Chocolate and Other Stuff...

You will not gain any weight from this post.

What a better way to end the posts on our vacation then to end it with chocolate. The last day that Mr. Broad and I were in town, he had the GENIUS! idea of doing a self-guided chocolate tour. (Did I find a catch or what?) A great way to get off the beaten path and just explore more areas. And Chocolate.

PS- Thank you David Lebovitz for all the suggestions.

PPS- Salted Caramels: you rock.

We walked around to a lot of recommended chocolate stores mainly to see their window fronts or to take in the smells. The windows were all decked for Easter with each store outdoing the next. I took some pictures to share because I'm sure you care.

To be frank, it may be my Jewish roots but I don't get the connection of Easter to some of the chocolate displays (beavers?) Regardless it was impressive all the same.

These eggs were filled with chocolate. Not sure how they did it but you could buy them for $30. Wait, it's now occurring to me that the shell is also chocolate. OOH...

Okay, they looked pretty real but I'm not sure...

Little bunnies, ducks, and chicks inside one of the stores.

There were larger turtles than this one, but this chocolate turtle would set you back over $100...

Would you like a sample?

The answer is yes.

Okay, this wasn't chocolate store, but check out the pastries. And note the large macaroons which are pretty wonderful.

Paris and Spain were wonderful. A beautiful vacation that was heightened by the scenery, the food, and the culture. Oh and the wine. Right. Speaking of- I thought I'd include some pictures from La Rioja region that didn't make any of the blog posts.

Breathtaking.

This winery was designed by Frank Gehry. The same guy that did the Guggenheim in Bilboa and lots of other famous buildings. It is also one of these world class hotels that we tried to get into but there was some Peugeot car conference. We still enjoyed the wine tour.

Aah what a vacation.

We're already brainstorming for our next vacation. All recommendations welcome- we're thinking beaches.

Mr. Broad wants to go with Colombia. Yes, the coffee, kidnapping South America capital. It's supposed to be the new Caribbean hotspot.

I'm taking other suggestions.

Anyone??

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Chocolate. It's What's for Dinner.

Max Brenner: Chocolate by the Bald Man
841 Broadway (between 13th and 14th Streets)

The strawberries taste like strawberries. The snozzberries taste like snozzberries.

Snozzberries? Who ever heard of a snozzberry?

While writing up this review I became Very reminiscent of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the Gene Wilder version- SO much better than the creepy Johnny Depp version...). Max Brenner could be channeling Willy Wonka... If you could eat the wallpaper, or lick the floor well let's say you wouldn't do that, it IS NY after all... but I wouldn't be surprised if he came up with an everlasting (chocolate) gum.

Willy Wonka: This little piece of gum is a three course dinner.

Mr. Salt: Bull.

Willy Wonka: No, roast beef. But I haven't got it quite right yet.

So here's my first review without Mr. Broad. It's also my first time taking pictures by myself so I didn't have Mr. Broad to snatch the camera away from me so he could turn off the flash and something about macro mode. Oops. You'll live.

I was meeting up with an old college friend after work and she suggested this place. Walking by here everydayright in Union Square I thought it was just a tourist trap with lots of chocolate offerings. Not that I am complaining but I love getting proven wrong (except if it's by Mr. Broad. I kid, I kid...).

Mr. Broad and I actually saw Max Brenner's in several places in Australia- and apparently there are a zillion branches overseas with only 2 in the US- both in NYC (obvi). While some of their shops are just pure chocolatier shops, the Union square location had a full on restaurant. Like with many, many non chocolate dinner/lunch/brunch options. Who knew?

Walking in the chocolate smell hits you from head to toe and gawking begins (by me at least) of the items in their display case (Chocolate marshmallow pizza??)

So we both went with something light because we knew we wanted to try some of their chocolate dishes. We both had crepes- me the southwestern one and my friend an asparagus/spinach one.

I gotta say. Impressed. Much better than expected, however, my expectations were low. It was rather simple and probably wouldn't be sophisticated enough for Mr. Broad's palette but ya know, not bad at all...
However, moving right along to the main feature at hand- dessert.

The dessert menu was extensive and came with many pictures. Different types of molten chocolate cakes, waffles, fondues, crepes, truffles, golden tickets (kidding slugworth!)... with a side of a diabetic coma.
Uhh, Is this heaven? No it's Iowa.

After extensively narrowing down pages on the menu and locking it down to 2 choices (seriously, I haven't done some schoolwork with as much scrutiny) we settled on two:

The Brown Heart: A chocolate cake filled with a double layer of pure chocolate and peanut butter. With some vanilla sauce, ice cream, and chocolate crunchies...

And? It was rich. Sweet. Yes, I realize we were at a chocolate shop. And the peanut butter was not apparent (which eh hmm Mr. Brenner was the reason why we picked this one out. Arg). This was a molten chocolate cake, however, to steal a line from the New York Magazine, it was much more of the dormant volcano variety than the flowing chocolate kind.

I mean don't kid yourself it was good but didn't really "do anything" for me.

Max's Three Layer Chocolate Concotion with Cookies and Peanut Butter

(a much better pic on page 7)

So the picture doesn't come out the best but go to the link and page and that's what we had. Sorta like a chocolate goodness of mousse layered with peanut butter, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate crunchies- think Carvel ice cream cake...
Came with an almond biscotti- I guess to clear your palette? Oh and some chocolate crunchie thingies on the side, just in case you needed ya know. More. Chocolate.

Presentation was cool; however they could have put it in an easier to eat bowl/platter, etc so you don't feel like you are in 7th grade science class (bunsen burners rock!!) and can eat it better.

Review:

Max Brenner is pretty much every chocaholic's answer. Not sure what the question is? Doesn't matter- Max Brenner has it. Some of the items are "okay" but they all do serve that purpose of ruining any diet you were trying to maintain. If I went back I would definitely try perhaps the fondues or the waffles... but in the meantime-- it's time to hit the gym. And dream about Max Brenner upgrading for a chocolate river someday...

Grade: B

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