As a former pastry chef at two different Ritz Carlton's out West, I thought I had seen some pretty amazing chocolates - Norman Love's probably chief among them. I have to say that The Chocolaterie has surpassed anything I have ever seen in the form of a truffle. It is not just that they are gorgeous to look at. It is that they have truly mastered some absolutely phenomenal dessert flavors right in the chocolates themselves. On top of that, they have at least three or four times as many different truffles as I have ever seen in any one retail shop. I personally love fruit and chocolate combinations, and in my opinion this is one of their crowning achievements. The list of fruit truffles is too long to enumerate here, but I'll tell you I bought 10 of them and counted at least 15 more! (Most chocolatiers are doing well to have 25 TOTAL truffles in stock!) The passion fruit is the best I've tasted. And the caramel apple truffle is truly a schoolgirl flashback to the fresh caramel apples we ate at the state fair. And don't even get me started on the fig and almond truffle with Southern Comfort. That was sublime! And then there is one of their quintessentially American truffle creations that I recommend to any spicy food lover. It's their strawberry Tabasco truffle. Fresh strawberry ganache laced with Tabasco and covered in dark chocolate. Just amazing. I could go on and on, but I will simply say that my chef hat is off to these guys. They are in a chocolate league with very few others. In some ways, they might even be at the top of that league.
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