Tuesday, May 30, 2006

K Chocolatier

On my thrice yearly trip to Beverly Hills to get my hair cut, I was lucky enough to go on a weekday (Friday) this time, which meant I could finally visit K Chocolatier.

imageThey’re only open Monday-Friday ... I haven’t a clue why, but that’s the way it is. The shop is tiny. Think of a Fotomat Booth, oh, wait, they don’t have those anymore. Anyway, it’s tiny. The photo you see on their website shows the ENTIRE store. No need for a wide angle lens or positioning yourself across the street for that photo.

K Chocolates were created by Diane Kron, who I guess is one of those “chocolatier to the stars” people because they mention that kind of stuff a lot on the website. I have no idea if movie stars, TV networks or banks have good taste in chocolate. But they’re certainly not wrong in picking K Chocolatier because it is good stuff, just freakishly expensive.

The nice thing is that the shop offers free tastes of EVERYTHING. There’s a little dish on the counter with a select few goodies so I tried all of them.

imageK Chocolatier is known for their little K Bears, which are crisped rice in milk, white and dark chocolate. They’re super cute, about the size of a Teddy Graham. The milk chocolate one was very milky, quite sweet but very smooth and of course the crisped cookie/rice was fun. The dark chocolate was much smoother, with an ultra buttery dark chocolate with a really satisfying smoky taste to it. The white chocolate wasn’t very sweet, but very milky and not enough vanilla for my tastes.

The sampler tray also had their famous K Chocolate Truffles, which were little squares about the size of sugar cubes dusted in cocoa. They were not sweet at all, smooth and with some very complex coffee and woodsy flavors. There was even a bit of a salty hint to it.

My favorite free item was the K Spanish Orange, which was chocolate covered candied orange rind. That smooth and buttery chocolate was the perfect complement to the zesty and slightly bitter orange peel.

But I was there to get something I couldn’t get anywhere else, which is one of the reasons to shop an exclusive store like this.

imageI wanted to try their Vodka chocolates. And they let me! There were two varieties - K Vodka Shots and K Vodka Martini. They were a little smaller than a standard malted milk ball and a little flat on one side. The little spheres of dark chocolate held a crunchy sugar shell and inside that, a burst of real vodka. Not cheap vodka either, this was good stuff. After trying both I opted for a small box of the K Vodka Martini - it had a touch of vermouth in it that gave the alcohol a good balsam/citrus note to it that really brought out the fruity/floral notes of the chocolate.

image

But the sad part is that they were $40.00. Seriously. But I bought them anyway. And they were good. They weren’t a huge hit at home though and of course you have to practice a little self control as that’s real alcohol in there. (Okay, it wasn’t a lot, but I can get a buzz off of a half a dozen of them). The other irritation with the store is that nothing is marked with a weight or size of any kind. I don’t know how much chocolate I bought. Was that a half a pound? A full pound? Do they all weigh the same?

I’m a big fan of alcohol/chocolate cordials. As a touchstone, I bought the Trader Joe’s holiday box of vodka filled chocolates for New Years. They were nice, they had different fillings - orange, lemon and raspberry vodka inside of dark chocolate shells. But the vodka wasn’t very high quality, so they didn’t quite have the sassy snap that K Vodka Martinis do. I suppose you get what you pay for, the Trader Joe’s box was about $5.

Will I buy K Chocolatier products again? Probably not, but I’m glad I did.

K Chocolatier
9606 Little Santa Monica Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA
310-248-2626

Name: K Vodka Martinis
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: K Chocolatier
Place Purchased: K Chocolatier (Beverly Hills)
Price: $40.00 (zoinks!)
Size: unknown
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Chocolate, United States, Los Angeles

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:07 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. I like those little Teddy Bears too. She seems like a nice person and used to do candy-making classes at her shop (although last time I called, I got some grumpy guy that was sort of a turn-off.)

    I remember the old Kron chocolate shop, which was full of oddities as well. They were even doing some female Viagra-style chocolates, meant to, um, enhance your life. As if they need more of that in Beverly Hills!

    Comment by David L on 6/03/06 at 11:58 pm #
  2. oh and i heard a rumor that K chocolates are kosher!

    Comment by torahumaddachic on 6/04/06 at 8:24 pm #
  3. Best truffles I’ve ever tasted, bar none.  Her truffles are an absolute “10”.

    But, they are too expensive.  Worth it, though, if you have the money.  $30.00 for a small bag, which looked to be 4-6 ounces?  The packaging is special.  Kron always had nice packaging.  I liked the old packaging which was purple shopping bags with purple tissue.  Their logo is now red.

    By the way, she’s got a new Brentwood location which is much larger and open weekends.

