Chocolate festival at Ghirardelli Square
What’s with this time of the year that festivals keep popping up every weekend? Just two weeks ago my friends and I were strolling among some 60 food trucks at Jack London Square; then last week we had some awesome grilled chicken at Martin Luther King Park; and this past Sunday we wound up queuing in the shivering bay wind for some artisan desserts at Ghirardelli Square. If we keep this up(*) I will become quite athletic, all that walking and standing in (long) line build muscles, you know. 😛
So here’s the deal with the 15th annual Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival: you get a $20 ticket to try 15 samples (there are 31 total, some of them are chocolate favored alcoholic drinks); supposedly the booths started giving samples at noon, but lots of people got there earlier and lined up in front of the booths. Kara’s Cupcakes is one of those booths with a 100 feet line before it even opened. I’m not crazy about cupcakes (yeah… you can tell I’m not American) so I didn’t contribute to that line’s ridiculous length. I did contribute to the line wrapping around McCormick & Kuleto’s, but it was worth it.
They are a seafood restaurant chain, but at this festival they whipped out flourless chocolate truffe cakes, with raspberry, blueberry, or blackberry on whip cream. The bite-sized sample was quite rich.
But it was among the best at the event. For one thing, we actually got a whole truffle cake, while Sweet simply gave a full spoon of crème brulée for each mark off the sampling ticket.
It tasted good (to quote other triers, “it tastes divine”), but one spoon? Seriously? The ticket is $20 for 15 samples, that’s $1.33 per sample, and don’t tell me an average spoon of creme brulee costs that much. Disappointed me by the rip-off.
The Tea Room Chocolates gave a much better deal. We got to sample 6 types of tea-infused chocolate: 72% dark with green mate, star anise & nibs (orange), 58% dark with raspberry rooibos tea (pink), 58% dark with green earl grey tea (green), milk with black masala chai (purple), milk with jasmine tea (blue), and white with chamomile tea & honey (yellow). Â The pink and the green bars were the best.
Next to Tea Room Chocolates was Ana Mandara‘s booth. According to the brochure Ana Mandara had chocolate mochi, but actually they had brownie. Very good and moist brownie, but mochi would have been a better score. On a side note, this place has an interesting (and affordable) lunch menu, which we would have tried had they not closed at 2:30. :-/
Another disappointment was the mini vegan cupcake from Eat My Love For You. It’s a cute little chocolate bite with lustrous vanilla butter cream on top. It was great during the first few seconds, but like most loves at first sight, the dazzles wore off and we got a burnt oily aftertaste. Maybe it was just an off batch.
DeLise Dessert Café offered slightly more choices, cupcakes and brownies among them (surprise!), and the line was also “slightly” longer. But at least it looked out to the beach instead of others’ backs, and we can kill time watching seagulls preening themselves under the sun…
…Until we got to the goodies. The sea salt brownie was super popular, but we opted for the nutella biscotti (which was just like any other biscotti), and lemongrass ice cream. THIS ice cream alone makes the trip worth it. The lemongrass fragrance wasn’t apparent until it melted down at the back of your throat, then gently rose back to the palate like herbal tea.
Mudpie was more enthused by the chocolate covered Oreo cookies from Plumeria Flours. You got to pick 2 types of cookies for each sample’s worth; the peanut butter and the mint were, again, good but uninteresting.
The same can be said of Sterling Confection‘s banana honey truffle bar. These intriguing sushi-looking blocks cost a whopping $25 each at the festival. Most have liqueur flavors and some (a bit too sweet) fruity touch, but the colors are the only thing exotic about them.
The upstairs (the Fountain Plaza area) Â had a few more choices, not as splendidly colored as the Lower Plaza, but more (ful)filling.
Leonidas‘ chocolate martini was exceedingly popular, the line practically connected the upper and lower plazas.
Reuschelle’s marble cheesecake bite was rich, perhaps a bit too rich. At this point all I could dream about was a full glass of ice cold water. One can only handle so much sweets in one day.
Bo’s chocolate and vanilla mini pancakes… I was getting thirstier, and wanted some real food…
… Which explains why a piece of toasted and buttered cherry chocolate English muffin had never tasted better. Thank you, Leadbetter’s Bake Shop.
So, how was Ghirardelli’s 15th Annual Chocolate Fest? Besides the awesome lemongrass ice cream from DeLise and the tea-infused chocolates from The Tea Room, everything fell a little… unimaginative. In fact, nothing sums up the day better than the expression of this little girl at Sterling Confection‘s booth.
(*) Should I go to another food fest at the end of this month? Women of Taste sounds pretty good. 😛 But is four food festivals in one month a bit too much?
Keep working ,great job!
1Thanks, I’ve recently been searching for information about this subject for ages and yours is the greatest I’ve discovered till now. However, what about the bottom line? Are you certain in regards to the supply?
2Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back frequently!
3It’s the best time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I desire to suggest you some interesting things or suggestions. Perhaps you could write next articles referring to this article. I desire to read more things about it!
4I like this website very much, Its a rattling nice position to read and find info .
5Great post. I was checking constantly this blog and I’m impressed! Very useful info particularly the last part 🙂 I care for such info much. I was looking for this certain information for a very long time. Thank you and good luck.
6I real thankful to find this web site on bing, just what I was looking for : D also saved to fav.
7Very interesting information!Perfect just what I was looking for!
8Very interesting information!Perfect just what I was looking for!
