Xococava
1560 Yonge Street
416-979-9916

One of those secrets that no one ever tells you about Spain until you get there is that, in addition to tapas and bull-fighting, the country is crazy about candy. In train stations, in tiny beach towns, in department stores, it’s easy to find a respectable selection of sugary goodness that would put any Sugar Mountain to shame.

Though the tapas at Chris McDonald’s much-loved uptown restaurant Cava are influenced by Italian and French cuisine as well as Spanish, Xococava (pronounced “sho-co-ca-va”), its new next-door neighbour, plays firmly into the Spanish sweet tooth. Decorated with marble counters and a wall covered in broken dishes from Avalon painstakingly glued on by McDonald, Xococava opened a month ago. Taking over Mother’s Sweet and Nuts, a candy shop whose owners had retired after years of serving the neighbourhood’s kids from bins of confections, McDonald saw an opportunity to create an off-shoot of his brand that would speak to the same tastebuds, just a different audience.

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Adam & Eve Chocolatier
97 Maitland Street
416-962-2326

Chocolate - what’s not to love about it? It is a treat to indulge in, no matter what time of the day or year, and for whatever reason. Even better is to enjoy chocolate in an atmosphere that brings feelings of comfort and enjoyment, with an aroma of cocoa wafting on the air and a wide selection of temptations to choose from. This is the direction Donna Young is undertaking at her store, Adam & Eve Chocolatier.

Continue reading To Sin in Chocolate Bliss »

Valentine’s Day is:

a) a day to celebrate love and passion
b) just another exploitive commercial event
c) a reminder of singledom
d) extra pressure on relationships
e) my birthday

I don’t know if anyone really looks forward to Valentine’s Day. Even though people always coo, “Oh you’re a Valentine’s baby that’s nice,” I can’t really believe that they mean it. Typically, what it does mean is that my coupled friends have plans, and I get pushed to the week before or after. If I do try celebrate punctually, restaurants and any other establishments that can cash in on the red and pink are usually too overpriced or fully booked. Over the years, instead of feeding any acrimony, a solution arose: the “birthday week”, during which I treated myself to a little something each day.

Forget waiting for candy and cards from Cupid. That’s why every year I gift myself with some I “Choo-choo choose” me, indulgences. The following are my treats for 2008. Sometimes bitterness, like in dark chocolate, can turn out to be something nice.

Continue reading Sweet Eats for Valentine Week »

Craving Chocolates
119A Roncesvalles Avenue
416-538-1212

Valentine’s Day is commonly thought of as the biggest holiday of the year for chocolate sales, but statistics show it actually ranks third or fourth after Easter, Halloween and Christmas. Due to shopping habits related to the day, however, Valentine’s generates more one-week candy sales than any other holiday. Apparently shoppers are better prepared for the other holidays (something about women doing the bulk of the shopping as opposed to men), and Valentine’s Day purchases are more last minute. Which is a shame, because it means an awful lot of people are getting big ugly boxes of sub-par candy, when a little planning could mean a better product.

Tucked away behind a flower shop on Roncesvalles Avenue is exactly the kind of place where people should be buying their Valentine’s chocolates.

Continue reading Craving Some Valentine’s Chocolates »

Dessert Lady
20 Cumberland Street
416-924-3223

Here is a spell of winter magic: Trudging through the slush and tumbling over snowbanks in suddenly-white Toronto, cold, nose running, face wind-burnt and opening the door to the Dessert Lady. The powerful scent of shortbread slams into me like a wave. The wind turns to warmth. And winter is long gone two steps into this cozy Yorkville shop.

For three years, a sibling team has been creating artful goodies that run the gamut of everything sweet. Chef Mandy Kan, whose studies began at Manhattan’s renowned French Culinary Institute, has honed her skills in Florida (Ritz Carlton) and Toronto (Superior Restaurant, Summerhill Market). Now she’s got her own shop of innovative desserts.

Continue reading An Inspired Sweet Tooth »

Kakayo Chocolate Company
1584 Queen Street East
647-346-2936

Anyone rooting for chocolates truffles in Hogtown will inevitably end up at Kakayo. Kakayo is the enterprise of Colleen Wong-Sala who for ten years worked in the fast-paced world of I.T. before devoting herself to the painstakingly slow work of creating hand-made chocolates. “I wanted to do something more in line with who I am as person.” Wong-Sala says from a table at the back of her cozy store. “And this is it.”

Wong-Sala who has been “about organic and fair trade” since high school, came to a point in her life where she says had to “stop worrying about my pay cheque and what bills I had to pay.” Thus a dramatic career change ensued. I.T’s loss became a gain for Toronto’s chocophiles.

Continue reading Ethichocolate »

Sitting Around Eating Bonbons
3308 Lakeshore West (Unit 1)
416-503-3313

Sitting Around Eating BonBons is a modest little storefront that produces a not-so-modest product. By that I mean the owner/operator/chocolatier, Trish Kooger-Brown, is offering incredible value for her wares; $2 for a high-end chocolate truffle isn’t really considered a lot to pay these days – but Trish’s creations, her “bonbons”, are nearly the size of golf balls. And knowing she uses quality organic and fair trade chocolate makes them even more attractive to the serious and socially aware chocoholic.

Continue reading These BonBons aren’t for SnobSnobs »

Delight
3040 Dundas Street West
416-760-9995

I shed a little tear the day in 2003 when Citron closed down. The Queen Street restaurant was one of my favourites and I think of it fondly still. A couple of years later, a friend who happened to also be good friends with the folks who had owned the place showed up at my house for dinner bearing a box of chocolates. The gorgeous treats were the work of none other than former Citron pastry chef and co-owner Jennifer Rashleigh. She had created a business called Delight and was making beautiful chocolates and selling them wholesale.

Continue reading Delight in the Junction »

ChocoSol (website not up to date)
6 St. Joseph Street, 4th floor
no phone

I was wholly unprepared for ChocoSol’s New Moon Chocolatada. The previous day’s Street Treats Festival had left me bitter - long lines and pushy people as eager as I to sample cheap street foods are not fun to begin with. Nearly every item sold out before the halfway point of the event had come. I was left with a bad taste in my mouth and a distinct lack of Chili Lime Corn. So when ChocoSol’s celebration of their new location rolled around the next evening, I was utterly overwhelmed by the amiability and party atmosphere, not to mention the chocolate delights.

Continue reading ChocoSol’s Chocolatada »

Soma Chocolatemaker
Historic Distillery District,
55 Mill Street, Building 48, unit 102
416-815-7662

It’s a sad fact that many people who deem themselves to be “chocoholics” have never tasted anything made from good quality chocolate. That’s not meant to sound snobby, but I make the statement to illustrate a point. There are “chocoholics” who get their fix by buying a bar at the corner store and then there are those of us who make special trips, across town or around the world, for the truly spectacular stuff. In terms of the folks who create the confections, you can’t beat the devotion of Cynthia Leung and David Castellan of Soma Chocolates who installed an 80-year old Catalan Melangeur (that’s a chocolate grinder to the rest of us) via forklift, and then built the walls of their shop around it.

Continue reading Soma: Home to the True Chocoholic »