Hot Chocolate Gets Real

Erica Marcus | Staff Writer

February 4, 2004

We tasted hot chocolate all over New York. Here is a list of our favorites.

Bear in mind that high-end hot chocolate doesn't come cheap. Prices ranged from $2 for 10 ounces at La Flor to $7 for about 5 ounces at La Maison du Chocolat, with most places charging $3 to $5 for 6 to 8 ounces.

MANHATTAN

MarieBelle, 484 Broome St., 212-925-6999. This spacious SoHo chocolate shop has a charming salon where you can enjoy any one (or all) of four varieties of Aztec hot chocolate: original, dark, mocha and spicy. Each can be prepared either European style, with water, or American style, with milk. Mail-order: www.marie belle.com.

Chocolate Bar, 48 Eighth Ave., between Horatio and Jane streets, 212-366-1541. The hip pocket-size West Village hangout serves a variety of hot chocolates: classic, spicy (made with ancho and chipotle chiles, cinnamon, cardamom and allspice), caramel, hazelnut, peppermint, buzzed (includes a shot of espresso) and white chocolate. Any can be made with soy milk instead of cow's milk. Mail-order: www.chocolatebarnyc.com

Payard, 1032 Lexington Ave., between 73rd and 74th streets, Manhattan, 212-717-5252. You can pop into Francois Payard for a cup of his signature French-style hot chocolate. Mail order: www.payard.com

City Bakery, 3 W. 18th St., 212-366-1414. February is Hot Chocolate Month at this bustling cafe and take-out emporium, and every day brings a different flavor, in addition to City Bakery's classic brew, a powerful expression of chocolate and cream. Try it with a home- made marshmallow.

@SQC Restaurant and Bar, 270 Columbus Ave. at 72nd Street. 212-579-0100. SQC is a proper restaurant, but you can go in any time of day (from 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.) to get hot chocolate at the bar. Chef Scott Campbell loads his brew (seven varieties) with Valrhona chocolate and cocoa, and then gilds the lily with a dollop of tightly whipped cream. Also offered are gift certificates that entitle the bearer to all the hot chocolate they can drink in a single sitting; the cost is $10, with 20 percent of the proceeds going to City Harvest.

La Maison du Chocolat, 1018 Madison Ave., between 78th and 79th streets, 212-744-7117, and 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 212-265-9404. These two shops are the American outposts of Robert Linxe's Paris- based chocolate empire. Take a seat at the bar, and one of the uniformed attendants will serve you an elegant cup of either Caracas, pungent and bittersweet, or Guayaquil, a milder semisweet blend. Mail-order: www.lamaisonduchocolat.com

BROOKLYN

Jacques Torres Chocolate, 66 Water St. (in the neighborhood known as DUMBO), 718-875-9772. In the up-and-coming Brooklyn neighborhood whose name is an acronym for "Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass," this 3-year-old shop is attached to Torres' chocolate factory and affords customers the opportunity to sample the maestro's classic or spicy hot chocolate while watching the crew produce his chocolate confections. You might well catch Torres at work. Mail- order: www.mrchocolate. com

QUEENS

La Flor Bakery and Cafe, 53-02 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside, 718-426-8023. The cinnamon and almond overtones of Mexican- made chocolate can be overpowering, so Chef Viko Ortiz subdues Mexican Ibarra with Belgian Callebaut to create a hot chocolate that is gutsy and refined. At $2 for a large cup, La Flor's chocolate was the bargain of this bunch.