Chocolate in Chelsea

When I had a book signing at Three Tarts in Chelsea, I met a very sweet woman named Cathy Selin. Within weeks, I was staring at one of her darling pink boites du chocolat, which beckoned me to indulge.

Cathy launched her delicious company, Chocolate in Chelsea, in 2005. It started on a small scale and remains available through web order only. But after savoring nine of her fresh, delicious flavors, I can assure you, Chocolate in Chelsea is worth seeking out. I asked Cathy a few questions about chocolate-making and her responses reveal someone who’s completely devoted to the philosophy, craft and pleasure of creating something both artistic and artisanal.

You have a background in pastry and law. What drew you to chocolate-making?
The first impulse was to bring the wonderful flavor experience of the bonbons I had in France to the USA. I loved the rich, deep chocolate centers either on their own or infused with herbs and spices. It was such a contrast to the light, sugary, extract flavored centers of bonbons here in the states.

Then it became much more. It was working with chocolate itself that I loved. I loved that it took time, skill and mastery; you had to learn from masters and work at it. I respected the craft. A craft with a history that was here before me and would be after me. I respect that mass production and speed are desirable for some elements of our lives, but I need a place for slow, careful, time consuming creating, some things just need time. I also love that with time and attention you can bring something lovely and delicious to people… Few of us can afford to experience the best on a regular basis, but an outstanding piece of handmade chocolate can be enjoyed as a part of everyone's lifestyle.

What are your own favorite flavors?
I don't have favorites because I won't include a flavor until I just love it. I've worked on some for a couple years before getting it the way I wanted it—tea in particular has taken a long time. All of our flavors are obtained by fresh herb and spice infusions and some fruit purees. We don't add ground spices to chocolates as it changes the texture and lacks nuance.

How do you come up with your pairings?
It can begin with an idea of a flavor combination: lemon basil, fresh mint with lime, coconut cardamom, or ginger rose to name a few. It can also begin with the chocolate itself. High quality chocolate, such as the kind we use (Cathy uses Valrhona and Michel Cluizel Fair Trade chocolate) has its own flavor notes—red fruits, dried fruits, banana, herbal etc. Like coffee or wine it absorbs flavors from its surroundings. Whichever it begins with, these elements must all be harmonized. A certain couveture with red fruit notes is perfect for a raspberry puree; a more herbal tasting one may be a good foil for certain herb or tea. We don't just add a lot of different flavors into any chocolate, it’s about balance and harmony.

Since we are using fresh herbs and spices each batch much be tasted as it is made and each year some of the chocolate we use for a flavor combination must be reevaluated because a fine chocolate may have a stronger emphasis on a particular flavor note one year. For example, Michel Cluizel's remarkable couveture from plantation Los Ancones seems to be particularly reminiscent of green olive this year.

Any plans to open a storefront?
We don't have plans to open a storefront yet because of the expense. If we had the backing we probably would. We will probably be looking to have a chocolate counter in an appropriate store, bakery, or restaurant.

In the meantime, where are your chocolates being sold?
Presently our chocolates sold through our website at www.chocolateinchelsea.com. We ship, deliver and have pick up in Chelsea. Where to have our chocolates sold has been a big question for us and we are being very, very cautious. We have given it try first with Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We chose them because there commitment to quality is becoming legendary. Their chocolate case is pristine and it has worked out well.

That said, we want to keep as much control as possible because the product is delicate. If the right situation comes up we are open.


Sounds like a brilliant opportunity if there ever was one, n’est-ce pas??

I highly recommend ordering yourself a box online. I’m not normally a big caramel person, but Cathy’s Salted Burnt Caramel was “juicy”—the caramel wasn’t too thick, it wasn’t too thin, and the balance between it the chocolate was just right. Delicious.

Similarly, I find many ganache bonbons a bit too thin. Cathy’s are wonderfully generous and rich and her quality ingredients and thoughtful pairings are evident in every bite.

These are my kind of chocolates.

Valentine’s from This Chick Bakes

I judge books by their covers, and I judge sweets by their packaging. I’m sorry, but it matters. And Jen and Charley of This Chick Bakes get that.

Their Little Box of Kisses for Valentine’s Day comes adorably wrapped in turquoise stripes and polka dots, which is swaddled in matching tissue. Undo the sticker to get inside the petit boite, and, voila!, three individually wrapped decadent treats await. Rich, fudgy brownie sandwiches a bright Italian cherry ganache center, all of which is drizzled with dark and white chocolate and dusted with hearts. Love-ly and delicious.

A one-two chocolate punch

Jean-Paul Hévin, Patrick Roger, Un Dimanche à Paris… I was certainly getting around to my favorite chocolatiers during my last weeks in Paris. But in the very last few days, I made visits to two brand new chocolatiers: Chloe Chocolat and Franck Kestener.

My own copy of Chloé Doutre-Roussel’s bible, The Chocolate Connoisseur (2005), is a tattered, stained mess from all the bonbons I consumed while reading about Criollo trees and the tempering process. And when I spoke with Chloé at the Salon du Chocolat in October about the chocolate salon she was opening dangerously close to my apartment, needless to say I was as giddy as a kid in a candy shop. She debuted her two-story sliver of a salon just days before my departure, so I got to sit and chat with her and taste some mighty good chocolate.

What distinguishes Chloé—aside from being the former chocolate buyer for Fortnum & Mason and one of the very few female pros in an industry dominated by men—is how no-nonsense she is. She doesn’t scold about cocoa percentages or eschew milk chocolate for dark. She doesn’t make you feel like a chump for liking chocolate even if it’s not wrapped up from a “beans to bar” artisan or stamped with organic approval. “Don’t worry about where the beans come from,” she insists. “When you buy chocolate, you’re buying an emotional experience; it’s sensory.” Ah oui, merci!



