World's Best Chocolate
This Dallas chocolatier qualifies as best in the world
This is some sweet news: Dallas' own Kate Weiser Chocolate has been named one of the best chocolatiers in the world by Condé Nast Traveler.
The avant-garde dessert maven is one of only three Americans to make the list. She joins New York's Jacques Torres and John Grahm of Los Angeles' Compartés along with chocolatiers from Paris, Brussels, Zurich, Budapest, and Lyon. Some of the European picks have been making chocolate for decades and — seriously — more than 200 years.
"There is nothing conventional about Kate Weiser’s chocolate bars," says the magazine. "They are painstakingly crafted, yes, but from there Weiser goes rogue, taking the grandest Venezuelan cocoa and adding acai berries, or, in the ultimate rebellious act, going blonde with a caramel and sesame seed brittle bar."
Weiser opened her eponymous Trinity Groves store in 2014 after a series of trial-run pop-up shops.
Before striking out on her own, she worked for Stephan Pyles, was executive pastry chef at Nobu, and ran the kitchen at Chocolate Secrets. Recently, Weiser expanded north to Plano with a pop-up at The Shops at Legacy.
She's known for outrageous flavors — think mango habañero, strawberry basil, sweet potato, and lavender apricot — and eye-catching designs, with brilliantly colored bonbons and seasonal chocolate sculptures that resemble art more than food. Weiser's Carl the Snowman (meant to be melted in a pot of milk for sweet hot chocolate) and her chocolate Halloween monsters often inspire huge wait lists. Currently, a goose named Lucy and her golden eggs are revving up shoppers for Easter.
"Her riotous, Jackson-Pollack-splatter-painted candy bars and bonbons are beautiful the way a punk rock romance might be — exuberant and irreverent in style and taste," the magazine gushes.