Texas Chocolate Continued

Everywhere I go I am thinking of you, Dear Readers. I was scouting out San Antonio for cool chocolate and candy to come back and share with you.

My room was on the 22nd floor of the Marriott River Center and when I looked out of my window, I could see the Alamo. It's right in the middle of downtown San Antonio and is not at all what you'd expect. It seems so tiny!! Of course, the whole compound is not still there, but it seems like it should be out in a vast stretch of desert somewhere.

And you sure don't expect there to be souvenir cookies!

Cool box! Love the artwork and the colors! And get a load of these great cookie designs:

Texas got a little broken, but aren't they great? Unfortunately the cookies themselves are no good. They have a weird lemon-like taste which I didn't like. I was bummed because I love shortbread. But hey, I'm thinking Walkers - my love! I guess Scotland does shortbread a little better than Texas. : )

Atkinson's (maker of Chick-o-Stick) is based in Texas http://www.atkinsoncandy.com/ and I hadn't seen these before:

I love the little square peanut butter bars. To be honest, these seemed a little stale. They were more chewy than crunchy - but not in a good way.

They could have been stale because there is no expiration date on them. You all know how I hate that!!! There are too many candy makers and chocolatiers and bakers who don't put an expiration date on their products. How can you tell if they are just God-awful or if they have gone bad?

This is one of my soapbox issues and I will continue to rave about it. I have some gruesome pictures to be shared in future blogs. Grrrr...... I want expiration dates!!!!!!!!

I was appalled by the price of these ($19.99) but they were so original and I soooo wanted to share them with you all!

Chocolate Tamales!!!!

They come in mint and regular, in milk and white chocolate.

Isn't that creative? They are wrapped in a corn husk just like real tamales!!

And I was thrilled and surprised to find that the chocolate wasn't half bad! (We're not talking amazing, but we're talking better than Palmer.) They are made by Claudia B Chocolates based in Texas. http://www.claudiabchocolates.com/ You can order your own online for less than I paid. While I liked the milk chocolate, the white chocolate was just too sweet for me. I didn't even try the mint - just not my fav.

This bar was a whopping $7.00! But I just couldn't pass it up. I mean, when will I have the chance to try this combo again?

I'm sorry - eeww! The chocolate was good - I found myself wishing the jalapeno wasn't involved. I'm just not a fan of these weird combos. I love chocolate and peanuts too much to have them junked up with jalapeno! You know what I say - just because you can do it doesn't mean you should do it! But I'm glad it's out there and I know people like it. And what a great thing to get to try in Texas!!

It really is so much fun to check out the local candy makers when I travel - make sure you do the same thing (doesn't have to be candy). Try the local foods or listen to the local music. Don't do things you can do at home - enjoy the journey - have adventures. Even if you're just going to the next town - there is always something new and different. Try it!!

Texas Chocolate

No, I'm not dead! I've been down in San Antonio speaking for the International Association of Professional Background Screeners. (Thanks, Sassy!!)

But I was thinking of you, Dear Readers! Not only do I have some completely random Texas chocolates to share with you, I visited this great restaurant thanks to my friend Katie Davis who is an Army officer stationed in San Antone. Thanks, Katie!! Both for your service AND for your great ideas!

Billed as a modern French bistro and a chocolate cocktail lounge, anything with this sign HAD to be investigated:



Their website is http://www.sa-coco.com/. Check it out - it's cool. You can even see inside the restaurant with a 360 view.

The hardest thing was deciding what to get! I wanted it all! We started with Coco's Salade Au Chocolat: mixed greens, cherries, toasted nuts, blue cheese, raspberry vinaigrette and white chocolate shavings.

The cool part? The waiter brings a big block of white chocolate over to give you the shavings:



Load it up, I say!!!!



Delicious!!!! It was really, really great. Not too sweet, just fabulous. I wish I had another one right now.

This was an appetizer - crostini, mozzarella, rainbow tomatoes, chocolate balsamic vinegar reduction with sun dried tomatoes, pesto, olives, grilled veggies. We had to get it because of the chocolate - those brown dots are the chocolate reduction. And it was amazing!! Our waiter even brought us more. Think rich dark chocolate perfectly balanced with balsamic vinegar - I'm telling you, it was like dying and going to chocolate heaven.



The hard part was only choosing two desserts. I want to go back because there are so many more on the menu I feel I must try before I die. One involves a single origin Ecuador chocolate mousse dome with creme brulee inside - oh dear God. Check out the online desert menu - it will blow you away.

We got the chocolate lava inferno - described as warm bittersweet molten lava cake and raspberry coulis:





Looks amazing, doesn't it? And it was good, but it paled in comparison with the other dessert we got:



This is a warm chocolate Nutella tart. Described as "a flaky crust with a hazelnut-nutella ganache served warm with salty caramel crumbles and a side of caramel ice cream". Yay!!

You all know how I feel about Nutella. I can't stop myself from eating it right out of the jar. It is like crack cocaine to chocolate and nut lovers. This dessert was simply amazing. It was even was better than the peanut butter mousse dessert the Sorbet Sistahs loved so much. It may be the best dessert I have ever had.

If the Nutella tart wasn't already good enough, there was a side of caramel ice cream! Do these people know how to live or what??? Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous.

The service was also fantastic - our waiter brought us extra chocolate balsamic vinegar and even a small glass each of chocolate port - free of charge. I didn't think I would like it, but it was damn good!!! I wish I had some more of that right now, too!

An extraordinary dinner - we also split a delicious pizza - and the total was under $50! What a deal!!

Katie told our waiter about this blog and he told the owner - so he came over and talked with us. His passion for food and chocolate was obvious - I'm so thrilled we got to meet him. Among other things, he told us how he got the name for his establishment. His grandmother raised him (he is French, which when it comes to food gives you big points in my book. When it comes to anything else, not so much). And when he was a baby, she would feed him little bits of chocolate. As a result, his first word was "coco." Thus - COCO - chocolate lounge and bistro.

Ah - chocolate is the great unifier! Those who love it can't wait to share it with others who love it! And those who don't love it....well, those people are questionable anyway. Wish you all could have been with me!