Valerie Beck
I adore Boston, and I adore Boston's chocolate!
I'm Valerie Beck, founder of Chicago Chocolate Tours, and here are just a few highlights of my delicious 4-day trip through Boston and Cambridge:
First stop: Beacon Hill Chocolates, which carries a variety of artisan chocolates from magnificently executed classics like Dark Chocolate Ganache from Cluizel of France, and Chile Lime Chocolate from B.T. McElrath of Minneapolis.
I lived on Beacon Hill while attending Harvard Law School, and if Beacon Hill Chocolates had been there then I would have lived at Beacon Hill Chocolates!
Another standout: L.A. Burdick in Harvard Square, for their pastries baked onsite, their marvelously subtle chocolates such as Fig and Port Wine, and their rich drinking chocolate with less milk, more chocolate.
I swung by my old freshman dorm after visiting Burdick and have never seen the place looking spiffier!
And, in Boston's sizzling South End I was thrilled to meet the chocolatiers at Arao Fine Chocolate and Chocolee Chocolates.
At Arao, Chef Tim Brown's French macaroons were standouts for their velvety softness, as were his lush and well-balanced chocolates such as Venezuelan dark chocolate ganache covered in even darker chocolate.
At Chocolee, Chef and owner Lee Napoli amazed me with her sophisticated Peanut Butter Chocolate, as well as by whipping up fresh chocolate-filled beignets before my eyes.
Such a sweet trip!
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