Fortunately chocolate needn't evoke anxiety. And drinking Euro-style hot chocolate is always welcome around the ides of February, be it solo or à deux.
You can find such brew at Juliette et Chocolat, also a crêperie. (Prediction: Just as sushi became the new McDonald's, crêpes will become the new sushi.)
Start with savoury crêpes of pesto and goat cheese, or egg and ham, made with earthy tasting buckwheat flour. They're tinged an alluring purple, laced with an orange griddle print. Dessert crêpes have fillings like chestnut purée, marmalade and dulce de leche.
"Is that girl licking that guy's ear?" my pal asked, scoping out the couple across the room. I turned to peek, but couldn't tell.
Chocolate inspires that sort of thing. It was a preferred drink of powerful and randy Aztec leader Montezuma, who downed cacao concoctions before visiting his wives.
The first European recipe, published in 1631 by Andalusian physician Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma, included chili, anise and vanilla (Alexandria roses could be substituted). De Ledesma wrote that chocolate is healthy, "it makes the drinker fat and corpulent, fair and amiable," and is an aphrodisiac. Other salubrious claims of yore include relief of gout and hemorrhoids,
Juliette's hot chocolate would make any Romeo's pulse quicken. The menu boasts versions extra bitter to white, and varietals such as guanaja, manjari and araguani, with faintly absurd yet enticing descriptions that would match any vintner's.
I ordered the day's special of chocolate and orange, made with their dark semi-sweet base, and got a little white pot of thick smooth liquor to pour into my cup. Just grand, though I might veer toward a less sweet version.
My espresso-obsessive pal greatly enjoyed his mochaccino, a double-espresso-hot chocolate mélange topped with sturdy foam.
Though a casual café, it's easy to drop $20 on lunch, partly due to quality ingredients. As you pay, admire the Hindu porn chocolates on display by the register, modelled after sexy tableaux carved on the temples in Khajuraho.
It's a good date place for V Day. And in case your romantic peccadilloes end badly, hey, you're near the bus station so you can leave town in a hurry.
Juliette et Chocolat1615 St-Denis; 287-3555Chocolate drinks, no tax, no tip: $4-$7; crêpes: $4-$12Or try hot chocolate flavoured with cardamom and Espelette pepper at Festin de Babette4085 St-Denis; 849-0214
Side dish
Recipe for romance
First off, mixing cocoa and sugar with milk is not hot chocolate, but an exercise in frustration. The powder films on top of the dribble of liquid, taunting you with its insolubility. You stir and stir, creating a whirling maelstrom of milk dully burnished with cocoa dust. Then at last - a smear of dark brown signals incorporation, and a flecked syrup emerges. Grandmotherly nice when blended with warm milk, but not exactly, well, hot.
For a drink with romance potential, all you need is good chocolate, milk, flavour enhancement, and - surprise - cornstarch to make it really unctuous.
Melt 4 to 5 oz. of quality dark chocolate over minimum heat in a saucepan or double boiler. Dark Callebaut works fine. At the same time, warm up 2 cups of milk in another pot.
While waiting, whisk 1 teaspoon of cornstarch into 2 tablespoons of milk.
Now, because the original cacao depth can get lost in milky translation, add a touch of vanilla to the molten chocolate to bring out the taste. Augment it further with a few pinches of cinnamon, some grated nutmeg or fresh ginger. Experiment. Chili or cardamom would be splendid.
Whisk the warmed milk into the chocolate a bit at a time, over low-medium heat. Adjust flavouring. Some might want sugar added, but what do they know. Splash in booze if you're the type. Pour into your most charming cups. Revel in its slick sensuality.
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