Chocolate

Pirouettes And Zydeco

Your Dallas Foodie Gift Guide: Chocolate, Coffee, Breads and Barbecue

If you haven't started your holiday shopping, then good for you! I think we all perform best under the pressure of deadlines, so just let it happen. Wait another few days, then get around to it. Most places will be open on Christmas Eve anyway. And a lot of gas stations are open 365. Lotto and scrat ... More >>

Dude, Sweet Chocolate Opens New Location in Preston Center and Fort Worth Next Week

Dude, Sweet Chocolate has just opened a second location at 8304 Preston Center Plaza Drive, between Taco Diner and R&D Kitchen. And another spot is set to open next week at 2925 Crockett (just south of Seventh, near Fireside Pies) in Town of the Cow. Prior to becoming a chocolate-dealer, Dude Kath ... More >>

Do Mexicans Eat Chocolates?

Chocolate, Chocolate, and More Chocolate: Photos from Saturday's Chocolate Conference & Festival

On Saturday, Dallas was rainy and dank, but inside the Addison Conference Center it was Chocolate Christmas. DallasChocolate.org's annual Chocolate Conference & Festival offered the opportunity for chocolate makers both local and otherwise to showcase their chocolatey wares, and for anybody with a $ ... More >>

Chocoholics Beware: The Chocolate Conference & Festival Comes to Town this Saturday

I've called this emergency meeting of the Dallas Area Chocoholics Anonymous to prepare for the onslaught of chocolate temptation coming our way this Saturday at the Chocolate Conference & Festival.

Welcome To College: A 5-Course Meal in Your Microwave

Congratulations: You have a dorm room! Uncongratulations: the dorm cafeteria blows. (Except for the cereal bar-- ain't nothing wrong with a cereal bar.) The next few years, if you're doing college right, you should be broke. Which means, at some point, you're going to get tired of eating the shitbo ... More >>

PBS Digital Studios Make Julia Child Remix in Honor of Her 100th Birthday

Turn the house speakers all the way up and let Julia Child, with her blessed chocolate-loving soul and gracious spirit, invade every nook and cranny of your chalet. As HufPo reported, in celebration of what would have been her 100th birthday on August 15, PBS Digital Studios made a Julia Child Remix ... More >>

Central Market's Chocolate Festival: A Guide

Central Market's annual chocolate festival starts today and lasts through February 14. Some of the best chocolatiers from around the world will make appearances over the next few days and, as always, there are some interesting back stories. If you can fight through the crowds, don't take lightly the ... More >>

Death by Chocolate

Oak Cliff's CocoAndré Chocolatier Hits the Catwalk, and Keeps Hitting its Stride

​In 1985 Andrea Pedraza found herself in need of a little extra cash when a friend told her about a new chocolate shop that had just opened and was hiring. Going to the interview, Pedraza was hopeful, but didn't think working in a chocolate shop was realistic. Three weeks later, Rex Morgan, ow ... More >>

La Duni's Ice Cream: Cinco Times Better Than the Quatro Leches

In Happy Endings, foodbitch goes on the hunt for Dallas' unsung and unsurpassed desserts. Today: the ice creams at La Duni. La Duni may be famous for its intensely beautiful and equally delicious cakes, but, at least for me, the restaurant's simple, homemade ice cream is where it's at. Recently, I ... More >>

Katherine Clapner, the Woman Behind Dude, Sweet, On Life as a Chocolatier

​Each week we meet a new local chef in our Three-Course Meal series. This week, Katherine Clapner, the woman responsible for making us crazy for Dude, Sweet Chocolate, explains how she paved her way to her little shop in Oak Cliff, which recently was named Best Devil's Advocate and Best Chocol ... More >>

Dude Sweet's Crack In a Box: I GOTTA HAVE IT, GIMME SOME, CRAAAACK

​ The first time I bought Dude, Sweet Chocolate's "Crack in a Box," it was on a whim and possibly because the name was amusing. Later that evening, as I polished off the last bite of the two large slabs that were inside the box, I had my "ah-ha!" moment: the name is in reference to the fact th ... More >>

Don't Trifle with this Truffle Recipe

​In part one of this week's Three Course Meal, we gave you a look at Stephen Smith, chocolatier and owner of nib chocolate. In part two, we asked Smith to complete our thoughts for us. In today's final installment he shares a recipe for Russian Caravan Truffles. Remember, crafting chocolates ... More >>

nib chocolate's Stephen Smith on the Sweet Life

​Here's some hopeful news for all you C students out there: At the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris, Stephen Smith's "worst subject of everything was chocolate." Apparently, he got better. In fact, he got good enough to operate his own wholesale chocolate business, nib cho ... More >>

As If We Need To Tell You, Avoid These Candies On Valentine's Day. Seriously.

