Sweet Decadence: Jacques Torres Chocolate

Jacques Torres, the chocolatier extraordinaire has an amazing 8,000 square foot factory and retail store on Hudson Street. The minute that I walked in the door, I was greeted with the delightful aroma of melting chocolate. The elegantly appointed space with its tiered chandeliers and decorative icicles proved that it was no ordinary trip to a candy store. No, Jacques Torres Chocolate was an exceptional adventure.


Candy makers putting creating chocolate versions of Santa Claus and Snowmen

One of the unique experiences about visiting Jacques Torres is that there is also an operational chocolate factory. Visitors can see how cocoa beans are made into chocolate bars, snowmen, and even cookies. Yesterday, chocolate was being poured into molds to create Christmas trees.

Chocolate Christmas Trees being made in the factory.

Throughout the store, there were massive displays of malt balls, chocolate covered Cheerios, chocolate bars, and chocolate covered marshmallows.

Chocolate Malt Balls wrapped for gift giving.

Several marble and glass cases revealed individual pieces of chocolate in squares, hearts, and many other shapes and patterns, with among the many names Fresh Ginger, Love Potion No. 9, Hearts of Passion, and Creamy Raspberry in an assortment milk and dark varieties.

The gorgeous patterns, the decadent flavors, chocolate at its best.


The signature Jacques Torres chocolate boxes.


The drink bar that delivers liquid chocolate goodness in eight varieties.

The store also has an in-house bar, which serves up eight varieties of hot chocolate, which includes the popular Wicked, which is spiced with a hint of chili pepper. I opted to go along with my mother who chose the Classic. It was modestly described as "a traditional velvety hot chocolate. " However, upon further contemplation (and with my eyes closed shut) it was exactly like having a direct hit of delicious chocolate syrup so over-the-top, that I will never drink another brand of hot chocolate again. We both paired the sweet liquid gold with a chocolate tart which had a shortbread crust. It was all too amazing for words.


Check out Frosty and all of his merry snow friends.


Website: Jacques Torres Chocolate
300 Hudson Street, New York
Additional locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan


Nathan McCall, Them

Harlem (its boundaries are always disputed, but defined here as 110th to 155th streets, Hudson River to East River) has been experiencing a massive wave of gentrification. Gleaming new condominiums selling in the millions, cafes, restaurants, national chain stores, and expensive boutiques are now ushering in a new era of investment in America's most famous black neighborhood.

My maternal family is originally from Harlem, and I have watched the economic reinvestment transformation occur over the past several years, as a graduate student at both Columbia and NYU. While there is much to applaud in the newfound success stories, the fact remains that Harlem is still a neighborhood with a rich and storied history. Increasingly, there has been vocal opposition by some long-time residents, that they will soon be priced out of their own community. With the rapid onslaught of private developer interest, Columbia University's impending campus expansion in Manhattanville, and proposed zoning changes, it is very much an area that has will be different in the forseeable future.

A few weeks ago, I had a chance to see author African American author Nathan McCall, when he visited the Hue-Man Bookstore in Harlem to promote his newest book Them. McCall's first novel is about the state of race relations in 2007, through the eyes of both African Americans and white neighbors in Atlanta, Georgia.

Nathan McCall's novel, Them, tells a compelling story set in a downtown Atlanta neighborhood known for its main street, Auburn Avenue, which once was regarded as the "richest Negro street in the world."

The story centers around Barlowe Reed, a single, forty-something African American who rents a ramshackle house on Randolph Street, just a stone's throw from the historic birth home of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Barlowe, who works as a printer, otherwise passes the time reading and hanging out with other men at the corner store. He shares his home and loner existence with a streetwise, twentysomething nephew who is struggling to get his troubled life back on track.

When Sean and Sandy Gilmore, a young white couple, move in next door, Barlowe and Sandy develop a reluctant, complex friendship as they hold probing -- often frustrating -- conversations over the backyard fence.

Members of both households, and their neighbors as well, try to go about their business, tending to their homes and jobs. However, fear and suspicion build -- and clashes ensue -- with each passing day, as more and more new whites move in and make changes and once familiar people and places disappear.

Using a blend of superbly developed characters in a story that captures the essence of this country's struggles with the unsettling realities of gentrification, McCall has produced a truly great American novel.

McCall said he titled the novel, Them because “the word is used ambiguously. It worked now as a reflection of how we view each other. We view others as them, and they view us as them.”

The novel explores the issue of gentrification by using a wide-angled lens with perspectives from all parties involved. “I knew how many of us felt about the issue. I also wanted to explore it from the perspective of whites and others. It is a historic reversal, because we usually talk about white flight. We are now talking about those who have a certain comfort level of living around people of color.”

