Chocolate
The other day some “well-meaning” person told me I had smears of chocolate on my cheek, neck and ear, and then, with pity in their sanctimonious eyes and a glance at my voluptuous choco-booty, mentioned that exercising can help quell chocolate cravings. To which I replied, why would anyone ever wish to stifle the finest craving ever invented? It just so happens that I wear my chocolate smears as a badge of honor, and so should you. Here are the top places in Portland to get your cacao on.
Alma Chocolate
The devil is in the 23-carat chocolate details at Laurelhurst chocolate shop Alma Chocolate, where you’ll find a darkly delicious world of 73% single origin Venezuelan chocolate devils, saints, crosses, and heart icons gilded by hand in edible 23 karat gold leaf, a selection of bon bons that are bite-sized bliss, creamy buttery caramels and caramel sauces, Oregon hazelnut and ginger almond toffee, mocha almond nibby and lime-piñon bark, pepita pistachio hazelnut chocolate bars, chocolate cake, cookies, brownies, and frozen chocopops–which are essentially frozen truffles blended with berries, coconut milk and flakes, candied orange peel, espresso, or peanut butter. Alma also has a long list of hot and cold chocolate elixirs like the Iced Shaken Mocha–three shots of espresso with melted chocolate and either cow, goat, soy, or soy-coconut milk. For any golden chocolate devil or peanut butter chocopop needs you may have, you can visit their darling shop on NE 28th or stop by the Alma booth at the Portland Farmer’s Market at Portland State University on Saturdays.
- Location: 140 NE 28th Ave. Portland Map it!
- Phone Number: 503.517.0262
- Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–6pm, Sun 11am–4pm
Cacao
The name says it all—this gorgeous store is the source for all good things from the other Supreme Bean. A temple to the mighty cacao bean, with lofty ceilings, marble countertops, a selection of both local and internationally sourced chocolate bars that would move an Oompa Loompa to tears, truffles and caramels by the piece, delectable chocolate sauces, coffee drinks, and hot and iced chocolate, this is both a destination to share with others and ground zero for any personal chocolate needs you may have. But it’s the drinking chocolates that are so good they have the power to heal the sick(&tired) and bring back the (brain)dead, which is why I visit Cacao every day after work. $2 for a cup of Revival seems like a deal to me.
Cork
Wine and cheese gets a lot of press as a match made in culinary heaven, but what about wine and chocolate? The good folks at Cork have helped this dark and sultry romance flourish, with the marvelous wall of chocolate located inside both of their wine shops on NE Alberta and NW Lovejoy. A rainbow of artisan chocolate bars made by the likes of Michel Cluizel, Bonnat Chocolatier, Michael Recchiuti, Valrhona, and a couple of Portland’s own chocolatiers, Sahagun and Alma, line the wall, and both stores also have countertop cases filled with handmade chocolate truffles and bon bons from Alma. The friendly staff is perfectly happy to help you browse the chocolate wall looking for just the right chocolate to pair with that bottle of Domaine Serene Evenstad Pinot Noir you’re planning to impress your friends with at your upcoming wine and chocolate tasting party. A wine and chocolate party? What time should I be there?!
- Location: 2901 NE Alberta St. Portland * 1715 NW Lovejoy St. Portland Map it!
- Phone Number: NE 503.281.2675 * NW 503.501.5028
- Hours: Mon 12-6pm, Tue-Sat 11am-7pm, Sun 12-5pm
Missionary Chocolates
The next time your favorite vegan does something nice for you, you might want to return the favor with a box of dairy-free Missionary truffles. Actually, the next time your favorite non-vegan does something nice for you, you could do the same, because Missionary truffles are so dark, dense and creamy, they are a shoo-in success for any chocolate lover, vegan or not. Missionary’s signature almond balls, coconut silk, raspberry hearts, espresso squares, cinnamon chipotle, peanut butter, and Meyer lemon explosion truffles are handmade in Portland with locally sourced organic ingredients and Guittard chocolate and you can find them around town at Whole Foods, Food Front Co-op, Food Fight, Sheridan’s Fruit Company, and PETA rallies. Just kidding about that last one.
- Location: Whole Foods, Living Room Theater, Food Front, Armory Cafe, Food Fight, Sheridan's, etc. Check website for exact information on where to buy. Map it!
