Serious Eats: New York
12 Days of Hot Chocolate: Roasting Plant
Editor's note: For the next twelve weekdays until Christmas, we'll have a daily hot chocolate report for you. 'Tis the season. Today, the Roasting Plant in the Lower East Side.
Price: $3.23 for small (eight ounces), $3.70 for medium (twelve ounces), $4.16 for large (sixteen ounces)
The deal: Serious coffee shops don't usually waste much time on cocoa. They might feature a Godiva or Ghirardelli mix, but the first priority is the beans. At Roasting Plant, however, they got creative. They formed a little business deal with Il Laboratorio del Gelato down the street. The popular gelateria uses Roasting Plant beans for a coffee gelato flavor, and Roasting Plant uses Laboratorio's dark chocolate gelato for cocoa. Melted down, the once cold dessert gets squirted (about four squirts for a medium) then steamed with milk. Gelato metamorphosis?
This isn't a thick, goopy sipping chocolate; it's a thinner, milky version. The Roasting Plant baristas didn't want a heavy tummy feeling after. They wanted a light, refreshing gelatolike experience. From there, one of the lip-ringed baristas went off on a philosophical "minimalism" and "purism" cocoa tangent, and I starting spacing out.
Roasting Plant
81 Orchard Street, New York NY 10002 (b/n Broome and Grand Streets; map)
212-775-7755
roastingplant.com
Previously
12 Days of Hot Chocolate: Otto
12 Days of Hot Chocolate: MarieBelle Fine Chocolates
12 Days of Hot Chocolate: Grom