Good Hot Chocolate is Hard to Find

I'm walking around town yesterday, doing some shopping, taking some pictures. It is cold out. I want something to warm myself up. "Hot Chocolate!" I say, startling some of my fellow pedestrians. Ahead of me next to the Virgin Megastore at Union Square is the Mudtruck. The Mudtruck is an orange and brown UPS-type truck that sells coffee. I don't drink coffee but I've heard their coffee is good.

The Mudtruck sign says "hot chocolate 'the best in ny' $2.00 small". I order one. I regret doing so as soon as I see the guy pumping chocolate syrup/sludge into a cup. One sip and it is in the trash. Another undrinkable New York City hot chocolate.

Why can't I find decent hot chocolate in town? There's no shortage of bad hot chocolate. There's no shortage of great hot chocolate. Where is the respectably good hot chocolate?

Great	Good	Ugly
City Bakery - Thick and rich, this is good stuff. Sometimes has an unpleasant aftertaste. February is their Hot Chocolate Festival. MarieBelle - Tried some today. Made without milk. Sinfully good. 3x the price of City Bakery. Jacques Torres - Heard it is good. Have yet to try. Chocolate Bar - Outstanding chocolate flavor. Could be richer. They use Jacques Torres chocolate. Joe's Homemade - Thick and rich with a hint of spice. This hot chocolate is really nice. Modesty be damned, my hot chocolate is just as good as City Bakery's.		Mudtruck - Weak. Made with sludge/syrup. Although they used milk can't tell by taste whether it was milk or water. Zanny's Cafe - Like Mudtruck they claim to have the best in New York. Like Mudtruck their hot chocolate is weak and made with sludge/syrup. Nussbaum and Wu - Undrinkably bad. So bad I literally had to spit it out. Disgusting. Had I not been two blocks away before trying I would have returned it. Starbucks - If only they had adopted Pasqua Coffee's hot chocolate as their own when they bought Pasqua up. Pasqua made really good everyday hot chocolate.

Now that winter is here, I need to go on a quest for good hot chocolate in New York. Suggestions are welcome. I ought to update my html coding skills, too, as this table looks awful.

Comments

[tien]

rachelle was saying that the chocolate at chocolate bar is fom different chocolate places in the city and that the hot chocolate that they sell in the tins is re-packaged jacques torres hot chocolate. i do need to try city bakery's hot chocolate though.

[Romy]

We need to make a pilgrimage to Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor for some Mexican hot chocolate and a brownie.

[tien]

i've actually never had either at zingerman's, not that i went there all that often.

[joe]

Zingerman's brownies are the best. Just ask Penny! (that's an inside joke that only Romy will understand).

I was thinking of Zingerman's mexican hot chocolate when I made the chart! I fondly remember the woman with the sexy gravelly voice who said "we're out of hot chocolate. I'll make you some of our Mexican hot chocolate instead." She did, and only charged me the regular hot chocolate price. Customer service the way it oughta be. Not to mention the thickest, richest hot chocolate ever. Didn't you, colleen, and i once share one there?

I didn't know that about Chocolate Bar. Maybe I should just go directly to Jacques Torres.

[Romy]

Colleen wasn't with us that time. The three of us saw "Wings of the Dove" together though during that same Xmas holiday, I think. Zingerman's is the best; I still miss it!

Tien, did you live in the Ann Arbor area?

[tien]

i went to u of m for college, so i guess i did live there for a bit. my friends and i never seem to make it to zingerman's when we are back in aa though.