- Phone Number: 503.961.3262
Pix Patisserie
When I was little, I thought I wanted to be a scientist when I grew up. This dream died quickly when I read The Value of Believing in Yourself: The Story of Louis Pasteur, and my key takeaway was that being a scientist was a scary job involving rabid dogs, dangerous germs and very large needles. How could I have foreseen the advent of Pix Patisserie’s North Portland chocolate lab, a magical place where chocolate scientists mix and blend and swirl lovely things like cacao, cream, butter, sugar, marzipan, pistachios, rosemary, blue cheese, fleur de sel, and chipotle to create beautiful chocolates like the Ambrosia–rosemary ganache and a port reduction in a technicolor chocolate shell, the Caramel Almond Truffle–chocolate caramel ganache with salted Spanish almonds, and the Troubador– milk chocolate ganache layered with marzipan and crystallized ginger. Not to mention the Chocolate Drenched Drunken Cherries, which are given a good long soaking in Kirsch then dipped in fondant and bittersweet chocolate. If only I’d known that I could have gone into Chocolate Science, without so much as one rabid dog or big needle in sight. Guess I’ll just have to be content watching the real chocolate scientists through the lab windows at Pix.
- Location: 3901 D N. Williams, Portland Map it!
- Phone Number: 503.282.6539
- Hours: Mon–Thu 8am–midnight, Fri-Sat 8am–2am, Sun 9am–midnight
Sahagún
If I could choose my reincarnated form, I would opt to come back as a mouse. Because this would allow me to burrow into Sahagun’s tiny Northwest Portland chocolate shop and live amongst the Luscious Caramels, Oregon Kisses, Sundrops, chocolate bark, and single origin chocolate sorbets forever and ever or until I fell into a cup of delightful owner and chocolatier Elizabeth Montes’ famously rich, beautiful hot chocolate or an bittersweet iced chocolate or a Tayberry housemade B-side soda and drowned, whereupon I’d ask to reincarnated as a chocolate beetle, if there is such a thing. What nonsense am I talking? It’s hard to say—I’ve had a lot of chocolate. I just know that I love Sahagun so much that it makes me want to be a chocolate beetle, and I don’t even like beetles.
- Location: 10 NW 16th Ave. Portland Map it!
- Phone Number: 503.274.7065
- Hours: Mon–Sat 10 am–6pm
The Meadow
The Meadow is a wonderful place filled with flowers, wine, chocolate, and a rather astonishing selection of artisan salts–rock salt, flake salt, coarse salt, finishing salt, sea salt, gray salt, smoked salt, curing salt, Himalayan salt slabs, salt grinders, salt graters, salt spoons–it’s enough to give a girl hypertension of the eyeballs. But after you’ve ogled the salt, bow before The Meadow’s glorious wall of chocolate, where I was nearly rendered speechless by the selection of fine chocolates that includes a few of my salty favorites, like the luscious Vosges Barcelona Bars with hickory smoked almonds and fleur de sel, divine Xocolatl de David chocolate-covered salted caramels, and lust-inducing Cioccolato Fondente al Sale by Italian chocolatier Cioccolato di BruCo–two dark Italian chocolate bars heavily accented with…you guessed it, really good salt.
- Location: 3731 N. Mississippi Ave. Portland Map it!
- Phone Number: 503.288.4633
- Hours: Sun-Mon 11am-6pm, Tue-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10-7pm
Xocalatl de David
I’m always wary when someone hands me a Xocolatl de David’s chocolate, because even though former Park Kitchen sous chef-turned-master chocolatier David Briggs makes some of the finest chocolates to have ever passed my lips, once I was given one of his pig’s blood ganaches by a real funny jokester and that memory doesn’t die easily. David doesn’t have a storefront, so you’ll have to check his website to find the nearest source for his exquisite sweet and savory and tea-infused chocolates (think vanilla brown butter, mole, strawberry balsamic, orange cardamom, creme fraiche, hojicha, kir royal, and SO much more), salted caramel chocolate bars, Raleigh bars (salted caramel with pecan chocolate nougat), Rhubarb Chocolate Preserves, and my favorite wunderdrink–Champ’s Chocolate Milk. Thick, creamy, and Daddy Warbucks rich, this elixir can be found exclusively at Pine State Biscuits and is an excellent accompaniment to the Reggie Deluxe because let’s face it—you’ve already blown your diet bigtime, so why not go all the way?
- Location: Steve's Cheese, Cacao, The Meadow, Foster & Dobbs, Meat Cheese Bread, Alberta St. Teahouse, Pine State Biscuits, Park Kitchen, Lille Boutique (see website for links) Map it!
