Hot Chocolate Quest - FB2B, post 47

Now that my fingers and brain cells have thawed out a little bit from all this freezing weather, I have finally gotten around to putting something together for the blog. The dipping temperatures and my finally almost-healed mouth, mean that I can indulge in some of the warming comfort foods I have been craving.

Bringing up a post from a few weeks ago, I return to my hot chocolate quest. This beverage must have been on a few folks' minds, as New York Magazine did a story on some of best places to find it in the city. Although, I do have to quibble a bit with their choices.

I decided that I wanted to check out some of their selections in the taste comparison. This is not to make you start to drool or get on line for the cheapest plane ticket to the Big Apple. My choice for the winner of the ones I have tried recently is Max Brenner. Except for the lack of a crispy waffle-like cooky, this one has come the closest that I have found to what I had during my stay in Italy.

Can you tell that I liked it?

It was love a first sip. A deep, buried memory of delicious hot chocolates gone past was dredged up from the recesses of my brain. As the hot drink glided over my lips, coasting over my tongue like a dark brown river, and slithered down my throat with the heat hitting the center of my chest, I knew I had found it.

The warmth spread throughout my limbs, which was a very good thing as I was waiting, shivering at the bus stop trying to get back uptown. At last, I had found that for which I have been looking all these years. The other hot chocolate choices on the magazine's list didn't have the same effect.

When I last had City Bakery's, I didn't really care for it. I'm not sure if it was too pudding-like (a real hazard in this area) or what. Last night, I was able to try Otto's version, but despite the fact that I do like gianduja in general, I didn't really care all that much for the hazelnut finish and found it a bit clumpy. Also, while fond of shortbread, I thought that that cooky was too heavy for the drink, and I would have preferred to have swapped it for one of the waffle cookies that my companions had been given with their desserts.

My next goal is to continue to see if I can cross off the others that the magazine highlighted. So, I guess I can't really say that I'm sorry if the groundhog was actually wrong this year, and I ended up with a few more wintery weeks until I managed to get to all of these places.

Buon appetito!