ChocoLee

I wanted to get Peter something fun and delicious for his birthday, so I stopped in around the corner at ChocoLee, pastry chef Lee Napoli's South-End chocolate shoppe. I love going in here, she's extremely nice and will gladly answer any questions you have.

Each order comes nicely wrapped in a chocolate-colored box tied with a pretty pink ribbon. Truffles are priced by the piece, other chocolates are priced by the pound.

Here are a few of our comments as we tried these delicious morsels.

Pumpkin - {at left} At first, you definitely taste the dark chocolate, but then the pumpkin comes out like a nice surprise! You could tell they were made from fresh pumpkin. Wonderfully (and seasonally) delicious! Peter's 2nd favorite.



Lemon Curd - {at right} Just perfect. Not too lemony...just lemony enough--the perfect balance of sweet and sour. The curd is light and, again, you can tell it's made with high-quality ingredients and is NOT artificial. This is Peter's favorite.



Chambord - {at left} These would be perfect to put an engagement ring on.



Dark Chocolate Ganache with Ginger - {at right} Delicious. Would be wonderful as a dessert after an Asian dinner. Also, the texture was fun with the crystallized ginger on top. 






White Chocolate Ganache with Apple and Maple - {at left} Another seasonal one. We couldn't taste the apple, but it had a nice maple flavor.



Poblano (truffle) - {at right} Definitely one of my favorites; but, it's spicy and not for the faint of heart. (Bob, stay away!) :-) 'Twould be a lovely end to a Mexican dinner...but you'll also want to have some of the lime curd chocolates on hand, too, for those, who don't take the heat as well! (BTW, chef Napoli also had this spicy chocolate sauce that she let me try while I was waiting. Yumm. It had a nice kick to it--similar to the Poblano truffles, but I would say less sweet and a little less spicy. She said she made it to go over ice cream, but that one of her customers also made a mole with it.)

Cardamom - {at left} Perfect after Indian food or an afternoon chai. Fresh. Peter said it had a very perfumy taste...he says people will know what he means by that. Cardamom is one of my favorite spices, and this spice has found a perfect match with chef Napoli's dark chocolate ganache.



Lime curd - {at right} The lime flavor is wonderful...like key lime pie--with chocolate! Of the two citrus curds, Peter likes the lemon best; but, I think they're different animals. These were also very good. Again, I think serving these after a Mexican dinner would be great?!


So as I said above, I really enjoy my visits to ChocoLee. If you read Peter's entry about Aroa Fine Chocolates, you'll remember that he wasn't a fan. BUT, he loves ChocoLee! Try it out next time you're in the area. On Saturdays (and other days, I think), she does chocolate beignets!