Consult Dr. Chuck Norris before giving anyone modified candy dispensers on Valentine's day.​Valentine's Day is a zero-sum game. And I say that as someone who loves Valentine's Day, as someone who knows terms like "Hallmark holiday" and "Singles Awareness Day" are just the protests of the unhappy a ... More >>

Race for the Beer

It's Em-Effing Chocolate-Eating Time: Peppermint Bark

​It's a Christmas miracle! No-bake treats that taste beyond delicious. All you need is a 11-by-17-inch cookie sheet, a hammer (sweet!), a freezer and a little patience at the stove. If you're no good at baking and you're really good at eating chocolate, this is the holiday treat for you. Stra ... More >>

It's Em-Effing Cookie-Baking Time: Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookies

Alice LaussadeChocolate chip cookies with bacon? Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. (He suffers from angina.)​It's the holidays. A time filled with magic and wonder -- a time when wishes are granted. A time when getting completely blackout drunk is socially acceptable and everyone's nice t ... More >>

It's Em-Effing Cookie Baking Time:
Black Forest Crinkle Cookies

Alice LaussadeOr you could skip the baking and snuggle up with a bottle of optional ingredient.​'Tis the season to get fat on Black Forest crinkle cookies. They're chocolatey. They're cherry-y. These Black Forest crinkle cookies will blow your face off with deliciousness. They taste like brown ... More >>

Pastry Chef Morgan Wilson's Chocolate Treat Too Bittersweet for Lovers?

BravoRitz Carlton executive pastry chef Morgan Wilson​Fellas, you may want to think hard before you nab a box of Godiva Chocolate Top Chef Just Desserts Collection for your wife this holiday season. One of the four chocolates in the set designed by the Ritz Carlton's executive pastry chef Mor ... More >>

What, No Marshmallow-Topped Yams?
Thanksgiving Menus for the Non-homebodies.

​Thanksgiving is just under three weeks away, which means it's high time to choose recipes, draft a shopping list and find the roasting pan. Or, alternately, make reservations. For folks without nearby relatives or an inclination to cook, a number of local restaurants are serving up Thanksgiving ... More >>

Dude Sweet Chocolate's Tobacco and Chocolate Mix Gets Goes Almost Prime Time

Photo by Manny Rodriguez​Dude Sweet Chocolate's Katherine Clapner is busy making doughnuts this afternoon to feed 100 people at tonight's Bishop Arts Big Table fundraiser in Oak Cliff, but her biggest worry has nothing to do with pastry. "I'm scared to death," Clapner says of the impending de ... More >>

Wow, Dark Chocolate,
You Sure Are Sluttin' It Up

A little advice for those of you tuning in from work: Don't do what we did and Google images for "dark chocolate slut."​Dark Chocolate, you are such a candy aisle whore now. I love you, Dark Chocolate, but you used to be special. On Halloween, I used to get all hyped to see Hershey's Special ... More >>

How to Build Dallas' Reputation as a Chocolate City

​Every chocolatier at next weekend's Chocolate Conference, sponsored by DallasChocolate.org, is slated to participate in a roundtable discussion of "the state of chocolate in Dallas." Panel members will presumably debate the quality and quantity of artisanal chocolate available in the DFW area ... More >>

Appetite for Instruction: French Kiss Cocktail Demonstrated by Ryan Kreps of RA Sushi

Sarah Johnson​Every mall, grocery or drugstore you walk into is decorated with red and pink hearts. Little kids are writing "will you be mine" on their Dora the Explorer-themed cards. Husbands are frantically making last minute dinner reservations, while wives are buying expensive lingerie. A ... More >>

Sweet School

Sweet School

If Memory Serves: Zero Candy Bars

Denver Westword​If Memory Serves chronicles moments from my dining past, perhaps explaining what's wrong with me.It has been dismissed as a white Snickers. The company that makes them has changed hands so many times it's near impossible to keep track. And when I went to the 7-Eleven by our posh, t ... More >>

Cheap Bastard Goes to the State Fair and Gets Her Fry On

Veggie Guy: Vegan Chocolate Confections

​Chocolate--that's my kryptonite. Nothing makes me weaker in the knees than feasting on a chocolate dessert after dinner! My ancestors sure knew what they were doing by using the magical cacao bean as currency back in the day. But so many Dallas confectioners bastardize their chocolate creation ... More >>

Chocolate Confidential

When one of the top pastry chefs in town hands you a chocolate bar and says she's in love, you listen. In fact, I believe Rhonda Ruckman's exact words about the Patric bar she gave to me yesterday were, "As far as Madagascar chocolate goes, this kicks Valrhona's ass."Rhonda RuckmanComing from thi ... More >>

Pop...Without The Cork

Megan FeldmanLinda (right) and Angela RiordanIf you've been slacking on your Valentine's Day preparations and you happen to be in Addison, the folks over at Yo Pop Etc. are happy to help.The place seems an unlikely spot for romantic sweet nothings given its non-descript strip mall location on Midway ... More >>

Praying To The Saint...Of Chocolate

Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. It's almost like there's a chocolate-centric holiday coming up or something. A holiday that could have been custom-created for Central Market's brand and aesthetic, if Central Market had existed in 270 CE, around the time of Saint Valentine. No matter. This ... More >>

Sweet Mulch

Blast My Bubble

Get on the floor for DIFFA

Bar None

Try the best in Affairs

Chocoholism

Kowtow to Cacao

Chocoholics unite at Gourmet Showcase 2005

Best Gimmick Martini

Turkish coffee martini at Kismet

Best Chocolate Chip Cookie

JD's Chippery

Best Take-home Dessert

Dallas Affaires Cake Co.

Best chocolate chip cookie (tie)

J.D.'s Chippery & Great Harvest Bread Co.

Best cake by the slice

Dallas Affairs Cake Co.

Best dessert

Salve! Ristorante

Hot Dish

Bread and Circuses

When food legend Julia Child came to Texas spreading her gospel of good eating, no one was spared. Not even Big Tex

Pasta perfect, service prego

Momo's carries on the tradition of the surly waiter

Watching bread rise

Fairmount St. Cafe capitalizes on the bakery craze