Italian Hot Chocolate

Cioccolata con panna at Eataly


The most exhilarating three words on Earth may still be I love you, but Italian hot chocolate is a very close second. If you've never had it, then wish for it, aspire to it, dream about it, and by all means plan a trip to wherever it is you have to go to find it.

What makes Italian hot chocolate so good is its thickness and flavor. There are other deliciously thick hot chocolates around the city but they don't share the bold taste of chocolate pudding that Italian hot chocolate has. Plus, the longer you let it sit, the thicker it gets. La dolce vita indeed.

My favorite is the cioccolata con panna at Eataly—a tourist hellhole if ever there was one, but sometimes you have to walk through hell to get to heaven. Not sure if that's a paraphrase of the Bible or The Steve Miller Band, but the point is, once you have that Lavazza V-shaped cup of molten chocolate in front of you, it doesn't matter what tortures you've endured or crimes you've committed, salvation is only a sip away.

Left sitting for 3-4 minutes, a slightly thicker cioccolata con panna.


For hot chocolate so thick you literally have to remove the sippy lid and use a spoon when it cools, there's Amorino on University Place. This hot chocolate is hea-vy. There are many flavors to choose from, including Coconut. So far I've tried Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate. Both are spectacular.

Dark hot chocolate with whipped cream at Amorino

Same as above with whipped cream added. (How GOOD does that look!)

Of Mice and Penguins

Too Damn Cute: White-chocolate covered mice from L.A. Burdick, NYC



Let me tell you, ordering a chocolate mouse is very different than ordering a chocolate mousse. For one thing, you have to open your mouth a lot wider when you speak, it can't be mumbled. I'll bet there are some people who would never even bring themselves to place such an order, they'd feel too silly. Clearly, I am not such a person. And if you do go to L.A. Burdick on 20th Street between Fifth Ave and Park and ask for an espresso and chocolate mouse, here's what you'll get:

Speedy Gonzalez?: Espresso and mouse (also available in dark chocolate and milk chocolate)


Along with tiny mousse-filled meese with long stringy tails, Burdick offers European-inspired tarts, pastries, cakes, coffee drinks, tea and a heady variety of drinking chocolate. I've yet to sample their pastries but I assume they're good. Here's why:

One day while sitting at a corner bench, a lovely french family—parents and their adult son—sat at a table very close to mine. The son placed their order and returned to the table and sat down with his parents. They talked quietly, languidly, the father doing most of the talking while the mother focussed on closing the clasp on her bracelet, which her son, noticing her struggle, ever so gallantly closed for her. (Could you be any more charming?) I didn't see exactly what pastries they were having but heard the mother remark, "C'est bon ça, mon Dieu!"

If that isn't a golden seal of approval, I don't know what is. Who, afterall, knows pastries better than the French? Some might know pastries as well as the French, but no one knows pastries better than the French. And that's that.


Here are some exciting highlights from this extraordinary little chocolate shop.

As previously mentioned... PENGUINS!

Snowmen! (non-abominable)

Their Signature Valentine's Day Assortment... GORGEOUS!!!

And how many chocolatiers honor the birthday of Scottish Poet Robert Burns? Made with real scotch (the good kind), this manly assortment has plenty of burn of its own. (FYI, I'm speaking out of enthusiasm for the concept, I haven't actually tried these.)

Haggis Not Included: Limited edition Scotch Whisky Truffles in honor of Scottish poet Robert Burns.