Introduction

With a predilection for the over-sweet, saccharine and colourful, desserts in New York are oftentimes, superficially beautiful (and highly Instagrammable), yet substantively lacking.  How about its chocolate?  We still believe that London and Melbourne have far more refined and sophisticated chocolates than NYC, but we have hunted down a few choice chocolatiers in the Flatiron and Union Square districts and also, in Soho.  Join us now for a walking tour of East Village’s more eclectic chocolatiers .

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Cosmic chocolates

•  Dessert destination:  Stick With Me, 202A Mott Street, in Nolita but a stone’s throw from East Village.
•  Best for: One of our favourite chocolatiers in NYC.
•  Short and sweet story: You may recall SWM from our guide to the prettiest chocolates in NYC (see previous review here).  If our favourite chocolatier in Flatiron is Chocolate Moderne, Mariebelle in Soho, then SWM would be our favourite in the East Village area.  Chocolates from SWM are exceptionally artistic, well-flavoured, and packaged in a distinctive book box that can be re-used as a coffer for treasured memories after the chocolates themselves are long gone.

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For classical balls

•  Dessert destination: Roni-Sue’s Chocolate, 148 Forsyth Street, border of Chinatown and East Village.
•  Best for: Fruit and flower chocolates (coconut, pomegranate, rose, passionfruit, hibiscus), or alchohol-infused (champagne, absinthe, beer pretzel, dark & stormy, mojito, etc).
•  Short and sweet story: Located on the edge of Chinatown, Roni-Sue’s is part shop, part small chocolate-making class room.  The specialty here are beautifully-boxed round truffles, and the highlight is the ultra-friendly store owner, whose passion for her craft is demonstrated by her enthusiastic descriptions of the greatest hits of the shop’s chocolate collection.

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All the caramels

•  Dessert destination: Confectionery, 440 East 9th Street, East Village.
•  Best for: Chocolate caramels.
•  Short and sweet story:  Just a trot away from Tompkins Square Park, Confectionery is a quaint little nook, offering a wider variety of desserts than seems possible for its small size.  Although there are cakes, cookies and macarons, chocolate caramels are the forte here.  Butterscotch caramel, thyme & lemon caramel, strawberry balsamic caramel, maple pecan caramel, rosemary sea salt caramel, cardamom caramel – what a selection!  Confectionery also offers rather visually-appealing chocolate bark.  The one we tried — smoked corn — would be one of those desserts that you either love or hate…so it would be the chocolate caramels, rather than the chocolate bark, for which we would return.

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Prescient chocolates

•  Dessert destination: Casse-Cou, 63rd East 4th Street, East Village.
•  Best for: Vegan chocolates of highly unusual flavours.
•  Short and sweet story:  Formerly known as OCD, Casse-Cou refocused its direction towards high-end chocolates that are both vegan-friendly and gluten-free.  What does that mean, you wonder?  Translation: cow milk is substituted for oat milk, coconut milk and/or cocoa butter.   Like its predecessor, Casse-Cou continues to imagine chocolate far outside “traditional” flavours.  For example, we challenge you to name another chocolatier in NYC that infuses chocolate with “miso, toasted soy bean powder,” “maca goji berry,” “pistachio saffron”, “chaga”, or “pedro ximenez sherry salted almond.”  Indeed, chocolates from Casse-Cou are a glimpse into the future.

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