Whoo hoo! I had quite a morning down in SoHo on my last day in NYC. My first stop was at Vosges. I’d already been in NYC for a week, and I’d resisted the temptation to go upscale. But I’d done all the other scales and the trip had been pretty cheap, so here I was, throwing caution to the wind.

I’ve already tried several of the Vosges chocolate bars and though they’re fantastically expensive for chocolate bars ($6.75 each), they had flavor combinations you just don’t get from anyone else in that price range.

But I really needed to try the truffles, again, because of the flavor combinations.

Stepping into the shop, it was larger than many other little places I’d visited in NYC and it didn’t hurt that it was a Thursday morning and the only other person in the shop besides the woman behind the counter was a messenger who seemed a little lost and grateful for a little sample of chocolate before he got his bearings.

As I got my bearings by taking a few of the same samples (one was the Red Fire chocolate and the other was their version of guanduia) and became accustomed to the vibrant purple tones, I ordered a hot chocolate. They had three to chose from, a standard European style dark hot chocolate, a Red Fire, which I’d already had several of since I came to NY and then the last option on the board was a Hot White Chocolate. Now I’m not normally one to go for these sorts of things, but I hadn’t had anything to eat so far that morning (it was a little after 11AM) but it was described as an infusion of white chocolate and lavender with lemon. Sounds good enough for me. I wasn’t disappointed. It was served in a tall, narrow cylinder of a glass and it was spectacular. It was like drinking a creme brulee, but not quite so syrupy rich. Not nearly as sweet as I expected, it was creamy and rich and the citrus/floral infusion kept it feeling light and refreshing. I don’t mind spending that much at all, because I know it’s something I’m never going to make at home.

While drinking I had plenty of time to look over the truffles to make my selection:

Absinthe - an infusion of anise, fennel and pastis - lighter and more woodsy than licorice, the smooth ganache blended well. The top was sprinkled with ground Chinese star anise, which was the only part that I didn’t like, as it added a little too much grain to the experience.

Ellateria - Holy Moly! It’s the Holy Grail of cardamom chocolates. Why don’t they make a chocolate bar like this? The ganache is an infusion of dark chocolate with cardamom and white poppy seeds with more sprinkled on top. The whole box was fragranced by the cardamom, these were smooth and flavorful and just made me want more. It’s rare when a truffle makes me want to pop another in my mouth.

Poivre - yes peppercorn truffles and boy howdy is the burn nice. Telicherry black and Muntok white peppercorns in a smooth ganache and some extra crushed peppercorns on the top for a lingering tingle.

Tlan Nacu - I couldn’t even remember which one this was when I bit into it and I had to look it up. It was a nice, dark chocolate truffle with seemingly no essences to it. It turns out it was Vanilla. Hey, it was! Mellow and sweet, vanilla is a wonderful complement to chocolate.

Naga - of all of the truffles I picked out, this is the only one I had tried in bar form. Naga is coconut and curry in milk chocolate. It’s quite a stunning combination, with a strange milky quality and of course the tickly tingle of curry.

Sal del Mare - a salted caramel. This one still qualified as a truffle though. the lighter chocolate shell had two chambers, the bottom was flowing salted caramel and the top was chocolate ganache. The caramel was smooth and sweet and with a salted bite and the chocolate set it off nicely. Not nearly as shocking as some other salted caramels and this one had the added bonus of a pine nut on top to mellow all the flavors together.

(Yes, there are more truffles in the box than listed here, I did some doubles and one just for my husband that I didn’t taste.)

Overall, I think that the Vosges shop is a great destination, a little treat for yourself if you’re in one of the cities where they have a store (Chicago, NYC and Las Vegas). The quality is superb, the freshness and combination of flavors set them apart from many other trufflers. Whereas many of the other truffles and chocolates I experienced (Pierre Marcolini & Marie Belle) on this trip were the flattened kind, Vosges makes them as generous spheres that give you ample ganache for really appreciating the flavors. I don’t see myself ordering them online, but I know I’ll make an effort to see their flagship store in Chicago when I’m there in June.

The store also features some clothing and candles and other lifestyle paraphernalia, but I’m not about to start reviewing the branded merchandise that goes with chocolate. There’s a long bar with stools for sitting and enjoying a drink or truffle on site with a friend or as a solo treat, and if you play your cards right, you can get out of there for less than $10.00. But if you’re looking for a real splurge, they have a “Club Haut-Chocolat” where they’ll send you a box of nine for 13 months for a mere $490. That’s love, baby.

