Monday, March 17, 2008

Sucre

SucreNew Orleans is known for food, from the Creole and Cajun traditions to confections based on the locally grown pecans and of course the abundant sugar that comes through the port.

What New Orleans may have been lacking was a European-style chocolatier. That changed when Joel Dondis (who already has two restaurants in NOLA) opened Sucre late last year. By the way, I think that’s the perfect proportion - one sweet shop for every two restaurants.  Some cities may approach that, but Los Angeles is certainly woefully under-sweeted. (No, I don’t count frozen yogurt.)

Blake Killian and has been sending samples out to many of the candy, chocolate and food bloggers. (So if you haven’t already seen these reviews, be prepared for others to come.)

Sucre Assortment

Torrone - Double cream milk chocolate ganache paired with a sweet hazelnut wafer crunch

Crispy little hazelnut crunch bits (kind of like corn flakes), sweet and creamy chocolate.

Avery - Caramel and milk chocolate ganache enhanced by salt from the Avery Mines, presented in the shape of a Fleur de Lis

Mine didn’t look quite like a Fleur de Lis, but still, it had some nice burnt sugar notes in a ganache center.

Sucre Dark - Our signature, showcasing our single bean chocolate from the Maracaibo region of Venezuela

Tangy, a bit dry and very dark with some berry and nutty butter notes

Blange - Inspired by Paul Blange’s Bananas Foster, this white chocolate ganache is finished with fresh banana and a hint of rum

A light banana flavor, kind of green with a hint of nutmeg and pudding. Not quite enough bananas or foster for me ... this was the one I was really looking forward to.

Sucre mystery chocolateThe Lavender one ... I couldn’t find a description for this, but basically it felt like a nice dark chocolate ganache with a light violet essence to it. But I could have just been tasting the purple. Later I thought maybe it was jasmine, which is something that I associate with the deep south.

Meunierre - A New Orleans classic made sweeter, a brown butter and toasted almond infused white chocolate ganache (Molded Fleur de Lis)

Nice salty and creamy center with just a little darker undertone

Lemon Confit - A zesty ganache of dark chocolate and lemon

An interesting little cigarette shaped chocolate. The chocolate isn’t the star here, it’s the lemon zest, with a light tang of lemon juice as well. I could have used a bit more chocolate, a bit more creaminess. Really, I didn’t like this one.

Magnolia - Pecan ganache finished with a southern pecan half

Sweet and soft filling, nutty notes of pecan that mixes well with the chocolate shell

Sicillian Pistachio cinnamon & vanilla complement the silky white chocolate ganache

Grassy and floral, the white chocolate seems to stand up well to the cinnamon.

I liked the variations in the flavors, the chocolate was well tempered and each piece was lovely. The ingredients tasted fresh and the chocolate was very high quality. I really liked the variations in the shapes of the pieces. There’s nothing wrong with everything being little squares, but in this case I found that the shapes really provided an additional dimension to each tiny experience.

The shop also sells French-style macarons, panned nuts, muscadines, pate de fruits and the cafe experience in the store promises much more from their dessert case.

The box was well packaged for shipping, which I note because of some of my bad experiences lately.

I’m not sure if I would order these up special, but I definitely have them on my list of places to stop at when I’m in New Orleans or check out if I see in another shop. It’s pricey stuff though, so it’s probably reserved for very special ocassions or people with large amounts of disposable income.

Related Candies

  1. BonBonBars: Malt Ganache & Scotch
  2. L’Artisan du Chocolat
  3. Theo Confections
  4. Charles Chocolates
  5. CocoaBella “World’s Best Box”
  6. Recchiuti
Name: New Orleans Collection
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Sucre
Place Purchased: samples from Sucre
Price: $16.00 retail
Size: unknown (8 pieces)
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Chocolate, Nuts, United States, Chocolatier, All-Natural

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:04 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. Those chocolates are beautiful! I love the variety in shapes and sizes and colors and techniques. Just my sort of chocolatier.

    Comment by KateC on 3/17/08 at 9:51 am #
  2. Ohhh…I might get to go to New Orleans next month.  Now I’m even more excited.

    Comment by g on 3/18/08 at 5:12 am #
  3. I had a terrible time trying to figure out what that purple bonbon was. I think it was the “Paris”, but I could be wrong. So annoying!

    Comment by Sera on 3/18/08 at 11:11 am #
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