Front Range Reviews

Thursday, August 28, 2014

L'Amourette Chocolat

I've been having a blast selecting various chocolate bars to sample at the Boulder Book Store lately. They have an amazing selection of fine chocolates. I can't wait to try the chocolate bar I saw with the whole animal crackers on top! Those look fun.

This time, I settled on L'Amourette chocolate bars. The packages are artsy and colorful. It's hard to resist the bright pink, yellow or even the black packages with the elegantly printed labels. The heart embracing the name of the company on the package should resonate with many chocolate connoisseurs who know the undeniable connection between chocolate and love.

Holy WOW! These bars are good.

The chocolate itself tastes like a cup of very lightly sweetened gourmet hot chocolate in bar form. It's playfully bitter, more on the verge of being than actually being, and the subtlety of it makes a perfect vehicle for the outrageously fresh ingredients that flavor each bar. It's a brilliant strategy to use quality chocolate that's not overly complex to showcase the flavors of the added ingredients. I sampled two products, the dark chocolate fig bar and the dark chocolate with sour cherries and salted almond.

These are the kinds of confections that tempt you to continue eating and call to you when you let your mind wander. A nibble just isn't enough. I can often take a small bite of chocolate and be satisfied, but only a few chocolates make me want to devour the entire thing. I had a moment of panic when I was down to the last square of one of the chocolate bars I purchased. Remember the Good & Evil bar? That was one that's impossible to resist, and these are also on my "I can't resist" list. However, to me, these are more about the added ingredients than the chocolate, though the chocolate is good. Actually it's really the combination of ingredients that makes the bars so irresistible. And they are very affordable for what they are.

Dark chocolate and fig bar.

Most people who read my reviews know how fussy I am when it comes to nuts in chocolate. Rancid nuts added to any product make me cringe, and this mishap seems to happen a lot in the chocolate world. This was definitely not the case here. In addition, L'Amourette bars are a welcome counterpart to all those chocolates I complained were too sweet. The bars I sampled are 72% cacao.

My first bite of the fig bar made me swoon. I was blown away by the overall texture and the freshness of the figs. The fruity pieces enrobed in chocolate are soft, chewy and sweet, the perfect partner to the sturdy, dark chocolate. The pieces of fig are substantial too, which added to the allure. I just can't get enough.

Dark chocolate with cherries and almonds.

Let me tell you about the other flavor, another great find, but before I do, I have to say that L'Amourette produces some pretty outrageous bars like the dark chocolate with salami and bacon bar, the exotic berry bar and the candied pomelo chocolate bar. I want to sample them all.

Now to rave about the cherry and almond bar. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but it could stand to be a teeeeeennnnnny tiny bit sweeter, though it was very, very good as is. I think a touch of sweetness would enhance the cherries even more. Other than that, this item is outstanding in every way. Oh yes they did use whole salted almonds and moist dried cherries! Two thumbs up on that move there. This combination makes for an excellent party of textures with the hard crunch of the nuts, the firmness of the chocolate and the chewiness of the cherries. The cherries are very slightly sour, but with the lack of sweetness in the chocolate, the sugars in them are more pronounced.

There's just the right amount of salt on the almonds. Salt should enhance the food, not overwhelm it, and that's exactly what happens with this bar. It's so beautifully balanced.

I'm amazed at how good L'Amourette bars are. It's rare to find such quality ingredients like this without spending a fortune. Usually the nuts used in chocolates are chopped fine, so the company can get away with using fewer of them. Nuts are expensive these days. I like when a company puts it all out there in an honest way for all to see, and I am jumping for joy that, not only are there whole almonds and plenty of them in the bar I sampled, all the ingredients are FRESH, not a single rancid or stale nut to be found. I might have to lobby for a hazelnut praline bar from them. Hint, hint.

L'Amourette bars are vegan and the company is in the process of making sure their chocolates become certified organic and Kosher. They are also aiming to make their products certified fair trade. Check out the company and its products here: http://www.lamourettechocolat.com/

Monday, August 18, 2014

Cacao Sampaka

I've become a chocolate snob. Actually, I knew that, but I didn't realize how much of one I have become. Maybe I have always been one; I'm not sure. I was born into a family of chocolate aficionados after all, and my mother is French, a sure sign that we were destined to have at least one foodie in the family.

Over the past few months, I fell into a deep writer's slump. I couldn't seem to find the motivation to put any words at all into my blogs, no matter how hard I tried. The chocolate I purchased bored me, and the cheeses I found were all too similar. It's not that anything was bad, except the Zoe chocolate bar with the extra rancid almonds on it - blah; it's more that I had a touch of writer's paralysis. There were things I wanted to say, but I could't bring myself to actually say them. For example, I liked the Valrhona I purchased and halfheartedly tossed some ideas about it around in my head, but I didn't bother to write an actual review. Valrhona has long been considered the best baking chocolate in the world by chefs. There were others, too, that were sampled and forgotten. I needed something to pull me out of my apathy.

Figs in chocolate, an incredible combination.

Finally I found the Cacao Sampaka line and got excited again. Actually, I found one bar, the dark chocolate with sea salt, hiding among a large selection of other bars in the specialty chocolate aisle at Whole Foods, a whole separate area away from the regular chocolate bar section. I also found some fancy figs covered in chocolate in the specialty imported food section, another separate aisle. Damn! Those sweet little dried nuggets of fruit dipped in chocolate are AhMazIng! So a fire was lit, and I got the urge to write again once I tasted something that got my taste buds fired up.

