Socola Chocolatier

Update Review, July 2021

After receiving a gift box from Socola Chocolatier, which I reviewed in April, I was eager to try more of their chocolates, as they seemed really high quality, and, well, are located less than a block from my house.

Too Good To Go Mystery Bag. $5.99.

My assortment this time was a mystery bag from Too Good To Go, a service that allows merchants to sell leftover items (e.g. pastries at the end of a day from a cafe, pre-made deli salads at a deli, about-to-expire packaged snacks from a corner store, etc) at a reduced price.  I paid $5.99 to my bag, expecting to find chocolate blemishes, you know, that didn't look quite right and couldn't normally be sold, but are perfectly edible.

I was pleased to open the bag to find 6 pieces, and all looked totally normal.  No idea why these were the "discards".

My assortment was:

• 2 Give it to Me Guava.
• 2 PB & J Truffles
• 1 Pho
• 1 Cognac Truffle

I had only had one of these varieties before, so I was eager to try the rest.

4 pieces is usually $14.95, plus a cognac truffle ($29.95 for 16) , so value is $20.50, and I paid only $5.99, so definitely a good value. 

Give It To Me Guava.

"Tropical guava pate de fruit layered with our signature 72% bittersweet ganache, glam with a picture of Harriet the flying alpaca."

The guava is the one that I had previously, and, alas, I didn't really like before.  I still tried one of this batch, but felt pretty similar - the dark chocolate shell was snappy and quality chocolate, as was smooth dark chocolate ganache inside, but the guava and chocolate flavors just seemed muddled to me.

I gave the second one to a guava-loving friend, and she enjoyed it.

**+.

PB & J.

"Strawberry pate de fruit + dark chocolate + peanut butter + feuilletine."

I had some reservations about the PB & J flavor, not because I dislike pb & j, but because, much like the guava piece, I was worried about the fruity nature of the pate de fruit combined with the deep dark chocolate not working out well.  That said, well, I love pb & j, and adore feuilletine, so, obviously I was thrilled to try this one.

This was ... ok.  On the plus side, I didn't dislike the pate de fruit and chocolate combination, but that is largely because I just didn't taste the strawberry flavor at all.  I could see it visually, but no fruity quality came through.

But that doesn't mean I was tasting just chocolate either.  The only chocolate was the thin shell, unlike the guava piece that had a dark chocolate ganache within.  So I barely tasted chocolate either.

What did I taste?  Well, a little bit of peanut butter, which was nice, but it too was not a strong taste, weighed down by the feuilletine mixed with it.  

I liked the textures of the piece, the firm gel of the pate de fruit and the crispy pb layer, but the flavors were really quite lost.

**+.

phở #1.

"An aromatic blend of all the spices in this iconic soup: star anise, black cardamom, fennel, coriander, cinnamon, cloves and black peppercorn. beef and noodles not included :)"

Ok, I was overjoyed to get one of these in my box.  It sounded like the most interesting flavor *ever*!  A phở ... chocolate?!

I'm not quite sure how I felt about it, to be honest.  It was certainly an "interesting" piece.  The chocolate was smooth and creamy.

The flavors were complex, although slightly dominated by the peppercorn, and as I don't really like clove, that undertone was a bit strong for me as well.  Mostly the flavors somewhat tasted muddled, but also, it left my stomach kinda feeling funny.  My brain tasted ... uh, beef and broth, and mixed with the strong spicing AND chocolate, I think it just didn't settle quite right.

I'm glad to have tried it, but I certainly wouldn't get another.

**+.

Cognac Truffle.

"Velvety rich dark chocolate truffles infused with Remy Martin VSOP cognac and dusted with 99% dark cocoa powder."

Now this, this I was thrilled to try as well.  I actually like cognac, so the appeal of a smooth, rich, boozy truffle was high.  I saved it for last, intentionally, hoping to, well, "Save the best for last".

It was a good piece.  A totally different style from all all Socola chocolates that I tried, as it had no outer shell, rather, just a firm, thick, rich chocolate ganache, slightly boozy, and covered in the dark cocoa powder.  The booze wasn't quite as strong as I was hoping, but, it was certainly present.

The only thing I didn't quite care for was the cocoa powder, there was a lot of it, and it left my mouth coated.  As it is quite bitter (99%!), it dominated the flavor, and eating experience, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth, rather than boozy one.

