Shop of the Week: Bond Street Chocolate

NEXT »

Bond Street Chocolate on E. 4th St.

East Village just got a little sweeter. Bond Street Chocolate has nestled into a storefront on a colorful stretch of East 4th Street between Bowery and Second Avenue. The block is packed with a mélange of indie establishments -- including several theaters, beauty salons, a food co-op, old-fashioned cobbler and vintage print shop -- but this is its first chocolatier.

It's also the first commercial outpost for proprietor Lynda Stern, who began her artisanal chocolate business many years ago (naming it in honor of her long-time home on Manhattan's Bond Street). Now all of her treats are handmade at the new location, just beyond the diminutive counter café in front. The shop's sophisticated selection of bon bons changes daily. We discovered silky alcohol-infused chocolate ganaches made with tequila, elderflower liqueur, and bourbon, and rows of round truffles -- with passion fruit puree, African rooibos tea, and earl gray and orange blossom -- enrobed in fine chocolate. The chocolate-covered wasabi peas and chocolate-coated corn nuts hit the sweet 'n' salty spot, though there are plenty of choices for the less adventurous (or underage), like the milk chocolate toffees, decadent hot chocolate blends, chocolate gingers (so perfectly textured, we ate two), and solid chocolate cricket and race car candies. The store's signature, though, is its edible religious icons: big chocolate Buddhas, Jesuses, and Virgin Guadalupes molded with intricate detailing and dusted with 24 karat gold. So beautiful, you feel a tad sinful biting their heads off...

Although Bond Street Chocolate is a neighborhood newbie, it's already got a great community vibe. When we visited, several pedestrians stopped in to chat up Stern and try a truffle or three. Its cozy quarters and quirky confections are especially welcome since the mysterious closing of beloved Chocolate Bar, which had only recently relocated to East Village in summer '08.

Bond Street Chocolate
www.bondstchocolate.com
63 E. 4th St.
(212) 677-5103