I couldn't find a lot of information about the Cacao Sampaka company. Most of the websites with reviews of the chocolate are in Spanish, which makes sense since the company originated in Spain. From what I could gather, rare cocoa beans from Mexico were used to create both the first classic and more exotic flavors of chocolate bars, and oh how I wish I could have tried some of the exotic flavors! The company even puts out a gin and tonic bar that sounds like it could be the equivalent of an evening beach party in your mouth.

I settled for the only option on the shelf, the dark chocolate bar with sea salt. This elegant bar seemed out of place by itself among full lines of other bars on the shelves. Perhaps it was a one-time extravagance for Whole Foods, because, sadly, I haven't seen this bar or any of its cousins again anywhere in Boulder. I guess I lucked out, or, if one thinks along these kinds of lines, one could claim it was fate.

What I noticed right away is that the chocolate is of a superior quality than most bars. The perfectly balanced flavors are the result of a chocolatier who knows what he's doing. This is no ordinary chocolate, though. Unlike many American sea salt and chocolate bars that taste like someone dipped a cow's salt lick in a thin layer of mediocre chocolate, this bar showcases the chocolate and adds a notable but not overwhelming bite of salt, just enough to enhance the chocolate.

Dark chocolate with sea salt.

The texture of the chocolate is interesting. If I say that it's a little bit sandy or grainy, don't be turned off, because, like with one of the French Broad chocolate bars I mentioned earlier that had a similar consistency, the very slight grittiness does nothing but add to the complexity and allure of the bar. Plus, the sandy texture is temporary and disappears as the bar melts into a smooth, rich mass of deliciousness in your mouth.

The chocolate is dark, but it's not bitter. The sweetness is subtle, as it should be with good dark chocolate.

If you're a chocolate connoisseur and get super stoked at the thought of something different in the chocolate world, you are in luck, because this bar is unique. I have't been this excited about chocolate in a long time, probably back when I was drooling over the Good & Evil bar, so if you can find the Cacao Sampaka line on any shelf, do yourself a favor a buy a bar. You won't regret it. If you do, send the bar to me, and I will very happily and quickly dispose of it in probably just a few bites.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Ghirardelli Mint Chocolate Cookie

AAK!

Mint cookie goodness

OK, maybe it's not the most gourmet chocolate in the world, but DAMN! Ghiradelli, did you create some kind of chocolate crack here? I dare anyone to eat just one bite. No, it's not possible. You stand a better chance of eating one potato chip when craving something salty.

Maybe it's a tad too sweet, but just follow it with a dark chocolate chaser. Jeez, though, the texture is fucking amazing, the perfect balance of light crunch and smmmmooootttthhh melty chocolate. Yeah, it's good stuff. Eat some.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Soma Chocolate Review

As some of you might have noticed, I bailed on my one post per day goal. I learned a great deal in doing this, mostly that I hate deadlines. The other thing I learned is that it's probably better to put out quality over quantity. I also learned that sometimes life gets in the way, and it's important to prioritize. It turns out that health and well-being are pretty high on my priority list, so when I came down with pneumonia, I had to let some things slide.

Before I got sick, I was feeling a lot of pressure, mostly internal, and I think my blog posts suffered as a result. Oddly, at the same time, I fell into sampling both cheeses and chocolates that were all a little too similar and not all that noteworthy, or so I thought. What may have happened is more that I was losing my passion about reviewing, and it all started seeming overwhelming and overly challenging. It's true that I get into these funks from time to time where everything seems pointless, even breathing, so I knew it was time for a break.

I took some time away from writing and absorbed myself in watching Luther, Dexter and Sherlock on Netflix. I guess I'm suddenly into titles with no more than one word in them.

Now that I'm feeling better, I'm ready to get back into reviewing.

I went to the Boulder Bookstore in February and purchased some Soma chocolate. The flavors looked promising, but the reality was that there wasn't anything outrageously memorable about what I purchased. I don't regret buying the bars; I was just expecting more.

As you can see from the images, one of the bars I tried had dried cherries in it. The plump cherries on the thick square of dark chocolate that showed through the cellophane looked appetizing. I love the idea of a thicker bar in general, and one with cherries is exceptionally tempting. Unfortunately, the chocolate, while good, wasn't extraordinary. As a result, I felt let down. The cherries were nice and tart and chewy, and the chocolate-cherry combination is always a good one. It's just that with this bar, it seemed disjointed, like someone accidentally spilled a few dried cherries onto the chocolate bars as they were hardening. I think the biggest issues were that the chocolate was good but not great, and the cherries didn't carry enough flavor to truly enhance the bar. Still, there's something very nice about sinking your teeth into a thick bar.

On a side note, someday, I will have to share my idea for a line of thicker chocolate bars. It's a good one, and someone should be doing it. In fact, I saw a soomewhat similar idea recently in a chocolate Easter bunny, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before someone runs with my idea. Sigh. Any of you chocolate makers want a good idea?

Cherry mini bar

Thick chocolate and tart dried cherries.

The other Soma bar I picked was packaged completely differently. It was sealed in a foil package, and the bar itself was very thin. The tangerine-chocolate combination was intriguing. Think of chocolate and oranges and add a splash of lemon with just a hint of bitterness. I think anyone who likes more adventurous flavors will go wild over this one. This is a bar that commands attention. With this one, you can get a better sense of the quality of the chocolate, and the tangerine and chocolate combination is certainly one that's intriguing and different. This is no orange-chocolate bar, so be prepared for something a step above that. The tangerine taste really jumps out at you, but not at the expense of the chocolate, and, unlike some citrus flavors, this one tastes natural, not like furniture polish.