***.

Update Review, April 2021

"Based in San Francisco, Socola Chocolatier handcrafts artisanal confections with modern flavors and a fantastic taste of fun."

I first had chocolate from Socola Chocolatier back in 2012, at the SF chocolate salon, as you may have read about back then.  I was impressed by the flavors, but never sought the chocolates out again. I remember being impressed that they used Straus Creamery® cream and butter in their truffles (and, still do).

And then I moved just several blocks away.  I literally walked by more days than I didn't.  And I still never sought them out.

After years of not paying attention to Socola, I was given a small gift box, and realized how much I had been missing out on.  These are quality chocolates!

Catalyst Collection - 4 Piece. $14.95.

"Feast your eyes on The Catalyst Collection. The Eastern flavors are hand selected by Caroline Ticarro of the Catalyst Foundation (www.catalystfoundation.org). 10% of sales will be donated to the Catalyst Foundation which provides vital support to programs that provide access to education, increase economic opportunities and promote empowerment to children and families in Vietnam."

The person gifting these to me selected the Catalyst Collection.

The collection features 4 very distinct pieces: 2 celebrating caffine (jasmine tea, vietnamese coffee), and two fruity (give it to me guava, passion fruit vanilla bean), the later of which is a white chocolate based piece.  At $14.95 for 4 pieces (plus tax, shipping, etc), these are quite pricey pieces, but you can also opt for 12 piece or 24 piece box, still with only the 4 varieties, just, more of each, for a slightly lower per-piece price.

Jasmine Tea.

"Rare hand-picked Chinese jasmine tea. Our grandmother's favorite scent. A flowery and pleasing truffle, the hints of jasmine are soothing and subtle."

Tea.  Meh.  Never my thing.  I'm a coffee girl.  And tea and chocolate?  This sounded like a strange pairing to me.

But hey, I had the piece, so, I might as well try it, right?

It actually was a pretty lovely flavor, really, um, yes, flowery as described.  Subtle.  Jasmine.  The flavor was delicate, and I truly did like it.

The chocolate ganache was quite smooth with a deepness to it.  The shell is minimal.

Overall, surprisingly good, and it made me quite excited for the rest of the box.

***+.

Vietnamese Coffee.

"Our Cà Phê Sữa with a kiss of condensed milk garnished with aromatic French chicory grounds."

I have fairly mixed feelings on this one.

The not-so-good?  I honestly forgot it was supposed to be coffee, and didn't taste ... any even as I tried to savor the second bite, searching for it.  Not a hint.

The slightly better? The ganache was dark and bitter, decent.

The good?  The texture, just, so smooth, so enjoyable to actually eat.

Too bad the flavor wasn't there.

**+.

Give it to Me Guava.

"Tropical guava pate de fruit layered with our signature 72% bittersweet ganache, glam with a picture of Harriet the flying alpaca."

Why, oh why, does this have a flying alpaca on it?  I honestly have no idea.  I also couldn't quite tell what animal it was supposed to be, until I read the description.  

I do like guava, I do like pate de fruit, and I adore dark chocolate ganache but ...  it turns out, I do not like them together.

The dark chocolate ganache was fabulous, no question.  Deep, semi-sweet, lovely dark chocolate.  And the guava pate de fruit also good, although, and this is where the problem was, I could barely taste it. Even though there was significantly more pate de fruit than chocolate, the deep rich chocolate overpowered any fruity flavors.  And it turns out ... the slight chew from the pate de fruit was just, well, odd to have inside chocolate.

I wanted to like this, but alas, it just didn't come together for me in a way that worked.

**+.

Passion Fruit Vanilla Bean.

"Tart passion fruit ganache with a kiss of vanilla bean and white chocolate."

Eh.

That's how I feel about passion fruit items in general (not about real passion fruit, I love the actual fresh fruit, particularly when in countries it grows in, but 'passion fruit flavor' things tend to, um, disappoint to say the least).

Which is how I felt about this.

The ganache was white chocolate based, sweet and fruity, but, had that fake passion fruit taste to it.  It was kinda thick.

The shell was very thin chocolate, lost amongst the rest.

Overall, just very "meh" unless you really like fake passion fruit flavor.

**.

Original Review, August 2012

And another local chocolatier from the SF Chocolate Salon.  They source their ingredients locally, using Straus Family Cream and 72% E. Guittard chocolate.  They make two different styles of truffles, western and eastern.  I got to try some of each.

