America's 30 Best Chocolate Shops

This Cape Cod establishment, run by Katerine Reed and Josiah Mayo, was founded in 2014 after the two witnessed rustic chocolate-making in Costa Rica. Their shop covers all aspects of chocolate confection. The owners handcraft their chocolate from sustainably grown cacao beans. One of their signature items is white chocolate infused with lemon and thyme.

Harlem Chocolate Factory is an artisan chocolate company founded in 2015 by Jessica Spaulding and Asha Dixon. They say that they want to convey the various cultural experiences of Harlem through their chocolate products. Their first creations carried the names of famed Harlem destinations and historical sites, such as Strivers’ Row and the Pan Pan diner. They’ve built a client base that includes corporate customers like Chase, Kate Spade, and Sam Adams. Their flagship retail and production kitchen opened in the Historic Striver’s Row district of Harlem in 2018.

Vosges Haut Chocolat likes to use chocolate as a medium for storytelling. The shop’s own story starts with founder and chocolatier Katrina Markoff, who served an apprenticeship in Spain and came to the belief that food could lead to “transformative, visceral experiences.” A self-described alchemist, she traveled the world to explore “the principle of blending the elements, planets and their vibrations with food.” She was thinking outside the chocolate box early on by adding bacon, sea salt, and chiles to her chocolate. The offerings from Vosges are no less imaginative today.

There’s more than a touch of whimsy at Hatch Family Chocolates. The Salt Lake City establishment fashions shoes, chocolate skulls (topped with top hats and rose garlands), dinosaurs, cats and dogs, and golf balls out of chocolate. The company also has a line of ice cream that it ships.

According to its website, The Secret Chocolatier wants its customers to have a “chocolate moment.” The shop was founded by the Dietz family – Bill, Karen, and Robin and Andy Ciordia. Bill Dietz had been a pastry chef for more than 30 years before he and his family embarked on the chocolate adventure. They’re big on chocolate bark products and many of their creations include sea salt, banana chips, pretzels, and marshmallows.

Richard Tango-Lowy is the master chocolatier who operates Dancing Lion Chocolate. He earned his chocolate spurs in Belize, Paris, Vancouver, and the Rhône Valley. On the shop’s website, Tango-Lowy anthropomorphizes chocolate. He said he’s “sought her subtle nuances, studied her moods, struggled to understand her complex temper.” Dancing Lion Chocolate sources cacao from small farms around the world. The shop includes exotic extracts and preserved fruit in its creations. The shop also offers courses in chocolate making.

Husband and wife Wlady and Shannon Hughes Grochowski opened their chocolate shop in Bozeman. Wlady, from the Vosges region of France, came to the U.S. in the early 1990s and started selling French pastries. Shannon, a graduate of Montana State University, cut her culinary teeth in Parisian kitchens and continues to train in Paris each summer. They infuse their creations with absinthe, rose flower water, Guinness stout, black peppercorns, dandelion root, and passion fruit, among other things.

The folks at Cocoa Dolce Artisan Chocolates want you to linger at their Wichita shops (they have three). “Our Sweet Lounges are beautiful spaces that epitomize the sweet life,” according to their website. “As soon as you enter, time seems to slow, senses heighten, and the pleasure of sweetness is celebrated.” Patrons can also enjoy live music at any of the locations (they post a calendar of upcoming acts on Facebook). Customers can also build a box of their favorite guilty pleasures of macarons or chocolate pieces containing blackberry mojito, honey lavender, mimosa, or PB&J.

Debi Vincent and Javier Abad began their chocolate-making journey and married life in Venezuela. They now operate a shop in Taos selling single-origin, two-ingredient bars that are wrapped in packaging created by local artists. Chokola’s menu includes a tasting trio of hot chocolate, mousse, and a truffle. A reviewer on Yelp said “The sipping chocolate had the perfect amount of lavender and was wonderfully rich with the chocolate.”

