In my Thanksgiving post I showed a large chocolate turkey I bought as a centerpiece for the dessert portion of our Thanksgiving dinner, and I promised to tell you more of the shop where I bought it. I went to the Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven located in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, located at 350 Hudson at King Street (1 block South of Houston), New York, New York.
Jacques Torres began his career as a pastry chef in his native France where he worked with distinction and honors. He came to the United States in 1988 to work at the Palm Springs Ritz Carlton Hotel as Corporate Pastry Chef. In 1989 he became the Executive Pastry chef at the exclusive restaurant Le Cirque. In 2000 he opened his own chocolate factory and shop in Brooklyn, New York, serving a wholesale and retail market.
All photos will enlarge if clicked on once and then again when they open in a new window
In 2004, Jacques opened Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven in Manhattan where he transforms cocoa beans into chocolate bars before your very eyes! His shop's walls are large windows so you can watch the entire chocolate making process take place, as you can see in the photo collage above.
An interesting short video about Jacques Torres and the stories behind his chocolate shops and factories.
The day I visited the chocolate workers were busy making turkeys for Thanksgiving, and ......
....wonderful snowmen, Santas, Christmas trees and chocolate filled Santa's boots!
Inside the store there is a large counter on one side where you can make your chocolate selections
There were so many wonderful chocolates to choose from!
On the other side of the store is his barista counter with cafe tables where you can purchase a coffee, tea or a delicious hot chocolate.
I could not resist getting a hot chocolate! It's so good!
Torres also has beautiful gift baskets for sale which can also be ordered through his website, in case you need a wonderful holiday gift!
I like to buy Jacques Torres' two pound signature "Big Daddy" bars for baking, and I bought an extra Dark Chocolate one on this visit, as I thought it would be a fun give away. It's 2.2 pounds of his wonderful pure chocolate -- excellent for eating, baking or making hot chocolate, and it is a $22 value!
Just leave a comment on this post and you'll be entered in the give away. If you are a follower of my blog, or become one, I'll give you two chances to win, just let me know in another comment. I'll use the random.org generator to pick a winning number out of all the comments on December 10th, so you'll receive the bar in time to use for some Christmas baking if you'd like.
Good luck!
And now for my give away--
I like to buy Jacques Torres' two pound signature "Big Daddy" bars for baking, and I bought an extra Dark Chocolate one on this visit, as I thought it would be a fun give away. It's 2.2 pounds of his wonderful pure chocolate -- excellent for eating, baking or making hot chocolate, and it is a $22 value!
Just leave a comment on this post and you'll be entered in the give away. If you are a follower of my blog, or become one, I'll give you two chances to win, just let me know in another comment. I'll use the random.org generator to pick a winning number out of all the comments on December 10th, so you'll receive the bar in time to use for some Christmas baking if you'd like.
Good luck!
THANK YOU!! WINNER HAS BEEN CHOSEN AND NOTIFIED!
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123 comments:
I love your blog and I'm a follower! =]
Hi from Sharyn... I am not only a follower and fellow chocolate lover but I also link your blog on mine! I get my New York fix by reading your blog. My life is so different than yours but we have much in common. Sending you smiles from your friend in the Pacific Northwest.
I'm a Follower happily. Donnie
ki4ggs(at)gmail(dot)com
Did the store give you unlimited access? The photos are beautiful. Can't believe you're giving away chocolate and Jacques Torres no less.
You just know i want to win that....lol....Donnie
ki4ggs(at)gmail(dot)com
I can't think of anything better than chocolate! The colorful displays looked charming. How fun!
Pat, what a cool store that is, I could get lost in there for hours, what a nice sugar high that would be! I used to like him on the Food Network.
Of course I follow you, you show me all the places that I need to get to one of these days!
I remember trying his chocolate chip cookie recipe! What a chocolate icon he is. Loved the video and what a beautiful store he has.
Great giveaway, Pat!
How generous of you to offer this amazing chocolate bar Pat. Please enter me in the draw. I enjoyed going shopping with you yesterday. you're so lucky to have a grandson to shop for!