• Western
• PB & J: "The classic peanut butter and strawberry in one bite".  Tasting notes: Nice peanut butter, nice jam, quite successful.
• Eastern
• Sriracha: "Savory chili and roasted garlic in every bite.  The famous rooster sauce has the kick to make any rooster crow." Tasting notes: Nice heat!
• Matcha Green Tea: "A must for any tea lover.  Let the truffle melt in your mouth and feel its milky texture juxtaposed with the dry sensation of powdered sugar on your tongue.".  Tasting notes: White chocolate with green tea.  Reminded me of mochi.

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C'est Gourmet Pastries

C'est Gourmet.

It sounds ... fancy.  And french.  And what is C'est Gourmet?  It is, uh, the slightly-French skewed product line of baked goods from Boston Gourmet Chefs, a wholesale speciality food distributor.  They produce fairly standard pastries: danishes, croissants, cinnamon rolls, etc, along with some savory appetizers like caramelized onion or fig brie en croute.  It was their turnovers and hand pies however that drew me in, slightly more unique offerings.

Turnovers

The turnovers are actually vegan, and are available in apple and cherry versions.

Vegan Cherry Turnover.

I started with a cherry turnover.  It was ... not very good.

The pastry was fine, it was flaky, it was not strange and "oh, that's vegan", if you know what I mean.  But, it wasn't anything special.

The insides are what ruined it though.

Cherry Turnover: Inside.

This is what lay inside.

Cherry ... gel.  There were no berries, no bits of berries, just, gel.  Goo.  Sometimes goo can be tasty, don't get me wrong.  When its a runnier style, I really do love cherry pie from a can filling, but, this ... was a solid mass of goo.  Really not good at all.

*+.

Hand Pies

Hand pies are made in classic apple, strawberry, and cinnamon varieties year round (the last two of which are glazed - and strawberry one is topped with little sprinkles, making them look exactly like gourmet pot tarts!).  They also make seasonal flavors like pumpkin.

Unlike the turnovers, these are not vegan.

Pumpkin.

The hand pies were fine.  Large size, fairly classic hand pie shape.  Golden brown exterior, garnished with pearl sugar.

The pastry was decent enough, flaky, but not remarkable.

Seasonal Pumpkin: Inside.

Inside was filled with a mashed pumpkin, which actually tasted more like sweet potato to me.  It is blended with cream cheese and evaporated milk, creating quite a creamy consistency, which was nice.  However, the seasoning was too strong on the "pumpkin spice" (nutmeg, clovers, ginger, cinnamon) for my taste, but, I have a particularly low tolerance for nutmeg.

It was well filled.

Overall, I found this "fine".  The pastry was fine, but not great, the filling was fine, and had its highlights and lowlights. I wasn't really tempted to have another, but I'd love to try the iced varieties.

***.

Pumpkin (November 2019).

When "pumpkin season" rolled around again the next year, I tried it again, actually forgetting that I had previously reviewed it.

My new review is nearly identical to before - decent pastry, flaky, fresh, but not particularly notable, and good amount of filling, more sweet potato like than pumpkin, but again, just too spiced for my preferences.

They seem like a quality product, just not the one for me.

***.

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Cafe Madeline

Cafe Madeline is a small cafe, with two locations in San Francisco in the Financial District, offering up a wide variety of pastries, cakes, cookies, and more.  They also serve a few breakfast and lunch items.  Open weekdays only.  Their display cases always look fabulous, and their staying power, open since 1999, proves that the locals agree.

"Our own line of French style pastries with American influences."

While some of the savory lunch food sounds good (burrata lasagna! Pot pies with quality pastry!), it is the baked goods that drew me in, well, that and their puddings, zomg, I adore pudding in general, and fancy puddings?  YES! 

Too Good To Go "Mystery" Bag
The Real Real Cafe Cafe. $3.99.

My first time trying Cafe Madeline however was not by visiting the cafe itself, but rather, by getting pastries from nearby The Real Real Cafe Cafe (no, not a type-o, that is its name), a small cafe on Maiden Lane, located inside a luxury consignment shop (The Real Real).  They carry a large assortment of pastries from Cafe Madeline, along with savory quiches and puddings.

