Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar: Guest post by Emily Stashower

Today I welcome back blogger, gardener, photographer and chocoholic Emily Stashower with a guest post on Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar!

Emily Stashower: 
Chocolate Bar

If there is such a thing a “Chocolate Heaven” I have been there. Twice . . . in one week. And I’m here to tell you it’s a magnificent place with infinite varieties of chocolate offerings, all done with a dash of humor and extra doses of extra chocolate just in case your sweet tooth craves more. It’s almost unimaginable.

Although I’ve always thought chocolate’s good for me (particularly in difficult times), it takes an assured business to use that saying as their motto. Max Brenner’s Chocolate Bar (www.maxbrenner.com) has no problem stating it from the get go:

When you enter the doors to chocolate heaven

you’re seduced by just a few of their many offerings (they encourage customers to “get addicted, be happy”):

The store in my hometown (Bethesda, Maryland) has been so crowded it’s impossible for those of us too impatient for a fix to wait for a seat. Thankfully, most items are available to go.

Think of it as a combination of Starbucks (drinks include Mexican Spicy, Salted Caramel, White Chocolate Tea and other Tea Infused Hot Chocolate, all available with “suckao”; an extra shot of concentrated chocolate), iHop (Pearl Sugar Waffles with flasks of liquid chocolate ganache), Hershey Town (Choctails and Milkshakes, retail chocolates bars and cleverly packaged treats, sundaes and an “I Scream Bar” – a vanilla ice cream bar dipped into chocolate bits and choco-pops), Willy Wonka (chocolate in beakers, chocolate pizza slices, melting heart cakes and many varieties of shakes) all with a distinct dash of “noveau chocolate” (unique granitas, hazelnut crèpe brulee, green tea infused with ganache and other au current specialties). Heavenly.

The chocolate offerings might be enough in and of itself – there is something there to appeal to every palette – yet Max Brenner’s manages to package their outstanding products in an aesthetic, practical and often humorous, container. This, dear reader, is not your mother’s fondue pot: 

If I had to pick one favorite item (and this is not an unbiased choice as my cherished dog’s name is Alice) it would be a Choctail or Milkshake served in their “Alice Cup”):

I was NOT the same size when I left Max Brenner’s.