Now that looks like an amazing place. I'll have a mocha at the barista counter...anytime.
Your give-away looks fabulous...but I would feel very guilty winning it since I am not the hugest fan of chocolate. Though I enjoy a good chocolate on occasion (and I am sure his is)...I can take it or leave it. Did you know there are people like that? I've only met a few.
I love chocolate--me want!
Oh, I'm a devout follower! And did I mention that I love chocolate?
I used to love watching his show on Saturdays years ago. He made such wonderful things from chocolate, and was so kind to the audience!
Of course I am a follower! We New Yawkers have to stick together!
Oh my! I don't usually sign in for give aways but for CHOCOLATE I'll do most anything!
Jacques Torres is a magical place. We love the cookies too!
I love watching how things are made. I never was really into chocolate....UNTIL about 3 years ago. Something happened....but I'm not into all chocolate...just the dark stuff. Oh the depth of my joy with any thing covered in dark chocolate. I'm getting inspired for the first time to do holiday baking and doing some dipping would be wonderful with this chocolate. Thanks for sharing with us Pat!
I thought I was a follower...I love your blog but I guess I wasn't before...well I am now.
I follow.
First of all, I went back to see your Thanksgiving Feast and was reminded all over again how wonderful it was. I'll be back to watch the video at some point. I've always thought it would be great fun to work in a chocolate factory. Thanks for the opportunity to win this wonderful giveaway...please count me in and, yes, I'm a follower and yes, I'll make an additional comment.
Yes, I'm a follower. It's great fun to follow you for I never know where you'll take me next!
I'm a follower.
I could sit and listen to him talk all night long. :o) Tall, dark, handsome, French accent and a chocolatier... that's as close to the perfect man as I'll ever see. :o) La
Not only a giveaway, but a chocolate one! You have gone all out for Christmas! And such an expensive bar, too!! I think Jacques used to have a show on The Food Network, and I watched it once in a while. The video was so interesting, I loved the huge oven, it really looked more like a fridge! And the store being shaped like a cacao bean pod! Your pictures are all so mouthwatering, New York just has everything!
Yummy, chocolate!! Count me in!
Hugs,
Penny
And I am a follower....love your blog. It makes me feel like I am a New Yorker!
You found my weakness ... Chocolate!!! What a great store to visit. I think once I entered a store like that it would be difficult to get me out! Fun post.
Your pictures are so charming that I can almost taste the chocolate now.
And of course, you know I am a follower of your fabulous blog!!!
Hi Pat....thanks for a great tour of Jacques Manhatten shop...me and daughter drove out to Dumbo one day years ago looking for his shop out there and never did find it...plus it was very creepy over there...Is that where they filmed the Ferrari sequence in "Scent of a Women"....Anyhoo, I love what this man can do with chocolate...I have been making chocolate for years now so I never seem to buy things when I find these wonderful shops....I just go in for good ideas....basically I'm cheap!
So lovely of you to giveaway such a fantastic chocolate bar...goody, goody...!!!
BTW I found our local Home Goods store...great place, did most of g'kids Christmas shopping there...my DIL liked it to, we're going to go back after Christmas...thank you for telling about Home Goods in a previous post!
And I follow you too...have to keep up with your New York...!!!
Hi Pat, You know that I don't participate in Giveaways anymore---but I'm sure that chocolate is WONDERFUL... IF I ever visited that place, I'd be going home with WAY too much chocolate... ha
YUMMMMMMMMMM....
Hugs,
Betsy
Those snowmen are adorable! And that hot chocolate looks heavenly. Thanks, my friend, for once again making my mouth water and my tummy growl!
Of course I'm a follower of you girlfriend!
I'm getting the shakes just looking at all this exquisite chocolate!!
I am a follower. Thanks so much for hosting such a wonderful giveaway. Love & blessings from NC!
This chocolate would be amazing to use for baking! I would love to win! Thanks for hosting a great giveaway! This shop looks like my kind of place! I would love to visit there in person sometime. Love & blessings from NC!