I didn't actually purchase my items directly however, I got them using Too Good To Go, a service that lets you reserve a mystery bag for discounted price, to "rescue" food that may otherwise go to waste.  In this case, I paid $3.99, and was given the choice of any 4 pastries from the case that I desired (except the cookies) or a pre-made salad (normally $17, as it came with fresh grilled salmon or chicken on top).  It was no question, I was clearly going for the pastries.

I selected:

• Blueberry chocolate scone (normally $4.50)
• Ham & cheese roll (normally $4.75)
• Strawberry ricotta puff (normally $4.75)
• Raspberry pop tart (normally $5.50)

The bag value was $19.50, so paying only $3.99, and getting to pick the goodies myself, was a fabulous value!  I highly recommend TGTG if you like surprise treats (although, beware, look at the ratings, some places really are not a win - think: expired items, rotten produce, etc).

Anyway.  Back to The Real Real Cafe Cafe and Cafe Madeline.  This was most certainly a win!

Ham & Cheese Roll. $4.75.

"Zoe's honey ham with melted cheese, served in a flaky pastry puff."

I started with a savory item, to at least pretend to be responsible and not just eat a giant pile of sugar and carbs.  I brought it home to lightly warm up in my toaster oven, while I assembled a little side salad.  See, responsible!

The pastry looked fabulous, quite flaky, but I didn't find it particularly satisfying to eat - yes, it flaked all over the place, and it was buttery, but somehow, not as glorious as it looked.

Ham & Cheese Roll: Inside.

The roll was generously filled with a thick slice of ham and cheese.  I loved how my cheese got all melty when I warmed it.  The ham was ... ok.  I didn't really think it was particularly great, although I know Zoe's is well known.  It didn't taste like honey ham to me, just, ham.  I added honey mustard to jazz it up.

So, overall, it fell a bit flat.  The pedigree was there - flaky pastry, quality ham - but it was just "ok".

***.

Strawberry Ricotta Puff. $4.75.

"Strawberries, ricotta cheese, organic flour, organic butter, white sugar, wrapped in a light flaky pastry puff."

This strawberry ricotta puff made up for the ham & cheese roll, and then some.  My goodness this was good.

Beautiful flaky pastry, dusted with powdered sugar to amp up the sweetness, but not too much.  The pastry alone made me quite happy.

But it was the filling that just made this item shine.  And shine it did!

Strawberry Ricotta Puff: Inside.

The ricotta was lightly sweetened, and soo creamy.  Like a fluffier cheesecake almost.  And then the strawberry, full juicy berries, bursting with flavor and fruitiness.  So incredibly good.  

Every element of this item was fabulous on its own - beautiful laminated sweet flaky pastry, incredible cheesecake-like ricotta, and juicy berries - but combined?  MAGIC.

I warmed it up slightly and enjoyed even more.  I'd get another in a heartbeat.

****+.

Raspberry Pop Tart. $5.75.

"White sugar, organic butter, organic flour, baking powder, organic cream cheese, raw vanilla and fresh raspberry compote."

I adored the strawberry ricotta puff, but ... the Pop Tart gave it a run for its money.  It was this item that I was most excited by just looking at it, and it really lived up.

Perfect crust, this one pie crust style, rather than puff pastry like the previous items.  Thicker, more firm, less flaky.  Covered in pearl sugar AND drizzled with bit of ... something sweet?  This thing could have no filling and I'd still love it.  This is what pie crust dreams are made of.

Inside was the raspberry compote, and it, like the other items, was well stuffed.  Fruity, sweet, and tasty, but I preferred the juicy roast strawberries in the puff to this, just slightly.

Overall though, fabulous, basically a fruity hand pie, and I'd gladly get another.

****.

Blueberry Chocolate Scone. $4.50.

"Butter, flour, sugar, eggs, cream, vanilla, baking powder, salt, blueberries, chocolate chips."

And lastly, the scone, strategy on my part as I hoped to save it for breakfast the next day.  Really, how many pastries do you think I can eat in one sitting?  Particularly ones as large as these!

I of course tried it right away though.

It was a good scone, soft, not too crumbly.  Loaded with big juicy blueberries AND chocolate chips, which did clash a bit for me.  I like both these things, I like them both in scones even, but, together, they almost seemed to compete.  Chocolate muddling the fruity goodness, and fruit muddling the chocolately nature.

Still though, this is just a nit, it was a great scone, and I liked the slight tang to it, not sure where it came from as it doesn't use buttermilk, but I liked it.

***+.

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