MarieBelle is run by Maribel Lieberman, who opened the store in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood in 2001. The shop features chocolate gift sets for the holiday season with different themes. Also that year, Lieberman opened a cacao bar inside the store, serving coffee, chocolate, and baked goods. MarieBelle got a big media boost in 2002 when the store’s Aztec Hot Chocolate was featured as one of “Oprah’s Favorite Things.” Lieberman has opened MarieBelle outposts in Brooklyn and in Kyoto, Tokyo, and Ishigaki Island, Japan.

Romeo Chocolates was founded in 2014 by Romeo Garcia, first as a pop-up store in various Long Beach locations. Garcia left a career in higher education to pursue his passion for chocolate. He graduated from École Chocolat Professional School of Chocolate Arts and completed the Master Chocolatier Program in Belgium. Garcia continued his studies at the Chicago Chocolate Academy & Atelier Melissa Coppel. Garcia said he is committed to fair trade and direct trade relationships with farmers and makers. Romeo Chocolates serves truffles, chocolate bars, and chocolate covered strawberries, among its offerings.

Fudge is the name of the game at Z Cioccolato, hand-crafted fudge made in small batches in-house at its San Francisco location. The shop ships all around the country. Its layered fudge has been featured on the Cooking Channel’s “Unique Sweets” show. Among its signature treats is a seven-layered peanut butter pie with caramel, marshmallow, Oreo, milk chocolate, and peanut butter fudge.

Theo Chocolate, whose chocolate can be found at higher-end markets as well as at the flagship factory store, has been making chocolate from cocoa bean to chocolate bar since 2006. Among its unique flavor offerings is a bonbon filled with caramel flavored by ghost chiles. Theo claims to have been the first organic, fair-trade-certified chocolate maker in North America.

Chocolate Manor is run by the Mohr family, who have been making hand-crafted artisan chocolates and other treats for over 20 years. Among their offerings are toffee, caramels, and truffles. For the holiday season, the store is offering peppermint candy cane truffles. Chocolate Manor holds tours of its facility and invites visitors to learn about its history.

Chocolatà specializes in chocolate bars and bonbons. Among its 23 bonbon choices are a Luxardo cherry and whiskey octagon, a Campesino Rum heart, dried sweetened cantaloupe in 63% dark chocolate, and Unicorn Bark Slab Squares. The shop’s online menu includes an FAQ section that addresses questions such as how long bonbons and chocolate bars last, what is ganache, and which chocolate is vegan.

Deep in the heart of Texas is Tejas Chocolate Craftory, a chocolate establishment that opened in 2015 and combines rustic chocolate with urban barbecue. The proprietors urge customers to “come early, eat well.” The shop was founded by Scott Moore Jr., a fifth-generation Texan and barbecue enthusiast who turned his chocolate hobby into a profession. Tejas’s beans are sourced from farms around the world. They fire-roast cacao beans “low & slow” in a hand-made solid clay brick oven to develop a rich chocolate flavor.

El Buen Cacao says on its website that its product is “dark chocolate, unapologetically dark. True Bean to Bar craft chocolate with no more than 3 ingredients.” The shop says its single-origin cacao beans are grown in the jungles of Central and South America by farms that practice fair labor. Besides chocolate bars, nibs, and boxes of chocolates, patrons were delighted with hot chocolate and a chocolate tea. The 80% Mexican blend and chocolate bundle are best-sellers.

The bean-to-bar chocolatiers at Dandelion single-source cocoa beans from places such as Tanzania and Madagascar, and has published a sourcing report on its website annually since 2014. Dandelion also sells macarons, hot chocolate, caramels, and pastries at its San Francisco shop, which it opened more than 10 years ago. The single-origin brownies are a popular treat, as are the single-origin chocolate bars, which ship nationwide. Dandelion has also published a book on making chocolate titled “Making Chocolate from Bean to Bar to S’more.”

The founders of Choco le’a say their mission is to “bring peace to our world, one chocolate at a time.” Founded in 2010, Choco le`a is a family-owned company that creates artisan dark chocolate truffles and other delicacies using a blend of Hawaiian and European chocolate. The shop specializes in truffles offered in a variety of sweet, salty, and savory fillings such as triple chocolate, caramel with sea salt, and lilikoi (passion fruit).