OH MY!
Already a follower....and so glad!
How very sweet & very generous of you to host a giveaway Pat!
& I happen to love dark chocolate, so I wouldn't have to bake anything if I won this - though I definitely would share it since I have many family members who love dark chocolate too.
: )
Wonderful! A piece of chocolate Heaven!
I am a follower, too.....love it!
If I understood you correctly, I think I am supposed to leave an extra comment since I am a follower.
& I want to cooperate in every way possible to insure every chance to win that delicious chocolate.
: )
Hello Pat, wow...chocolates and a giveaway, what a wonderful early Christmas present :) Too bad, I am so far away (sob*). You must visit Australia one day, and pop over to Asia of course. Hugs...M
Oh me!! Me!!! Me, me, me, me me! *Jumping up in the air and waving like mad over everyone's heads cos they're all taller than me!*
LOL!! Awwww what a lovely giveaway!!
Pat I am MELTING and SALIVATING at these pictures. I can't even read the words I am so transfixed by the acres and acres of chocolate. My eyes are tearing up at such yumminess!!! Oh my, my,my!!!
I can't wait to get home to watch these clips - thank you! I'm at work and can't play them!! Booooo!!!!!! I could plead that it helps my Chocolate Addiction Illness but I don't the people here will understand..! :-)
Take care
x
Wow, every time I see a post and think THAT is the ultimate place to visit, you show us another. A chocolate factory? Be still my heart!
Great photos, this really looks like an amazing place. I would LOVE that chocolate bar (and I would share, too)
And of course I'm a follower :) Kat
This post is just too decadent!!! Just like the chocolate!!! Have a grand day! Cathy
Oh! Still following! ;) Cathy
His store is beautiful!!!
What a great give away.
I am a happy follower!!
Pat - that is a chocolate wonderland. I'd love to move in to the store/factory and just breathe in the sweet aromas.
chocolate! yay! I'm in, though my chances are slim seeing there's already over 50 commentors & yes I'm a follower
You got me with the photo of the hot chocolate!
Of course I'd like to be entered, but I think that postage to Canada would be ruinous.....I'll hope!
How absolutely fantastic. What a gorgeous chocolate factory. I use my blog friends page to follow your blog. .where you are linked.
It's another place to visit when I come to your part of the world.
.....and of course I'm a follower. I wouldn't want to miss a single post.
Dreaming of chocolate..........
So THAT'S what heaven looks like! Oh my goodness! I wish you had a smell-o-blog! Enter my name! Big Mama would love to have a Big Daddy!
DROOL! That chocolate looks so good; especially the snowmen :)
Don't enter me in your giveaway thanks. I'm too far away.
I've been to the shop in Brooklyn - sooooo good!!!
I'm now a follower too!
How generous of you Pat! Please put my name in the hat.
I love that one can watch the chocolate being made from behind the glass. It's sort of chilly in my house this morning. I need one of those delish hot chocolates.
ps....I'm a dedicated follower of your blog!
i'm follower :)
it's favorite giveaway :D I've dreamed of living in the city..u are very lucky because i can not take everything you can get them..
Pat, I've been a follower for some time now, and I must tell you if I haven't already,I AM A CHOCO-HOLIC.
Chocolate has to be in my mouth at least once or twice a week or I go alittle crazy....GOT TO HAVE CHOCOLATE!...this post is one of my fav's...oh I just remembered that Hershey's Almond Bar,somehow chocolate always finds it's way into my groceries.It's calling my name,later!
-Jo
-LazyonLoblolly
What a generous giveaway!!! Not only do you continually share colorful information about wonderful places, and you document all the beautiful photos, but now you are offering chocolate. Lucky me, that visited you via this blog again today. I would love to visit Jacques Torre's chocolate heaven someday.
That looks like such a great
place to meet friends for hot coco.
He is very handsome, and French too..
As usual you have another winning post.
I am crazy for dark chocolate.
yvonne.
