Hot Chocolate City: Dark and Sweet
Written by DCist contributor Whitney Satin
Time to embrace the crisp weather that’s finally settled in by cozying up with a steamy cup of hot chocolate or cocoa. Oft-talked about versions include Murky’s famous $5 cup, or the bevy of celebrity starlets served up at ACKC, but the District welcomes a few new options this season to help you stave off the chill … or just indulge a chocolate craving.
Locolat Café
Niel Piferoen, owner and pastry chef at Adams Morgan’s Locolat Café, has an extensive background when it comes to desserts, including a two-year stint manning the helm of Citronelle’s pastry. Locolat focuses on fine Belgian chocolate, which Piferoen transforms into an assortment of hand-crafted truffles, pastries, and, of course, hot chocolate. Piferoen melts bits of imported dark, milk, or white chocolate to order and combines this rich base with steamed whole, skim, or soy milk. Chocolate aficionados will appreciate the resulting cupful of smooth, unadulterated chocolate flavor that can be enjoyed on the go or while people watching from one of Locolat’s tables for two.
Image courtesy of Jess J
Co Co. Sala
Downtown's Co Co. Sala ditches the cozy café ambiance in favor of a sleek, dimly lit lounge where the see-and-be-seen atmosphere sometimes distracts from the chocolate. A selection of six different hot chocolates includes traditional flavors as well as slightly more high-brow combinations, like sea salt caramel, fresh mint, and peanut butter. For the indecisive, a hot chocolate “flight” offers a sample of three different flavors, but purists should stick to the dark or milk chocolate options. The caramel tastes like a butterscotch candy in liquid form, while the cloyingly sweet white chocolate would benefit from a semisweet chocolate palate cleanser in between sips. At $6 a cup, Coco Sala’s hot chocolate is more about sipping in style than a high-quality chocolate experience.
Mr. Yogato
Sometimes you just want to reconnect with that 12-year-old self who heaped tons of marshmallows and whipped cream into the mug. Frozen yogurt shop Mr. Yogato embraces the inner child with a hot chocolate bar that lets customers adopt a devil-may-care attitude when crafting their drink. Pumpkin flavor shot? Sure! Eggo waffles for dipping? Why not. Choose from dozens of flavored syrups and oddball toppings to transform a Ghirardelli cocoa base into a creative concoction. Or, take the staff’s recommendation to make it a “Tim Tam Slam", which involves biting the corners off of a hollow square cookie and then slurping the cocoa as fast as is humanly possible. Trivia fans rest assured, the Rules of Yogato apply to drink orders as well.
Of course, a number of other restaurants and cafés have put their own spin on a cup of hot chocolate or cocoa. Where are you satisfying your hot chocolate jones these days?