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Review / Feb. 9, 2009 at 11:59 pm

How to sully your sweetheart’s sweet tooth

By Patrick St. Michel

The mind hears the word “chocolate” and instantly freaks out. All rational thought gets tossed to the side when this classic candy enters the discussion. With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, chocolate seems an obvious gift to give your significant other, or the love interest you creepily tagged in a “25 Random Things” Facebook note. But don’t run off and buy that special someone just any old chunk of chocolate wrapped in pink foil just yet. A walk down the CVS Valentine’s Day aisle reveals just how much chocolate is out there, and a lot of it isn’t very good. If you’re hoping to make V-Day memorable, you’re going to need to be a little more discerning.

To help make your Valentine’s shopping a little easier, we’ve sampled and reviewed 100 chocolates available in Evanston. The various chocolates, ranging from bars to ice creams to drinks, were eaten by several tasters (one of whom, yours truly, ate all 100. I now hate chocolate). Our reviewers assigned ratings between 1 and 10 (1 for the worst chocolate the taster has ever eaten, 10 for the best), and also wrote a quick sentence summing up the chocolate. This isn’t Top Chef, so don’t expect any in-depth analysis. We are here to tell you whether it tastes good or not.


Reviews by Jenny An, Aubrey Blanche, Emmy Blotnick, Lana Birbrair, Max Brawer, Hallie Busta, Alicia Capetillo, Jesse Curti, Vanessa Dopker, Megan Friedman, Tracy Fuad, Staci Gold, Lindsey Kratochwill, Jennifer Liu, Hillary Proctor, Samantha Rollins, Dagny Salas, Patrick St. Michel, Grace Weitz. Photos by John Meguerian and Emily Chow / North by Northwestern. Production by Tom Giratikanon / North by Northwestern.

Correction, Feb. 10 at 12:39: The original version of this article switched the photos for Tag’s Florentines, Bennison’s Rum Balls and Starbucks’ Chocolate Banana Cake.

Comments

  1. I don’t think sully means what you think it means.

    John

    February 10, 2009 at 3:28 pm

  2. just one quick question. for the ones where there were only one review, does that mean that only one person rated it too??

    sydney

    February 10, 2009 at 4:33 pm

  3. The pictures were delicious.

    Ron

    February 10, 2009 at 5:36 pm

  4. I love that you guys took a picture of a Norris crepe. Also, the Mexican Hot Chocolate from Kafein is awesome.

    Sajid

    February 10, 2009 at 6:22 pm

  5. wow great job, this must have taken a lot of work.
    delicious work. but work nonetheless.

    cm

    February 10, 2009 at 9:35 pm

  6. Awesome.

    Ginger Brew

    February 11, 2009 at 2:43 am

  7. SAJID IS A LOSER.

    Sajid is a loser

    February 11, 2009 at 10:19 am

  8. “I would sex up whoever bought me this on V-Day.”
    Patrick St. Michel is the funniest man on NBN.

    lolz

    February 11, 2009 at 12:04 pm

  9. Honestly, if Patrick will sex up someone who buys him that cake, give me his phone number. I have 12 dollars to spare… :)

    Love

    February 11, 2009 at 5:27 pm

  10. This makes me happy…and very hungry for chocolate.

    Tony R

    February 11, 2009 at 11:02 pm

  11. You forgot See’s Candies – one of the best

    brk.a

    February 12, 2009 at 11:54 pm

  12. Actually, sully means to dirty.

    John

    February 13, 2009 at 8:13 pm

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