Chocolate. Let me count the
ways. I should say at the start that I’m pretty close to a purist: I adore dark
chocolate in the percentage range of 70-75%. And for the most part, I want my
chocolate unadulterated. No foreign bodies mixed inside, save almonds or
walnuts or cocoa beans. So, when in Paris, craving chocolate, I revisit old
favorites chocolatiers and search for new ones.
Chocolatiers here are almost
as ubiquitous as Starbucks. I’m not talking about the volume of patisseries
that could clearly rival Starbucks for dominion. Just pure chocolate
dispensaries.
One of my favorites is Jicara where chocolatier Thierry Colas
fashions all manner of shapes among them coffee pots, hearts, soccer balls, and
artist palettes. I love their chocolate tablet and his wafer thin chocolate
morsels with flakes of almond. Another is Fouquet, an early find from years ago. They’ve a reputation for
caramels and pralines since1852, but I’ll stick with their 72% chocolate tablet.
So, I’ve no comments on the
pretty, precious bonbons, fancy laced swirls of whatever inside or on top from
Fouquet or others. With that caveat, I can say I’ve found my new favorite chocolate
tablet by Jean-Paul Hevin: 75% chocolate with a hint of coffee.
The chocolatiers below are
generally not the celebrity chocolate houses you’ve probably read about, but
I’d wager my stash of savory morsels against the better known:
Fouquet
36, rue Laffitte, 9th
http://www.fouquet.fr/boutiques
Jean-Paul Hevin (I’ve been to the one in the 3rd)
41 rue de Bretagne, 3rd
3 rue Vavin, 6th
23 bis avenue de la Motte
Picquet
https://www.jeanpaulhevin.com/en
Jicara Chocolat (good choc
91 Rue des Entrepreneurs, 15th
http://www.chocoparis.com/jicara-chocolat/
La Petite Chocolatiere,
79 Rue du Commerce, 15th
37, rue des Martyrs, 9th
20,
rue Cler, 7th
Voisin
114 Boulevard Haussmann,
http://www.chocolat-voisin.com/
Find Chocolatiers in every
arrondissement:
Kathy Borrus 