Potato Chips and Chocolate? New York’s Crazy Chocolate Concoctions and Traditions

NEW YORK—The time spent unwinding after Christmas and Hanukkah can be complemented with many varieties of chocolate. New Yorkers and tourists alike have plenty of options to choose from.

After all, chocolate workshops and artisanal makers are popping up all over the city, while many veteran stores are still going strong, according to the city tourism website.

Kee’s Chocolates in SoHo, offers gourmands handmade truffles that lace chocolate with saffron and honey or mango green tea. A neighboring chocolate boutique, MarieBelle carries well-reviewed Aztec hot chocolate.

And in an unassuming Flatiron District office building, Chocolat Moderne, started by a former banker inspired by a trip to Belgium, Joan Coukos Todd, supplies New Yorkers and tourists alike with award-winning chocolate. Two of Todd’s chocolate bars include one infused with lime toffee and another with blood-orange bergamot caramel.

Across the East River lie multiple palatable chocolate stores in Brooklyn. Li-Lac Chocolates, started in 1923, keeps tradition going by using original recipes for its 140 plus items, including chocolate turtles, mints, and pralines, among others. Originally from Manhattan, Li-Lac moved to Sunset Park just this year.

For more adventurous foodies, in Downtown Brooklyn, Nunu Chocolates adds chocolate to mundane items like beer and potato chips to make gourmet delicacies. Visitors can watch workers make hand-dipped salted caramels while enjoying a frozen hot chocolate.

Over in Forest Hills, Queens, Aigner Chocolates is a candy shop that serves German and Austrian inspired chocolates. Some of its products include chocolate bunnies and truffles that are still made in the basement. The shop has its origins in the 1930s as Krause’s Candy Kitchen, and was bought by an employee John Aigner in 1960. Aigner’s grandchildren are still managing the store today.

Whether it’s milk, dark, white, caramel or peanut butter, there is a plethora of chocolate in New York to satisfy all tastes.