Hot Dish

The wonderful thing about food is not just how it tastes, but what it evokes; there are, after all, certain foods and drinks that provide their own atmosphere. Orange juice is a wake-up call, even if you drink it at night. A glass of champagne is a party, even if you're by yourself. And chocolate milk is pure comfort--anytime, anywhere. Now, Whole Foods sells the ultimate chocolate milk, produced by Promised Land Dairy. This chocolate milk is made with milk from a herd of happy Jersey cows in Floresville, Texas. Milk from Jersey cows has more butterfat than milk from other cows, as well as more calcium and protein. Promised Land bought a 1950s glass-bottling plant and refurbished it, so the milk even comes in old-fashioned glass bottles that run $1.99 a quart, with a refundable bottle deposit of $1. Drink up.

--Mary Brown Malouf

Whole Foods, 2218 Greenville Ave., 824-1744.