I’m heading back from New York City to Los Angeles this evening but I thought I’d just give you a tantalizing list of all the places I’ve been this week:

Economy Candy - cheap candy, great selection, packed to the rafters
Russ & Daughters - awesome halvah and dried fruits
Kee’s Chocolates - Creme Brulee chocolate was awesome!
Maison du Chocolat - I drank an $8 cup of hot chocolate!
Pierre Marcolini - beautiful truffles and chocolates, freakishly expensive, tasty hot chocolate in pretty china cups
Dylan’s Candy Bar - all the selection of Economy Candy but at uptown prices
Marie Belle - mmm, another cup of hot chocolate and then they gave me a passion fruit truffle and it was divine
Vosges - white chocolate hot chocolate (with lavender & lemon)! hoo boy yeah! (and amazing little tasting pieces of their aztec and gunaduja)
Jacques Torres - awesome hot chocolate in absurdly huge portions, go during the day when the “factory” is working to see all the wonderous sites
Babycakes - yeah, I went to a bakery and ate a “sugar-free, wheat-free, dairy-free & egg-free” chocolate cupcake and it was goooood

I’ll have more later (I’ve made lots of purchases but haven’t eaten anything yet). Thanks to everyone who made suggestions - every piece of advice was awesome.

I’m candy trippin’ ... I’m in New York City, New York this week and I’m trying to hit all the best candy stores Manhattan has to offer. The amazing thing is that there are so many of them. What’s even more amazing is the ubiquity of candy here. It seems a bit harder to find candy in Los Angeles, sure, it’s at the grocery store, the drug store but the breadth and scope of candy in New York far surpasses any other city I visit. My guess is that New Yorkers need more energy. Folks walk everywhere or take public transportation and that takes a lot out of you. Well, it’s not like candy is the only choice they have, fresh fruit abounds, but I suspect there’s less guilt about it here.

Economy Candy has been in business for nearly 70 years and has an incredible selection. They feature both domestic candy by the bar: Hershey, Nestle/Wonka, Mars (including Colorworks M&Ms), Jelly Belly, Atkinson, Annabelle’s, Pearson’s, Tootsie and probably plenty of others. They also had an exceptional selection of consumer candy bars from Europe, like Cadbury’s Flake series, Aeros, Lion bars and even some Israeli bars from Elite. But there were also other high-end bars from Scharffen Berger (great prices), Cafe Tasse (review soon!), Cote d’Or, Droste, Feodora, Lindt, Niederegger, Ritter, Toblerone and even those Chick chocolate bars.

The place is literally packed to the rafters, the shelves go up at least ten feet and I had trouble remembering to look high and low to keep from missing things. They had Dutch and Finnish licorices by the pound, every possible gummi and jelly you might want (yes, I got a half pound of Swedish fish, all red)

Because this is the week of Easter and Passover they had special displays to meet both needs. After all, candy is inclusive, not exclusive. There’s no rule that says that a dark chocolate egg can’t come to a seder (Kosher of course) and wouldn’t some chocolate covered matzohs might be a fun inclusion in an Easter basket.

My favorite there was their selection of Halvah. They have all the Joyva versions, marbled, plain, nuts ... but they also had the little morsels of halvah dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in almonds. Heaven! The halvah is flaky, not too sweet and melts in your mouth. It’s terribly messy stuff and I was eating mine over the trash basket in my hotel room.

There were a few things they don’t carry, in case you were wondering. There’s not much of anything from Asia and nothing that crosses over into the cookie family. They do, however, have a large selection of dried fruits and nuts. But you’re not going to do much better on prices, especially in NYC. There are some other candy stores, sure, but they charge a premium just because of the name on the bag. Economy is true to its name. Plain old sugar candies (hard candies, Mary Janes, Tootsie Rolls, etc.) are less than $2 a pound. Jelly Belly - $5.99 a pound ... Jordan Almonds - $3.99 a pound ... Gummis - $2.49-$3.99 a pound. All prices are good on their website, too.

The places is overwhelming. Even though I immersed myself in their website before we went, just to make sure I was familiar with their products, I still didn’t know where to look. I was expecting a huge store, and in all fairness, it is. But it was packed with people (if you can, go earlier in the morning on weekends or try a weekday). I might have to go there again (yes, it’ll be my third visit) just because I know I missed some things (and I was with other people both times).

Economy Candy
108 Rivington Street
New York, New York 10002
F Train to Delancey, walk one block up Essex to Rivington
1-800-352-4544
Check their site for updated hours