La Maison du Chocolat
Friday, June 22nd, 2007
We had some chocolate craving yesterday afternoon and decided to check out some of the chocolate confections we brought back from our NY trip earlier this week. The four pralines from La Maison du Chocolat look a little beaten up, but this is just because of the warm weather and not perfect transportation from NY to DC …. when we were entering the store on Madison Avenue in New York, all chocolates in the showcase looked absolutely flawless. I am not going over the top here - I inspected the pralines very closely and really - they almost look like molded pieces or made out of plastic. Here and there you could see an uneven edge, but the coating was very shiny and flawless. I think they get a special mix of couverture from Valrhona and I would love to know the cocoa butter content on that ….. uh well.
We took four pralines with us home and also two larger dessert chocolates. Those we haven’t tried yet, but they are a whopping 76g and 54g and that’s quite an impressive weight - I am very eager to try them out and compare them with our creations we did a few weeks ago for a local restaurant …
Figaro Noir
“Hazelnut and almond praline wrapped in dark chocolate” says the description. It has a very dark and almost bitter flavor to it - I loved it. Very smooth - it reminded me of a “Haselnuss Bitter Nougat” in Germany …. intense and long lasting flavor. Right now the only praline of ours similar in texture is the Pistachio Almond, bu it is much sweeter. Although many people like the sweetness in it, I love the bitter nutty tastes. I can see a similar praline in our future 
Othello
“Ganache infused with honey” …. Delicious also. Very flowery, we get lavender from it - did they use lavender honey? A tiny bit grainy, probably a creamy honey though, that would explain the grainy-ness - would make it easier to make the ganache though. Also a little firm …. we have not made a dedicated honey praline yet, but it is a great idea and I can’t wait to try it out ……. if there is enough time this summer, but that’s somehow always the problem: time ….
Anastasia
“Gianduja praline” … again not as sweet as our gianduja, very buttery and it also has some tiny crunchies. The crunchies I like bigger myself, we put in some caramelized chopped almonds to give it some crunch. I did like the buttery mouthfeel though.
Bacchus
“Ganache with raisins flambeed in rum” ….. Yeah, that sounds good 
and it tastes delicious. This fall we will have a rum raisin praline - it will be a little different than this one though - more on that when the time is right 
This praline tastes great though - the rum flavor reminded me of the rum raisins of my dad …. he always has this big tub of rum raisins in his cabinet above his working table in his pastry shop … in the mornings, when he makes fresh “Rum-Sahne-Torte” he whips up some cream and throws in some rum raisins - voila, there is your cream cake …. delicious!
We sat down in La Maison du Chocolat for a little bit to have a hot chocolate “Carraccas” whis was very intense, although not as rich as for example Burdick’s hot chocolate (which is done with cream milk) - I would guess LMDC uses water for the chocolate and serves it with a side of whipped cream. I like this approach much better for two reasons. 1) I grew up knowing hot chocolate being cocoa powder/milk powder/sugar made with water and whipped cream on top from my parents cafe - this is how it is served in Germany. 2) Although Burdick’s hot chocolate is delicious and rich, it is a little overwhelming and you got to have a good appetite to be able to finish a cup.
The staff was friendly, the store bright in brown tones - not as home-y as Michel Cluizel, but still nice. I would definetly recommend visiting La Maison du Chocolat, even just to take a look at the confections.