By Bret Csencsitz

CHOCOLATE WITH HEART

Over the past couple of weeks, you’ve been sent a number of emails from Gotham Chocolates as we celebrated finally being able to make chocolate again. With all bandwidth directed to reopening Gotham, we had been sold out since fall, forcing us to miss the holiday market (and much-needed sales). But with an invitation from Nordstrom New York to host a Valentine’s pop-up, we mobilized to replenish our shop and relaunch our program, thanks to an industrious team of two: my Gotham Chocolates co-creator Ron Paprocki, now Gotham’s Executive Chef, and sous-chef Deirdre Maguire, who has been Chef’s right hand over the past year. On any given day for the past few weeks they’ve been molding and handpainting bonbons, casting chocolate bars, candifying our Rainforest Bark, and twisting caramels, all while prepping for dinner service.

COMING FROM A GOOD PLACE

Gotham Chocolates was born in 2015 when Chef Paprocki, then Gotham’s longtime pastry chef, approached me with the idea. With a bent for challenging himself, Chef seemed inspired to tackle this most elusive of sweet feats. I also loved chocolate and was keen to keep building the restaurant’s product range, which already included wine and olive oil. But as our experience and understanding evolved, we graduated from buying chocolate to making our own from bean-to-bar, a process that entailed roasting, winnowing, and refining the beans in Gotham’s kitchen. Through this journey our little chocolate line went from side hustle to passion, garnering Chef Paprocki back-to-back Good Food Awards in 2019 and 2020.

As cacao becomes chocolate, the choices made by chocolatier become integral to its final expression.

As with coffee or wine, cacao cultivation and its transformation into chocolate is a complex and creative process that, in each final edible expression, reflects the influence of nature and of art. The kernels within every pod are a reflection of place—the variety and how it was nurtured. Then, as cacao becomes chocolate, the choices made by chocolatier become integral to its final expression.

Since our outset, in keeping with Gotham’s commitment to the markets and farms of our partner GrowNYC, Gotham Chocolates has pledged to only work with fairly traded cacao sourced from sustainable plantations that serve their community of origin while protecting their habitat. Today we are honored to have deeper roots in the rainforest regions where cacao is grown through our association with the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, founded by my new Gotham co-owner, Kevin Conrad. Currently our chocolates have origins in Belize, Bolivia, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, India, and Madagascar via Uncommon Cacao and Naked Cacao.

THE FUTURE IS SWEET

The cacao tree is called “theobrama,” which means “food of the gods.” We have to agree. The more we learn about chocolate, the more there is to love, from the many health benefits to clever uses in cuisine (note Chef Paprocki’s cocoa-butter mounted vegan bordelaise). Our chocolate journey has taken us this far, and while while we are still short-cheffed, we feel on a roll and have committed to growing Gotham Chocolates with new packaging, seasonal creations, and the addition of a 12th bar. Look for us back at Nordstrom this Easter, Mother’s Day, and next holiday season, and in our boutiques from Madison Avenue to Kumamoto, Japan: Butterfield Market, Schaller & Weber, Economy Candy, Chelsea Market Baskets, Connecticut’s 109 Cheese, and Japan’s Tsuruya Department Store. Maybe one day soon we’ll even have our own Village shop.

Happy Valentine’s Day and…SHOP NOW! :)