    Comment by Maxine on 6/10/06 at 8:21 pm #
  4. This is the coolest La Cocina.  [promotional link removed by admin]

    Comment by nydia on 7/02/06 at 4:55 am #
  5. are YOU INSANE or just a “junior reporter” who hasn’t done their research? You have embarassed yourself..and done a dis-service to one of the few remaining quality chocolatiers in America.
    (Oh - thanks for the candy corn .. should it place your comments in perspective?

    From either a few minutes of research, time with Dianne or even your tasetbuds, you should be able to discern a difference in mass marketing chocolates, quality vs. the “size” of one’s store, or focus on price.

    Dianne has a solid reputation ... received many accolades & operates in a “small” outlet by choice. 

    Their recipie & product are known for their freshness, quality, attention to details, labor intensive process, etc.

    Sorry they were not a “hit” with your family. As my dad is so fond of saying “why buy champagne when they are satis fied with american beer?”
    Know thyself..and your audience.
    Dianne continues to produce fantastic chocolate. She is candid & unpologetic about her prices..& the quality. Take your candy corn & eat all the corn syrup, wax & artificial dyes you can ingest.
    BTW…I understand there is a sale at “the ‘Mart”.
    Kind regards…................bubba from BH

    Comment by bubba BH on 8/20/06 at 4:45 pm #
  6. Cybele's avatar

    Wow, bubba BH, you’ve got a lot of issues, including a problem with reading comprehension.

    I never said that the product wasn’t fresh or tasty or of the highest quality. (And YOU don’t know how to spell Diane’s name.)

    She is free to charge what the market will bear and in BH, she’s obviously hit the right balance. But unfortunately that means that I am not within her target market (not just the price, but the hours of the store are simply incompatible for someone with a day job) ... but I gave the products a go and I found them quite nice, as was the service. The rating of 6 - Tempting means just that - I would probably buy it if I could and I suggest the same to others if they have found that they would like what I described.

    You’ve obviously not read much of my other writing, nor do you understand the purpose of Candy Blog ... it’s about candy. Yes, packaging and experience and lore is nice, but really all that matters is what happens once I put it in my mouth. 

    I do not insult people who like candy that I don’t care for, and I expect the same common courtesy from everyone else. There’s a reason for the great variety in the world, because people wish to have it. I’ve made it clear to my readers that I don’t like cherry flavors, but I’ve never said that I don’t like the people who do.

    Using the fact that I have a picture of candy corn on my blog as some sort of an insult (when you don’t actually know if I like the stuff) comes off as uninformed as you accuse me of being.

    The motto here is “open your mouth and expand your mind.”

    Comment by Cybele on 8/20/06 at 5:40 pm #
  7. “I do not insult people who like candy that I don?t care for, and I expect the same common courtesy from everyone else.”

    Oh, Cybele, this is the Internet. Common courtesy is in short supply around here. It’s easy for a$$h*les like bubba to be snide and condescending when they know nobody knows who they really are.

    The few times I’ve been by K they’ve been closed. Now that I know their prices I guess it’s just as well. No matter how fantastic the product, I just can’t afford those prices. Maybe bubba would like to buy me a pound or ten of those K Spanish Oranges? I mean, since he’s so concerned with what other people eat, he should extend charity to those less fortunate, right?

    Comment by Bruce on 8/28/06 at 6:32 am #
  8. Cybele's avatar

    Bruce - I know, I shouldn’t take it personally, but I take a lot of abuse from people in a lot of other places (including gobs of it heaped on me via the internets) and just because they get away with it elsewhere doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t confront them on my own blog.

    I just think it’s funny, in the end, that someone divides the world into “those who like candy corn and those who don’t like people who like candy corn”

    Comment by Cybele on 8/29/06 at 9:37 am #
  9. Actually, I agree with Bubba’s opinion on K Chocolatier although I agree he was unnecessarily rude in conveying it. Kron chocolates are exceptionally good and expensive. I can only afford to buy them occasionally as very special gifts. The receipients really appreciate them. Unless one is exceedingly wealthy, these are special treat chocolates to be savored in small amounts not every day chocolates to be devoured by the pound.

    Comment by Sandye on 12/13/06 at 8:09 pm #
  10. hello i wanted to know what are your afradigiac chocolates please i want to see if i can order for me and my fiance

    Comment by jeniffer on 1/08/07 at 8:38 am #
  11. I wanted to know if there was any way I could order any of Diane’s chocolates and have them shipped to where I am from.  if you could let me know, I would really appreciate it.

    Comment by Sarah on 1/25/07 at 10:16 am #
  12. Cybele's avatar

    Sarah -  you should either call them at the number listed above or try to email them via the website. I believe the do (or did) mail order.

    Comment by Cybele on 1/25/07 at 10:27 am #
  13. it’s spelled aphroidisiac, jennifer.

    Comment by Emily on 4/19/07 at 9:18 am #
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