NYC Chocolate Show

Chocoholics, prepare to part with $35 this weekend for the 14th annual Chocolate Show.  Also a recommendation: bring multiple outfits to change into so you can circulate the booths repeatedly, looking like different people, and grab all the samples of chocolate goodies you can!

 

So today, we went to the NYC Chocolate Show. Immediately, we were bombarded with free samples, bright colors, small children running around to the effects of constant sugar high, and a heaviness in the air signalling sugar was to be had. Our first round of tasting included some chocolate vino...mmm.  I'm so glad we're 21.  There was one really creamy liquor that tasted sort of like Irish Cream or the Amarula we had in the Bahamas...really heavy, dense, alcoholic heavy cream basically.  Then, we tried a strawberry chocolate wine that was lighter, but very sweet.

We continued walking around, spying...

a chocolate company from the UK that caters to the Queen and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (that's Wills and Kate to you);

Francois Payard Bakery and its colorful macarons (NYC Macaron Day 2011 was the brainchild of this guy!);

this company that made fondue-in-a-cup to microwave;

 

cute sugary-looking jewelry;

 

this really delicious hot chocolate mix (we tried green tea & white chocolate, which I thought would be extremely tooth-rottingly sweet, but was actually really light, like a nice not-too-sweet green tea latte);

rum and chocolate from Puerto Rico (again, yay for being 21);

Jacques Torres Chocolate (I wish they were giving out samples of their wicked hot chocolate, but alas no!  It is soooo so so good, though: thick, almost-pudding hot chocolate, spiced with allspice, cinnamon, ground, sweet ancho chili peppers, and smoked, ground chipotle chili peppers);

chocolate-covered pretzels (always always always a good thing);

several chocolate sculptures of Midtown Manhattan;

and finally, chocolate haute couture...yeah, dresses made out of chocolate and inspired by Broadway plays.  I was a big fan of the cheongsam from "Chinglish"!

So, this chocolate convention.  Worth it?  I'm not so sure. Free samples are always nice, and definitely a good way to experience new things.  But, after a while, everything started tasting the same.  A little cynical part of me thinks that even if you take average chocolate and dress it up in a fancy box or with bright colors...it's just the same average chocolate.  I'm sure we had some fantastic chocolate today, but after like nearly sixty different chocolate companies, I probably couldn't tell you what stood out the most anyway.

That being said, it's also chocolate, so you'd be mad not to go, at least one point in your life.  We were talking to a lady who worked the gelato booth and said we sort of wrote and photographed with the college student population in mind because "what student doesn't love chocolate?" but she immediately and accurately corrected us, saying "what person doesn't love chocolate?"

NYC Chocolate Show
125 West 18th Street