That’s not to say she’s not on a crusade to make the world filled with better chocolate and more appreciation for it. Indeed, the intent of her new Marais home is to school both amateurs and connoisseurs through classes ranging from an introduction to chocolate to comprehensive international trends. She also offers two-and-a-half-hour walking tours that pay visits to some of the city’s most prestigious chocolatiers. And, once you’ve worked up a chocolate appetite, she offers milk and dark chocolate tablettes (in adorable packaging), both of which are divine and can be paired with carefully selected teas.

Across town, Meilleur Ouvrier de France Chocolatier, Franck Kestener offers a different, more decadent chocolate experience. It’s a posh shop near the Luxembourg Gardens, peddling marzipan, macarons, mendiants and more.



I went straight for his ganache-filled bonbons, which come in a beautiful and inspired range of flavors, from buttery tarte tatin to crisp mint to fruity juniper.

I saved my square of Atlantique—shortbread and salted caramel, topped with 66% dark chocolate—for the plane ride home, but piggishly ate two Nuages while strolling the streets of the sixth arrondissement.

Another one of the young chocolatier’s specialties, these treats look like cannelés but are filled with a light and fluffy whipped chocolate marshmallow.

It’s been over three weeks since those visits. My cupboard is finally depleted of the bars and bonbons I brought home with me. I think I need another Parisian chocolate run, don't you?

A sweet neighborhood gem

With decadent boutiques like La Patisserie des Reves and Hugo & Victor opening alongside an astounding number of cupcake cafes, it’s sometimes nice to revisit old favorites—patisseries that are top-quality and inspiring, enchanting and artistic, patisseries that never fail to seduce and impress and that are (lucky me) close to home. Patisseries like Pain de Sucre.

Opened in 2004 by Pierre Gagnaire’s former pastry chef (Didier Mathray) alongside the internationally experienced palate of Nathalie Robert, the two have been making magic happen in the form of flavored marshmallows (cassis, pistachio, caramel… red pepper!??)…

… and chocolate bars studded with wild berries, flaky coconut or slivers of almond.

And even though they create a world of macaron flavors, and offer lovely and inventive desserts of mousselines accented with fruit compotes and crumbled biscuits and dark chocolate…

…along with spectacularly tempting individual desserts, from raspberry and lemon tarts to almond-grapefruit-chocolate ganache cakes…

…I can’t help but be most wowed by their tarts.

Square, not round, relying more on clementines and limes than apples and pears, flecked with crushed pistachios or speared with rosemary sprigs, these are masterpieces you don’t see often.

Tasty, too.

And bonus points: Pain de Sucre is open on Sundays you can have the ultimate finale to an indulgent spring weekend.

14, rue Rambuteau, 4eme

The Biarritz chocolate train

How do I explain this one? A sixth sense for cacao? An exquisitely attuned nose that enables me to detect almond paste from over 400 miles away? Faith that any place in France is going to have to-die-for bonbons?

When I booked my trip to Biarritz, I knew rugby, pelote and thalassotherapy spa treatments were big. But I had no idea that the region had a storied chocolate history. I swear.

It was only on the TGV from Paris, furiously cramming to create my two-day itinerary, that my eyes came across this info and my heart skipped a beat: a chocolate museum? Vraiment?? And when I was searching for my hotel and passed three chocolatiers within 100 yards of each another, well, it was only then that I believed my beach weekend was taking a delicious detour (bikini be damned!).

The chocolate museum, Planete Musée du Chocolat, is (no pun intended) a sweet little place. It starts you off with a film about where and how chocolate is produced and then offers a handful of galleries devoted to chocolate molds and sculptures (created by Serge Couzigou), vintage advertising and packaging, and tools and machines from around the world and through the eras. At the end of the visit, you’re rewarded for your attentiveness with a cup of rich hot cocoa. And, of course, you’re spit out into the museum shop, where you can buy the house chocolate bars, bonbons, cocoa and cakes.

I skipped the shop to do my chocolate shopping at the local chocolatiers.

Henriet and Adam are located across the street from each other, reminding me of separated lovers—Henriet, traditional and decorated in pretty blue.




And Maison Adam, dark, sleek and contemporary.




Both have similar selections—chocolate bars, bonbons and bouches; marzipan molds and bricks, and pastries including the regional specialty, Gateau Basque.




The Gateau Basque comes in several variations. One, a drier, circular shortbread cake is filled with cherry preserves. The other is also made with shortbread pastry, but it’s a flatter, denser square slice that sandwiches a lemony custard filling. The former is from Maison Adam, the former from Henriet.

At both chocolatiers, the pates d’amandes—one of my favorite things—came in a spectacular array of flavors and varieties: raspberry, lemon, pistachio, pine nut, vanilla, chocolate…




Sometimes it was sliced and packaged like a chocolate bar, sometimes smaller bite-sized pieces were rolled in sugar and sold like a bag of suckers. It was delicious both ways.




And the chocolate bonbons were equally adventurous and divine: milk chocolate with passionfruit ganache, dark chocolate with African tea, praline with lemon and coriander, salty, floral, spicy… really, had I known I was training straight into chocolate paradise, I would have stayed for more than a weekend.




There was no time for La Maison de Kanouga or Daranatz (with those cheerily wrapped chocolate bars).





But, now that I know Biarritz’s sweet secrets, I’ll make sure the next visit is for an entire week.