a mere thousand. What does a grand get you? According to the hotel Website, the deal includes a two-night stay in a suite (typically a winter rate of $289 per night); a three-hour tour of Christopher Norman Chocolates, Vosges Haut-Chocolat, Kee's Chocolates, MarieBelle, and Jacques Torres; and Mexican chocolate mojitos or non-alcoholic Aztec iced chocolate in the on-site lounge. (The visit to the high-end chocolatiers is led by a guide from Zoom Chocolate Magazine.) General manager Rani Carr tells us that the package launched earlier this fall through a partnership with the Chocolate Show, but the word is just starting to spread. "It's so new that we haven't had anyone actually book it and confirm it," she explains. — Lori Fradkin

Calling All Chocoholics! [Exchange Hotel]

Click and Save 

12/11/06

11:00 AM

The Great Bagel Debate, Redux; How to Open an Oyster; Beer!

It's prime oyster-eating season (or so we've told you); this illustrated guide on opening the bivalves comes at exactly the right time. [Chow]

The Times throws readers a handful of Flushing restaurant picks, solid as far as it goes. (Rob and Robin's guide to Flushing's Prince Street went further.) [NYT]

A debate on the relative merits of Queens and Brooklyn bagels. [Chowhound]

Read more»

Click and Save 

11/27/06

12:00 PM

Gastronomical Gifts, Lovable Latkes

To add to Rob and Robin's picks for chocoholics and pork fiends, more gifts like wild-boar soppressata and the $350 El Bulli cookbook. [TONY]

A former sandwich of the week from Philly Slim's snubbed for 99 Miles to Philly in roundup of best sandwiches. [Gridskipper]

A list for latke lovers, including the $1.50 special at G&M. [amNY]

How to steer clear of Cuban-food "poseurs" like Azucar. [Epoch Times]

Back of the House 

11/21/06

11:33 AM

Delays at Park Chinois, Flood at E.U., Another BLT

Yau's Park Chinois not ready for prime time. [Eater]

Pipes, owner's blood vessel burst at E.U. [Eater]

Ray-Ray's husband a foot freak? [Chow]

Bye-bye, Tang Tang. [This Is What We Do Now]

Sushi Sasabune: Menu, shmenu. [Strong Buzz]

Pork fiends, drink this. [NYT]

Chocoholics, go here. [ Gothamist]

Travel + Leisure's top 50: usual suspects, plus news of yet another BLT, as Tourondel jumps on the "market-driven" bandwagon. [Travel + Leisure]

Wine authors order $11 bottle at A Voce. [NYP]

 

 

Advertising

About this Blog

Welcome to Grub Street

What to expect from New York Magazine's food daily.

E-mail the editor

Sign up for the Newsletter

GONYC Mobile Restaurant and Bar Search

Recent Posts:

NewsFeed

6:00 PM

Webster Hall Builds Party-Performance Space While Galapagos Reopens

Openings

5:45 PM

New Restaurant Opens in Little Egypt: No Hookahs Allowed

NewsFeed

5:30 PM

New York Maybe Not As Drink-Happy As We Thought?

NewsFeed

5:00 PM

Whole Foods Tries, and Fails, to Get Down With the People

Two for Eight

4:00 PM

Tables Available at Cookshop and Esca; Blue Hill Fully Booked

NewsFeed

3:50 PM

David Bouley Rents Vast Space on Varick Street

Neighborhood Watch

3:15 PM

Creative Pastry Chef Wanted at Soho Café; Pig Fest in Chelsea

NewsFeed

3:00 PM

Ruby Tuesday Gives Up the Exploding-Restaurant Gig

NewsFeed

2:00 PM

Danny Meyer and Keith McNally ‘Looking at Harlem’

NewsFeed

1:30 PM

Commenter Marcel Vigneron Doesn’t Appreciate Us Making a ‘Mochery’

NewsFeed

12:45 PM

David Burke and Donatella Arpaia Split

NewsFeed

12:00 PM

But Where Will the Escalades Park?

NewsFeed

11:00 AM

Busy Chef Manager Just a Patsy, Lawyer Says

Mediavore

10:00 AM

Fast Food Elicits Guilty Plea; Where the Brangelina 8 Should Eat

NewsFeed

9:25 AM

Angelo Sosa the New Chef at Merkato 55

The New York Diet

9:00 AM

Rising Star Chef Anne Burrell Introduces Us to ‘Big-Girl Soda’

NewsFeed

7:10 PM

Bar Back Confesses to Spotlight Live Killing

NewsFeed

5:00 PM

Is a New Chef to Blame for La Esquina’s Shrinking Breakfast Burrito?

NewsFeed

4:30 PM

Chris Cheung, Late of Monkey Bar, Considers His Options

Two for Eight

4:00 PM

Tables Available at Elettaria; River Café Fully Booked