By Michelle Golden, ZAGAT.com staff editor
At these chocolate-centric cafes, towers of truffles and fudge-filled foodstuffs take center stage and you can focus your appetite on what really matters: dessert
'Tis the season to indulge, and where better to do so than at one of these chocolate-centric cafes, where towers of truffles and fudge-filled foodstuffs take center stage, and you can skip all those extraneous appetizers and superfluous salads and focus your appetite on what really matters: dessert.
250 Franklin St., Boston, 617-451-1900
The Langham Hotel's seasonal Chocolate Bar lures cocoa aficionados with an all-you-can-eat buffet featuring a dizzying and decadent selection of white-, milk- and dark-chocolate pastries, tarts, fondues, brûlées, brioche, puddings and cookies; N.B. open through May.
Chocolate Pink
905 Juniper St., Atlanta, 404-745-9292
The namesake dessert at this stylish new Atlanta cafe is a triple chocolate threat with ganache, mousse and cake layered atop a hazelnut cookie base; cheesecakes, fruit tarts and petit fours round out the mostly cocoa-focused menu.
1140 Highland Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA, 310-545-4925
This relative newcomer, just a block from the surf in Manhattan Beach, offers chocolate and wine pairings as well as a full menu of savory Asian-inspired small plates; seasonal sweets include fiery-red cayenne and sunflower-encrusted dark chocolate as well as bonbons stuffed with strawberry ganache.
Dilettante
400 Pine St., Seattle, 206-903-8595
416 Broadway E., Seattle, 206-329-6463
Keep your buzz going with alcohol and cocoa-infused coffee drinks at this Seattle duo where savory snacks complement the wide selection of truffles and other goodies; if you can't make it to the store, browse their century-old chocolate concoctions (prepared from family recipes) online.
Fashion Show Mall, 3200 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas, 702-796-6662
As if Las Vegas wasn't decadent enough, this new chocolate "lounge" (a sit-down outpost from the folks behind Ethel M chocolate shops) luxuriates in handcrafted bonbons and cocoa-blended beverages making it a sweet stop for chocoholics trolling the Strip; N.B. factory tours are available at their main retail store in Henderson (2 Cactus Garden Dr., 702-458-8864).
Max Brenner
841 Broadway, Manhattan, 212-388-0030
141 Second Ave., Manhattan, 212-388-0030
These two NYC cafes – including a brand-new East Village branch – fancy themselves as Willy Wonka–like fantasylands with an extravagant selection of outlandishly plated desserts (chocolate pizza, anyone?), as well as fondues, frappes, s'mores and an endless array of pastries and packaged goodies; a comfort-food menu of sandwiches, soups and salads takes the edge off the sweets.
1317 Walnut St., Philadelphia, 215-735-7310
Luxurious sipping chocolates as well as chocolate-dipped strawberries, pots de crème, tarts and finely blended teas offer a dainty way to get an afternoon sugar rush after hitting the shops and shows in Philly's Center City; a full line of handmade truffles and confections, as well as tiny tins of chocolate caviar and hunks of holiday peppermint bark, make for fine parting gifts.