Over the last few years, chocolate and sweets and everything yummy have become, along with cupcakes from Magnolia and Buttercup, trendy consumer items. There's the giant M&M store in Times Square, chocolate restaurants like Max Brenner's and Chocolate Bar, and fancy stores like Vosges and Dylan's Candy Bar (founded by Dylan Lauren, daughter of Ralph Lauren). All of these places are great but for my money, the best spot for chocolate and sweets in this town is a little boutique-like store called Mondel on 114th street and Broadway in Manhattan.
I've been going to Mondel for a long time and this store is over 60 years old. It's a tiny, old-fashioned place but when you walk in, the smell of quality chocolate and well-made sweets pleasures your nose and warms your senses. Behind the glass of the high counter top, they have a huge variety of truffles, cordials, marzipans, clusters, turtles -- you name it. They also have other sweets like gummie bears, Swedish fish, and jelly beans.
What makes Mondel so good is the high quality and deep, rich tastiness of their chocolates. This isn't mass-produced, assembly-line chocolate and sweets -- this is luxury quality but with a homemade taste. You can usually buy stuff in quarter pound, half pound, and whole pound bags. Yes, it costs a little more than some other places, but when the deep, rich, overwhelming excellence of their products tingles on your taste bud, you realize that it's worth every penny. Bringing someone you love or care about a bag of Mondel chocolates is an excellent, smart move since it shows that you really care about them.
Don't just take my word for how good Mondel is. Read what others, including another long time (now sadly deceased) customer named Katherine Hepburn, has to say about it:
Thank You, Kate
New York Food and Wine
nightgrapefruit
CitySearch
I've been going to Mondel for a long time and this store is over 60 years old. It's a tiny, old-fashioned place but when you walk in, the smell of quality chocolate and well-made sweets pleasures your nose and warms your senses. Behind the glass of the high counter top, they have a huge variety of truffles, cordials, marzipans, clusters, turtles -- you name it. They also have other sweets like gummie bears, Swedish fish, and jelly beans.
What makes Mondel so good is the high quality and deep, rich tastiness of their chocolates. This isn't mass-produced, assembly-line chocolate and sweets -- this is luxury quality but with a homemade taste. You can usually buy stuff in quarter pound, half pound, and whole pound bags. Yes, it costs a little more than some other places, but when the deep, rich, overwhelming excellence of their products tingles on your taste bud, you realize that it's worth every penny. Bringing someone you love or care about a bag of Mondel chocolates is an excellent, smart move since it shows that you really care about them.
Don't just take my word for how good Mondel is. Read what others, including another long time (now sadly deceased) customer named Katherine Hepburn, has to say about it:
Thank You, Kate
New York Food and Wine
nightgrapefruit
CitySearch
I like Max Brenner in theory but not so much in reality.
ReplyDelete