an interesting shop is marcolini.
while thye only stock in house chocolates, they are one of the few chcolatiers that make chcolate from bean to bar.
as far as bars go, in the serious department they have 4 single bena “cru” bars, and move up to 85 %
thya also have abar wiht nibs bits and 2 house blends
cocoa solids range from 72 to 85 percent and at leats they can gurarntee you to know exactly what goes in it as they are all made at Pierre’s atelier with ingredients he sources himself.
A selection of the bars are available at Fortnumand mason’s
also Pierre is making a bar of 100% porcelana criollo beans, a true delight. It is a limited edition, and

My only concern with Slitti is that someone here wrote there was ‘favoring’ or ‘flavor’ in the ingredients. If that is so it is a minus and would rule it out as a fine chocolate as far as I am concerned. If you know any more about this, please let me know.

Is ‘Origin Unico’ Chovic? If so they are good, reviews in the chocopaedia. Oh, and Chocovic is Spanish. I had a sample of Simon Coll recently, but it contained Vanillin. I was also slightly dissapointed with Rovira, but I’ve yet to do a proper review.

Martin Christy
Editor
http://www.seventypercent.com

Hi
What is a Suckao? I’ve tried a few Brenner items, and have not been impressed. Perhaps the offerings are better at the retail locations.

Oh, and by the way, congratulations to Tom on the Edinburgh shop. Hope its going well!
Kyle

Oh no! My Agustus!

My guess is that California and New York are at the top of the list, but I’ve never seen the numbers run.

Alan

I hope I can help, since I am from the Midwest as well. Surprisingly, World Market (a national chain that is a part of some other chain that slips my mind at the moment) carries some fine chocolate such as Scharffenberger, Santander, and possibly Domori. Also, if you are anywhere near Chicago anytime soon, I highly suggest visiting the multitude of chocolate shops in the downtown area like Vosges, Ethel’s, and Moonstruck. Try any natural foods store near you as they seem to be the best bet for variety. For example, Outpost Foods in Milwaukee carries Dagoba, Green & Black’s, Santander, and more I can’t think of at the moment. Also, there is a specialty chocolate shop in the area that carries New Tree among others. There are always hidden little spots so keep looking and you shall be rewarded!

BTW – if theobroma is lurking, your email address doesn’t appear to be working because it bounced back on me – I’d like to contact you about chocolate shop stuff :)

I am new to the “chocolate scene”. I have read Chloe Doutre-Roussel’s book, The Chocolate Connoisseur, and I am interested in becoming more familiar with artesan chocolate.

What is the typical ‘high-end’ chocolate shop like in a big city (London, NY, Paris, etc)?

In Pittsburgh, our only serious shop carries Amedei, Valrhona, Bonnat, Scharffen-Berger, Pralus, Neuhaus, Guitard, Domori, Cluizel, Reccchiuti, etc…Also, the owner hosts tasting sessions from time to time and helps answer questions.

Are there additional benefits I should expect?

How coincidental. I happen to live in NM. Where exactly are you located? I have yet to encounter a store here that sells quality chocolate, but then again, I haven’t visited Santa Fe or Ruidoso.

I don’t think Cost Plus World Market sells Domori. They have huge selections of Lindt usually. They’ll have Scharffen Berger, Santander, Hachez, the basic Valrhona blends, etc.

Whole Foods and other gourmet markets around the country often have high end chocolate, such as Pralus. They’ll also have Scharffen Berger, including some of their limited edition bars, Dagoba, basic Valrhona, etc. I can’t remember if they carry Cluizel.

Here in Portland we have a couple great shops, Cacao and The Meadow:

http://www.cacaodrinkchocolate.com/
http://www.themeadowflowers.com/chocolate/index.htm

They have tons of quality bars, emphasizing real chocolate, not blends. I think The Meadow carries about 90 bars, including a ton of Amedei, Cluizel, Domori, Pralus, Valrhona, Guittard, Bonnat, etc. Cacao has about 140 bars with just about everything from Cluizel and Pralus, plus a good selection of Valrhona, Bonnat, Theo, most Domori, etc.

There are also several chocolatiers and other small shops that have maybe 30 bars and focus on high end stuff, mostly Cluizel, Pralus, and Domori. One, Sahagun, carries Carallo, however, and another, Pix, carries DeVries. Here are links to them:

http://www.pixpatisserie.com
http://www.almachocolate.com
http://www.sahagunchocolates.com

All the gourmet grocers have good selections, especially Pastaworks, but there’s a lot of junk, too.

Of course, there’s always Chocosphere here in Portland. I used to wish they had a retail store, but now with The Meadow and Cacao, it doesn’t really matter:

http://www.chocosphere.com

So, anyone jealous of those of us living in Portland, yet? :P