Chocolatiers are a truffle a dozen in the Bay Area.
Still, when three superb ones are working out of the same commercial kitchen in West Oakland, our holiday gift-giving antennae start waving intensely. Order early, though--ideally before this week is over: These are small-batch operations.
Barlovento "This time of year," says Peter Brydon, Barlovento's chocolate maker and the leaseholder for the kitchen, "truffles rule." His gingerbread truffles, spiced with ground ginger and clove, are a seasonal special, but his favorite is crème de mûre, which is laced with blackberry liqueur. We're also fans of Brydon's whimsical marshmallows: "They're like Mallomars on steroids."
Vice Chocolates I-Li Chang Brice likes her chocolates "dark and sultry." No surprise, considering she sings for a band called Bloodwire. Wielding lemongrass, chipotle and lychee freely, she isn't shy with her flavorings. Her favorite (and ours) is the chocolate bark, shot through with dried Black Mission figs and aniseed (pictured).
Anand Confections A professor of epidemiology by day and a chocolatier by night, Anand Chokkalingam is precise about his offerings: For the holidays, he is producing only two types of chocolates--Darjeeling tea, and saffron and cardamom.
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