New Tree Chocolate

I was unexpectedly whisked away to dinner at Kiriko last night, so you get no photos. But here are some chocolate pictures I ripped off the internets. I went to The Wine House to check out some of the wines on Casa Del Mar's wine list, and ended up buying chocolate too. Seriously, The Wine House probably has the best chocolate selection in West LA.

New Tree is a Belgian company, and in general Belgian chocolates are my favorite. They have a relatively soft bite to them, and even the darkest chocolates have a creamy texture along with very concentrated flavors. French chocolates, while equally concentrated in flavor, have a very hard snap and a tendency to crumble as you chew. English, Canadian, and American chocolate tend to be too sugary and bland. South American chocolates are kind of a crapshoot but are really starting to come into their own.

The gimmick with New Tree chocolates is that they have new age names like "Renew" "Vigor" and "Rejoice." The names vaguely correspond with the ingredients. "Sexy," for example, has spicy ginger in it and "Forgiveness" has a high fiber cactus extract reputed to reduce food cravings (hm, for real?)