Chocolate Bar: Sending Me to Chocolate Rehab!

That barbecue sounds fabulous, Em!

I'm in NYC for the weekend, which presents many fun food opportunities. Today my boyfriend and I wandered around to the West Village and found ourselves at Chocolate Bar on 8th Ave. and 4th street. It's a cute, tidy little shop with funky decor including squares of fake grass sitting under the various chocolate products, and an orange and brown color scheme. They're known for their "Liquid Chocolate". It's basically an iced hot chocolate. Super rich. The first sip conjured up images of Augustus Gloop slurping on the chocolate river. It was divine. So rich that I almost fell into a chocolate coma after drinking a few big sips. Luckily we shared it, along with an "Elvis" chocolate-- a fluffy, painfully sweet homemade marshmallow laced with banana flavor, with a chunk of peanut butter in the center, all draped in delicious dark chocolate. It was ridiculously good. It was about three inches in diameter but even splitting it, I could only get a couple of bites down before I started feeling like I might have a chocolate overdose and be headed straight to chocolate rehab-- that and the Liquid Chocolate was just too much! Definitely a case where too much is just enough. I think the word I am looking for is decadent.

I was chatting with the ladies behind the counter about the Liquid Chocolate-- my suggestion to them was that they serve it in a shot glass. Less intimidating, and a smaller portion would really highlight the rich intensity of the stuff. I am a big fan of small portions in general because I find I savor the food much more that way. The ladies showed us a huge bucket of bittersweet chocolate slivers which they scoop into hot whole milk and allow to melt and mix. They then put that over ice, and there you have it, liquid chocolate.

Check it out at www.chocolatebarnyc.com. You can get a feel for it, but you'll have to come out to the city if you want a taste. It's a great alternative to the famous Magnolia Bakery when the line there is too long to bear.

;-p