John Kelly Chocolates, created by John Kelson and Kelly Green, opened as a small chocolate shop in Hollywood in 2004. The shop’s best sellers include a 12-piece signature handcrafted chocolate collection, two-piece dark chocolate with French grey sea salt, two-piece peanut with Himalayan pink salt, four-piece walnut caramel cluster with Mediterranean sea salt. Also noteworthy is their truffle fudge, which they likened to a ganache coated in chocolate.

Denise Castronovo, self-styled “ecopreneur,” chocolate-maker and ecologist, is the proprietor of Castronovo Chocolate. Castronovo says on her company website that she makes sure her partners “enable protection of the rainforest and indigenous cultures…enhance the market for cacao, so that it improves the livelihood for communities who have lived among the rainforest for generations.” Castronovo looks for wild and heirloom cacao varieties with unique flavors.

Cacao & Cardamom Chocolatier founder Annie Rupani brings a South Asian background to her business, incorporating cardamom, cumin, coriander, and fennel in her chocolate offerings. When she attended Boston University, she studied in London and Amman, with stops in Italy, Greece, Lebanon, Egypt, and China. While she was on the road, Rupani gained an appreciation for food and took chocolatiering courses in Kuala Lumpur.

L.A. Burdick Handmade Chocolates was founded in 1987 by Larry Burdick, who trained as a chocolatier in Bern, Switzerland. The shop makes whimsical chocolate offerings of mice, penguins, and snowmen. The choices include a caramel assortment, chocolate-covered marzipan, chocolate-covered pâtes de fruits, and seasonal assortments such as Hanukkah-themed chocolate boxes.

The Straub family got into the chocolate business in 2014 after a visit to Ecuador. They were drawn to chocolate by watching small multi-generational family farmers, and connected with them through “common pride of growing something, by our common heritage of farming.” The shop offers caramelized hazelnuts and almonds in dark chocolate and milk chocolate varieties.

The Lake Champlain Chocolates Flagship Store & Cafe offers chocolates and confections including truffles, caramels, clusters, chocolate bars, and gourmet hot chocolate. The shop is run by Jim Lampman, who started making truffles, some of which are seasonal, in 1983. The company said 100% of the chocolate it uses is fair trade certified.

Intrigue Chocolate is one of two chocolate shops from Seattle on this list. The owners are Aaron Barthel and Karl Mueller. Barthel is a chef whose career path began as a farmer, then transitioned to botanist, brewer, baker, and finally chocolate maker. The owners say on their website that “We want you to feel nurtured, edified, and inspired to share your experiences with others.” The shop features chocolate beverages, seasonal truffles, and spiced chocolate bars.

Michael and Jacky Recchiuti started their chocolate shop about 25 years ago after toiling among the farmers markets in San Francisco as a pop-up. Recchiuti’s colorful bonbons are a catnip for chocolate lovers. The shop embraces themes such as the Mexican Day of the Dead in its creations. Among their winners are orangettes, pâte de fruit, and a black box collection that has 16 pieces with flavors such as tarragon grapefruit.

The eponymous store is named after Jacques Torres, also known as Mr. Chocolate, who crafted a storied career as a pastry chef in France and America before he opened his chocolate shop in Brooklyn in New York City in 2000. The shop’s website says Torres was the first artisan chocolatier in New York City to start from cocoa beans and make his own chocolate. The shop has created holiday-themed bonbons and chocolate sculptures. His caramelized macadamia nuts cloaked in milk chocolate are best-sellers. Torres opened New York City’s first chocolate museum called “Choco-Story New York, Chocolate Museum and Experience with Jacques Torres,” which was located inside his store for two years.

Ginger Elizabeth Hahn, who comes from a family of bakers in Northern California, got an externship at the Jacque Torres chocolate shop in New York in 2002 and honed her skills as a chocolatier. She then worked at the Ritz in Chicago under the discerning eye of En-Ming Hsu, gold medalist at the 2001 World Pastry Cup. Hahn has produced chocolates since 2007. Her shop specializes in bonbons in flavors such as raspberry rose geranium, brown butter, and olive oil sea salt. Macarons, chocolate bars, and ice cream are also among the selections. The other shop ships chocolates coast-to-coast in the shop’s signature white boxes with black bows.