McCall noted that he chose to set the novel on Auburn Avenue, a neighborhood that once flourished when segregated. “It was one of the most thriving black business districts in Atlanta. Auburn was the richest black street in the world.” He said that while integration was a positive for the civil rights of African Americans, the negative impact was that “the number of black businesses is now dwindling.” The novel according to McCall also reflects the ongoing struggle to understand the impact of gentrification in communities of color. “The book is about an exploration, rather than a conclusion.”

Nathan McCall gives a brief tour of the neighborhood in the old Fourth Ward of Atlanta, which inspired the book, which is on sale now. The video can be found here.

NYC gentrification:

Unaffordable NY: tough choices at $150,000 [Crains NY Business]

Frank Lloyd Wright- Lego Set

Fallingwater LEGO@ set

The Frank Lloyd Wright designed Fallingwater, the 1934 modernist home owned by the late Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr., located in Pennsylvania, is now the subject of the latest LEGO@ set. Architect Adam Reed Tucker designed the 811-piece model. The actual Fallingwater has been open to the public since 1963. For more information, visit their website here.

Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's modernist masterpiece [wikipedia]

Fallingwater is a great blessing - one of the great blessings to be experienced here on earth, I think nothing yet ever equaled the coordination, sympathetic expression of the great principle of repose where forest and stream and rock and all the elements of structure are combined so quietly that really you listen not to any noise whatsoever although the music of the stream is there. But you listen to Fallingwater the way you listen to the quiet of the country - Frank Lloyd Wright



Jane's Carousel

A few weeks ago, after going to the Brooklyn Flea's DUMBO location, I stumbled across this most interesting of urban curiosities. There was a small crowd of people, outside, gathered by a warehouse gallery, staring at a merry-go-round, and I decided to take a picture.

Brooklyn-based artist Jane Walentas purchased what is now known as Jane’s Carousel, in 1984 for $385,000 at an auction. It was beautifully restored after 22 years of meticulous work, and is on display seasonally (April - September) at 56 Water Street. In December 2010, it will make its debut at its new permanent home in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Here's a clip from CBS Sunday Morning, featuring the latest in New York’s many attractions, with a brief history of carousels.

Sounds of the City: Zhane's Vibe

Everybody by Maggie HoppIn 1993, the r & b group Zhane's  "Vibe" video made its debut.  Filmed in New York, the singing duo is seen walking the streets, past a temporary public art piece called "Everybody" that was installed by an organization called Creative Time. The 24 American artists participated in the project that brought vibrancy to West 42nd Street.

Here is the description of the work: 

Tibor KALMAN & Scott STOWELL – “EVERYBODY” Tibor Kalman and Scott Stowell covered a large billboard on the police information center in Times Square with the word EVERYBODY. Like a one word poem, it could refer to the multiples who came to pass though Times Square. It could also suggest that somehow Times Square is a symbol of the world’s people at a crossroads – maybe in need of “redevelopment.” Several chairs were mounted above the platform at the base of the sign, in hopes that they would be used by anybody for a rest, to take pictures or to observe “everybody.”

Among the many New York landmarks that make a cameo appearance include the World Trade Center, the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg Bridges, the Brooklyn Promenade and the Chrysler Building.  There's also an opening shot of the IRT #7's now defunct "red bird" cars, snaking through Queens.

Lunch with a Friend- Brick Lane Curry House

I had lunch with a friend over on Curry Lane (East 6th Street), and enjoyed the yummy-liscious Indian buffet at Brick Lane Curry House. Chicken Tikka Masala and Fish Goan were among the delicious assortment of pungent curry, turmeric, and cumin flavored offerings on the menu. A cross-section of folks came in from the backpacker, making my way through Manhattan student types, to the lady decked out in the black dress for a lunch date. It was convivial dining at its finest, topped by a trip to the super duper always uber crowded Starbucks-Astor Place outlet.

Eat, drink, be merry.
Brick Lane Curry House
306 East 6th Street
New York, NY

PS- the restaurant is also famous for their hotter-than-average phaal curry, described as so punishing, that they will give you a free beer if you can finish it. You've been dared.



New Amsterdam Village at NY 400 Week

NY400 Week honored the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's arrival in New York Harbor. There were a series of cultural events that celebrated the friendship, between New York and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.  I had a chance to visit the New Amsterdam Village, which was a temporary pop-up installation of 12 replica Dutch canal houses, a windmill, and various kiosks with Dutch crafts. In addition several people sampled traditional foods like cheese, beer, herring and "dollar" pancakes. Here are several photos from my visit.  The village was set up at the entrance of the National Museum of the American Indian, which is an incredible, free Smithsonian Museum on Bowling Green in Manhattan.

I watched Jacques Coolen of Erkend bloemsierkunstenaar make beautiful candy flowers!

Yes, the wooden shoemaking demonstration was quite intriguing.  The festiveal also featured Delft blue painiting, and glassblowing demonstrations.

The view of New Amsterdam Village with the National Museum of the American Indian in the background.

There were even greenhouses to showcase the Dutch innovations in greenhouses, and solar energy. There were also several displays of Dutch bulbs.