9Please let me know if you’re looking for a writer for your site. You have some really good articles and I believe I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d really like to write some content for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please send me an e-mail if interested. Cheers!
10It’s actually a cool and useful piece of information. I am happy that you shared this helpful information with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
11Hey there, You have performed an excellent job. I will certainly digg it and in my opinion suggest to my friends. I’m confident they will be benefited from this site.
12What i don’t understood is in truth how you are now not actually much more neatly-preferred than you might be now. You are very intelligent. You realize thus considerably relating to this topic, made me in my view believe it from so many varied angles. Its like women and men aren’t interested until it’s one thing to accomplish with Girl gaga! Your personal stuffs great. Always handle it up!
13Some truly nice stuff on this web site, I enjoy it.
14Pretty portion of content. I just stumbled upon your website and in accession capital to say that I acquire in fact loved account your weblog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your augment and even I success you access constantly rapidly.
15Rattling great info can be found on blog.
16wonderful post.Never knew this, thankyou for letting me know.
17This blog is definitely rather handy since I’m at the moment creating an internet floral website – although I am only starting out therefore it’s really fairly small, nothing like this site. Can link to a few of the posts here as they are quite. Thanks much. Zoey Olsen
18Great post. I am facing a couple of these problems.
19I have been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this blog. Thanks, I will try and check back more often. How frequently you update your site?
20you have a great blog here! would you like to make some invite posts on my blog?
21Hi this is kind of of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding knowledge so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
22I love what you guys tend to be up too. Such clever work and exposure! Keep up the terrific works guys I’ve included you guys to blogroll.
23What’s Going down i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve found It positively helpful and it has helped me out loads. I hope to contribute & assist other users like its aided me. Great job.
24great post, very informative. I’m wondering why the other specialists of this sector don’t notice this. You should proceed your writing. I’m confident, you’ve a great readers’ base already!
25Absolutely composed content, Really enjoyed looking at.
26Hi , I do believe this is an excellent blog. I stumbled upon it on Yahoo , i will come back once again. Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and help other people.
27Hi, just required you to know I he added your site to my Google bookmarks due to your layout. But seriously, I believe your internet site has 1 in the freshest theme I??ve came across. It extremely helps make reading your blog significantly easier.
28Its great as your other blog posts : D, regards for posting.
29I was just looking for this information for a while. After six hours of continuous Googleing, finally I got it in your web site. I wonder what’s the lack of Google strategy that do not rank this type of informative web sites in top of the list. Usually the top sites are full of garbage.
30Hey very nice site!! Man .. Excellent .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your web site and take the feeds also…I am happy to find numerous useful information here in the post, we need develop more strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
31Fantastic site. A lot of useful info here. I’m sending it to a few friends ans also sharing in delicious. And of course, thanks for your effort!
32It is really a nice and helpful piece of info. I’m glad that you shared this useful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.
33As soon as I found this site I went on reddit to share some of the love with them.
34In the grand design of things you get a B+ just for effort. Exactly where you confused me was first in your facts. You know, they say, details make or break the argument.. And it could not be much more correct here. Having said that, let me say to you just what exactly did work. The writing is actually quite convincing and that is most likely the reason why I am taking the effort in order to comment. I do not really make it a regular habit of doing that. Second, despite the fact that I can see the jumps in reason you come up with, I am not necessarily confident of exactly how you seem to connect your ideas which inturn help to make the conclusion. For right now I will, no doubt subscribe to your point however wish in the future you link your facts better.
35I am often to blogging and i really appreciate your content. The article has really peaks my interest. I am going to bookmark your site and keep checking for new information.
36You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be actually something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!
37Thankyou for helping out, superb info .
38Heya i am for the first time here. I found this board and I find It really helpful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to provide something again and aid others such as you helped me.
39We absolutely love your blog and find most of your post’s to be exactly what I’m looking for. Do you offer guest writers to write content available for you? I wouldn’t mind publishing a post or elaborating on a lot of the subjects you write regarding here. Again, awesome web site!
40You are my breathing in, I have few web logs and rarely run out from brand :). “Actions lie louder than words.” by Carolyn Wells.
41It is perfect time to make some plans for the long run and it’s time to be happy. I have read this publish and if I may just I want to recommend you some attention-grabbing things or suggestions. Maybe you can write next articles relating to this article. I wish to read even more things about it!
42I like the efforts you have put in this, thank you for all the great articles.
43What i don’t realize is actually how you’re not actually much more well-liked than you might be now. You’re so intelligent. You realize thus significantly relating to this subject, made me personally consider it from a lot of varied angles. Its like women and men aren’t fascinated unless it’s one thing to accomplish with Lady gaga! Your own stuffs excellent. Always maintain it up!
44I am glad to be a visitor of this stark blog! , thanks for this rare information! .
45There is clearly a bunch to know about this. I consider you made certain good points in features also.
46I really like your writing style, good info, appreciate it for putting up :D. “I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.” by Joseph Baretti.
47You are my inhalation, I possess few web logs and very sporadically run out from to brand : (.
48Good info. Lucky me I reach on your website by accident, I bookmarked it.
49Thanks a lot for giving everyone an extremely wonderful chance to discover important secrets from here. It’s usually very awesome plus jam-packed with a great time for me personally and my office mates to search your site the equivalent of thrice every week to find out the newest secrets you have got. And lastly, I am also always contented with the effective methods you give. Some 1 tips on this page are ultimately the most effective we have all ever had.
50