Profile

This artisanal chocolate factory creates bean-to-bar handmade candy in small batches and sophisticated flavors. Founders Michael Mast and his older brother Rick—two bearded Iowa boys—came to New York to pursue careers in film and cooking, respectively. The pair discovered a flair for chocolate-making at Brooklyn dinner parties (finding later success at local farmers' markets and boutiques), and turned their creative focus to cacao instead, sourced from small farms in Ecuador, Madagascar, and Venezuela. The space has an unfussy, rustic vibe, modeling exposed brick and overhead beams, an old freight elevator, and a Cyprus wood bar (a hand-me-down from an old-time ice-cream parlor in Pennsylvania), with a soundtrack of bluegrass, classical, and glam rock playing overhead. The brothers produce around ten flavors, from a blend of almond and sea salt to the popular salt-and-pepper bar. Each is wrapped in gold foil and thick Italian paper in vintage-inspired floral, paisley, and patterned prints. Visitors congregate around the long kitchen table to taste their spoils and watch the unhusked chocolate nibs be ground with a stone granite roller. — Ross Kenneth Urken