Chocolate Bar: Spring 2012 at Cafe Fleuri

If you’re a fan of any sort of “extreme food” show you might have heard of the infamous Chocolate Bar. In fact, just a few days after I visited, I saw it featured on a Food Network show about the country’s top buffets. Not gonna lie, it made me feel a little guilty about my splurge. But not too guilty to show you my experience.

The Chocolate Bar happens on Saturdays at Cafe Fleuri in the Langham Hotel. Now in its twenty-third season, this ultimate dessert extravaganza attracts locals and tourists alike. I can attest to that because it was my third visit.

Not that it makes me a regular or anything. Those visits have been spread over the course of four years. The first time, I met up with a foodie friend visiting from Chicago. The second time, I brought two of my life-long gal pals for a girls’ day out. And this time, my husband was hoping it would finally be our chance to experience a day of chocolate-infused romance together. But he was out of luck (or rather, he already had plans. I guess that’s the same as out of luck.) I brought my mom instead. It’s not every day I do lunch and shopping with mom in Boston. So you see, I’ve reserved my Chocolate Bar indulgences for special occasions.

What better way to celebrate a baby shower, bachelorette, or birthday party? On Saturday afternoons when hundreds of decadent desserts deck the tables, there are endless groups of women of all ages. In fact, this is the only food-fest I can think of where women outnumber men. Us women and our chocolate 🙂

As you can hopefully see, there is something to satisfy every palette. If what you like is purely traditional fudge brownies, chewy chocolate chip cookies, silky chocolate fondue and milky hot chocolate, you won’t go hungry. And for the more adventurous chocolate lover, there are tantalizing pairings like olive oil, chili, smoke, and gruyere.

I’m thinking back to that smoked chocolate cake, and it was definitely one of my top two favorite tastes that day, probably because it was so unique. My mom and I guessed that the cakes were either baked in an oven with a box of woodchips (like grilling over smoking chips) or had smoke seasoning added to the batter. Either way, it was different and addicting. I didn’t happen to get a photo of that one. Believe it or not, there were lots of things I didn’t take pictures of. That would have taken forever. A girl’s gotta eat her chocolate!

Each chocolate dessert comes with a relative percentage of chocolate intensity – can you guess where I gravitate on the scale?

The crepe station was mom’s first choice. She opted for simply fresh berries and skipped the nutella, rum and whipped cream (all great choices, I’m sure) in order to save room… for chocolate, obviously.

I liked that there were a few “themed” sections. This table was a white chocolate lover’s dream. Honestly, I didn’t know I was a white chocolate lover until I sampled that strawberry parfait, the white chocolate frosted eclair filled with coffee cream, and a white chocolate mousse cake with caramelized pineapple. That last one, not pictured, was my other favorite of the day.

For the vegans (or people who cannot have dairy or eggs) there were goodies like apple crisp, chocolate mousse, and coconut rice pudding with mango. But my favorites here were, of course, the ones I missed taking pictures of. (Note to self: next time eat first, then snap!) The vegan chocolate cupcake was dense and moist, under a thick pillow of whipped ganache. And then there was the banana muffin, studded with substantial bites of dark chocolate.

Lastly, if you saved room (you bet I did!) there was a station where you could have your own ice cream custom-mixed right in front of you! Yes, kind of like Coldstone 🙂

These were our first plates. First of…we’ll just say first of “many”. Some things are better left forgotten!

See that little pink cloud in the corner? It’s cotton candy. It’s never been my thing, but I’ve seen people go ga-ga over it. No exception here! It was a favorite among all the tween girls, who showed up in sparkly dresses clearly fit for a party.

By the way, there is a DJ here too, spinning top 40. The kids were having an absolute blast practicing their moves while singing into their cotton candy microphones, while a couple of moms chatted over tea and coffee. I have to be honest, I’d kind of like to have my birthday party here too!

And in case you didn’t get enough (I did, I certainly did) there is special Chocolate Bar chocolate to go.

The Chocolate Bar is located in Cafe Fleuri in the Langham Hotel in Boston, MA and is open on Saturdays from 11am-3pm. Reservations are recommended. For more information or to make reservations, please call (617) 451-1900 ext. 7125 or visit www.opentable.com.

This visit to the Chocolate Bar was complimentary but I have visited before on my own and always enjoy it. Thank you to Mallory and the Langham Hotel for inviting me!