Chicago
is home to the Cubs, a good beef sandwich and, of course, deep dish
pizza, but did you know it's also the home to chocolate and candy?
With companies like Mars, Tootsie Roll, and Fannie May, it's hard
to argue otherwise. Michelle Alegria's here to add another place to
that list.
The new Chicago Chocolate Company on West Randolph Street is adding
to a tradition that defines our city as the chocolate capital of
America. The family-owned business makes and sells all kinds chocolaty
morsels-from peanuts to pecans and caramels to coconut. Their 'city
namesake chocolates' go for about 15 bucks a pound.
"I'd say the quality of the chocolate the one thing that we actually
do and we're almost religious about it is that we want everybody
who comes in to the café to taste some chocolate we have samples
sitting out and we do our best to make sure nobody gets out without
actually tasting the chocolate and the thing we find is that when
they taste the chocolate they generally become fans and there quite
often a repeat customer," said Eric Moore, Chicago Chocolate Co.
But wait, there's more - they have ice cream, hot chocolate --
'real' hot chocolate made with this molten goodness -- cheesecakes
and more. They even serve you anything you want dipped into one
of their silky chocolate fountains. Is this heaven or what?
The 3000-square foot chocolate café does more than just chocolate.
"You come in and we do a little bit more than a normal candy shop
would do we have salads soups and sandwiches cheesecake, ice cream,
we roast our own coffee we have an espresso bar and pretty much
all the kind of chocolate you can think of," said Moore.
The café serves up yummy lunch selections from soups to salads
to panini sandwiches and has all kinds of coffee and chocolate drinks.
And then there is the desserts -- because there is always room for
dessert, right? Here they make their own chocolates using an old
method called "panning."
"Our biggest specialty is the pan products and that's something
that is a little bit old school we have what looked like giant drums
lack of a better term cement mixtures. Whatever it is we're covering
we put it in cover it with chocolate than it just runs and slowly
coats the chocolate on top of whatever we've got in it. A lot of
companies have actually moved away from doing that because it is
pretty much an art as it is science its much easier to do the other
types of chocolate covered molding," said Moore.
So not only can you come here for your chocolate fix, the café
is open from morning till night. You can grab lunch and then come
back for a late night dessert!
The Chicago Chocolate Company is hoping to open other outposts
of its café elsewhere in the city so keep a lookout for that.
For more information:
Chicago Chocolate Company
847 West Randolph Street
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 738-0888
www.chicagochocolate.com
