PrintMake Your Own Chocolate Bark at Pure Dark in the West Village
[Photos: Kathy Chan]
I'm a fan of customizable food stuffs—even though I'm by no means a picky eater, there's a certain satisfaction in feeling part of the process. That's what drew me to Pure Dark, the Mars Company's West Village foray into high-end chocolate making—where, as of last week, you can make your own chocolate bark.
Pure Dark occupies a hefty space on a prime stretch of Bleecker, and it shows in the offerings: goodies like raspberry acai chocolate coins and cases of chocolate bark varieties speckled with crystallized ginger, nuts, dried fruits, and so on.
The make-your-own service contains all these toppings and more, which customers can mix and match to their own tastes. I liked the unlimited toppings setup (who wouldn't?), but was a little dismayed by the narrow selection, which included five kinds of nuts (either chocolate covered or plain), dried mango, cherries, cranberries, ginger, sea salt, and three kinds of cacao nibs (raw, chocolate covered, and caramelized).
Here's how it works: for $20, you choose whatever combination of sweet things that sparks your interest. (Remember the prime real estate? Now you do.) Expect a custom sample, or a little cup with the combination of toppings you've selected for your approval. Blocks of chocolate are then tempered on the spot and poured into a to-go container which acts as the base for the toppings. Twenty minutes later, you wind up with 8 oz. of your own signature bark. There's one caveat: the only chocolate you can get is Pure Dark's signature 65% cacao, so if you prefer milk, white, or even ultra-dark, you're out of luck.
That aside, I thought it was a fun service, and frankly, a good price compared to the other barks on sale in the store, which go for $22 for the same weight. When you're already paying that much, why not customize? Even still, I'd love to see more adventure in the toppings, and think it would be great if they'd offer to keep your favorite barks on file so you could call ahead and order your personalized variety. One way or another, customized chocolate is certainly something I can get behind.
Pure Dark
350 Bleecker Street, New York NY 10014 (map)
917-284-1927
puredark.com
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3 Comments:
this is a cute idea, but chocolate bark is so easy to make! i'm always shocked when i see how much williams sonoma and other stores charge for peppermint bark and other chocolate barks. you can make your own with a double boiler and your favorite mix-ins - makes a great holiday gift for much less moolah.
rebeccadiamond at 2:56PM on 11/17/09
I totally agree, which is why I wanted more out of the service overall. More topping options may have made it more worthwhile in that sense.
Peppermint bark can be a bit tricky only because it can be hard to find peppermint extract in many areas, but once you invest in a little bottle, you're set for at least a few years of bark. It's my wintertime favorite!
Nikki Goldstein at 3:10PM on 11/17/09
I recently tried Pure Dark chocolate and it was wonderful! I know I know, chocolate bark is so easy to make at home but man, this stuff is good! I had one of the bark flavors with ginger, pecans, and nibs. The ginger adds a great zing and the nibs give it a satisfying, not-cloyingly-sweet crunch. Their plain chocolate slabs- which come in 3 dark(nesses?) and have nibs mixed in are just as good. I'm not sure if its good enough to justify the price, but it's worth the occasional splurge.
mk2305 at 9:59AM on 01/16/10