Dan Pitt’s Opinionated Compendium of Downtown Palo Alto Restaurants
Dan Pitt’s Opinionated Compendium of Downtown Palo Alto Restaurants
The loss of Shokolaat last year does not mean Palo Altans are deprived of enough chocolate. Au contraire. Not only is Monique’s Chocolates at 539 Bryant doing a healthy business with their house-made truffles and hot chocolate from ingredients sourced from around the world (and so identified), but two new chocolate-only businesses have recently opened as well.
The Chocolate Garage at 654 Gilman St. (across from the Saturday morning farmer’s market) is not exactly a store but more of a mecca for the fixated. Open to the public only Wednesdays from 5-9 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., the Chocolate Garage specializes in teaching people about how chocolate is made. They sell bars made by specialists elsewhere, and, from what I can tell, you sort of buy a subscription (starting at $100) to a certain amount of merchandise.
Almost directly across from Monique’s is Alegio Chocolate at 522 Bryant, opening this week. A branch of the original Berkeley location, Alegio actually owns a cacao plantation in Africa and features very artisinal makers. They sell both truffles and bars, and also include a tasty educational component. As with so many others of this ilk, the name Alegio is not a real word, not even in Italian. If anything, it sort of evokes “lightness”, which is not how I prefer my chocolate.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
All chocolate, all the time