The Gourmez

Escazu
936 North Blount Street
Mordecai, Raleigh
Website
Tues to Sat: 11 am to 9 pm

Escazu is a maker of small-batch chocolates that mainly trades in bars and truffles. A friend was headed out to their retail store last weekend, and as I’ve always wanted to try their wares, I joined in. The smell of such luscious, roasted chocolate when you open the door is reason enough to stick your head inside.

Each one of those is a different option from all over the flavor spectrum. There were strictly sweet varieties and ones that ventured into savory experimentation with lots of different herbs. Prices per each are $1.25 to $2.25, I believe.  These truffles have hard shells with gooey centers.

There were about six different bar varieties also, nearly all dark that I saw, which is all the better as far as I’m concerned. A few were simple dark chocolates of different origins and percentages cacao, but others were definitely more fun in the ingredient department, pumpkin seed and chile coming to mind. The bars were $4.50 each, or 3 for $12. They even had a goat’s milk chocolate bar! Now, those prices are definitely steep compared to large brands but compared to other high-quality bars, it’s really quite comparable. I love my chocolate, so I think it’s worth a splurge on occasion. They also had some cute Christmas-themed bars made with dulce de leche and rice crispies on the bottom.

A pleasant surprise was how welcoming of a store they have. Pretty blonde wood lines the walls. The three tables are made of the same, and the lighting is just that right shade to be both dim and warm.

If you are looking to hang out, they also offer espresso drinks, hot chocolate, ice cream pops in a few flavors, and a cake from Crumb. Of course, all of the above were made with Escazu chocolate.

I did partake in truffles; how could I not? I went for a large orange and clove one and a smaller tamarind and habanero.

Yum to both. On first bite of the one on the right, the clove was very strong with orange quickly rushing in. By the time I’d finished it, the clove had mellowed out a lot, and it tasted much like the Tobler oranges so in demand at Christmas time.  I thought the tamarind-habanero offering was just about perfect. The heat from the chile was great, and the tamarind’s richness simply wrapped itself around it.

I also tried a honey star, which are small little chocolates with a teeny dash of honey in the middle.

I would have liked more honey, but if you try one, definitely suck on it like my friend recommended. You get a lovely little shot of honey at the very end.

I haven’t really rated a retail store before, but I’m not going to let that stop me from giving this chocolate maker a predictable, but deserved,

4 stars

Reviewed 11 Dec  10.

Posted: Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 @ 2:34 pm
Categories: Coffee Shop.
Tags: cake, chocolate, chocolate bar, coffee, crumb, escazu, ice cream, orange clove, small batch chocolate, tamarind habanero, truffles.
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