Never met a dark chocolate that I didn't love! Your generosity makes my heart happy.
Chocolate Heaven from Chocolate Haven! Another mouth-watering NYC food post from you~ Thanks for the chance to enter :-)
I'm a follower & a chocoholic :-)
I loved the tour. The chocolate looks wonderful including the bar. I bet your giveaway will go big.
This is a very difficult post to read because you just want chocolate! Many thanks for all the interesting info!
I always love the food posts! Makes me wish I was in the city. Love seeing the variety of foods. I do miss that here in the country.
I am a follower!
I could seriously hurt myself in that place!
Another very interesting post! I'll be happy to enter any chocolate give away.
And I'm a follower.
I love chocolate!
I'm a follower, Pat!
Hugs,
Donna
I've seen Jacques Torres on the food network. He really knows his chocolate. I am a follower and would love a chance to win this wonderful gift.
Pat, I am not sure how much self control I would have in this place!! The hot chocolate alone sounds yummy. This is a wonderful give away.
♥, Susan
I came to follow BEFORE I found out there was chocolate! Oh, my!
Thanks so much for your kind grandmother-to-grandmother comments.
It is so interesting, lately I have become very intrigued with the thought of visiting NYC! But, spend all my travel time visiting the grand... now, I can visit vicariously thanks to your blog!
BTW, I have a beautiful mosaic art piece with "mille fiori" throughout.
Pat, I just can't imagine how delicious a bit of that chocolate would be as it melted in my mouth!! "Good" chocolate is one of life's special pleasures.
Oh, for sure I am a follower. I can't wait to see where you'll be taking us the rest of this Christmas season. I'm a former upstate New Yorker who now lives in north central Florida. We still visit "the city" but not as often as I'd like so I visit through your blog!
I'm not sure why I wasn't already a follower since I enjoy your blog. I am one now. I am becoming more of a commenter since I love receiving them! I also love chocolate and New York. Oh my, I would love to visit the chocolate shop. And to have one of those turkeys or, for my Christmas dessert party, a Santa boot filled with chocolate would be wonderful. Of course, the bar would be most welcome!
Best,
Bonnie
Oh my....I think I want to LIVE THERE! I don't think eating chocolate from there is enough! Wow! That place looks like heaven....in fact, I hope that's what heaven will be like!
I love him, Pat!
And I love you for taking us by his place. It is absolutely magical. That cocoa looks killer.
I am a follower, and have been for a long time!
And I am not adverse to begging...pick me, pick me...even though I'm supposed to be circumspect and calm while visiting Alphabe-Thursday links!
ha!
I was really fascinated by the tour. I am soooo coming to visit you to pick up my prize in person...so you can take me there.
What a joyous stop today.
Thank you for linking.
A+
Oh my gosh! I need to visit that place!!
LOVE IT.
=)
Wow...you sure go to the coolest places! That is quite a shop...is the chocolate as good to eat as it is to look at? Wonderful!
Your post is good enough to eat. Hope you and your hubby had a lovely Thanksgiving. I'm just now coming up for air and trying to catch up with my blogging. I so miss everyone when I'm away. Sea Witch ps. count me in the chocolate giveaway.
What a wonderful place to visit!
urchiken at gmail dot com
Oh my goodness, all that chocolate. So yummy and interesting . Makes my mouth water. LOL. I won;t enter the give away as that would cost you a fortune on postage. :))Wonderful post Pat
Hi Pat, Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven is definitely on my list to visit my next visit to New York City! Thank-you, Your pics are mouthwatering good!
Margaret from B.C.
Hi Pat, I am a follower... I love Your blog! I also love dark chocolate! Thank-you for such a marvelous give away.
Margaret from B.C.
I love that shop Pat and I usually come home with some kind of brittle that has cranberries and pumpkin seeds together with chocolate. But seriously, anything from there is worth trying as you well know.
OMG!! I hope I win this! I will do almost anything for really good chocolate!
Seriously, this was a most interesting post. I love the pictures, too.
You ever watch Luccile Ball and her girl friend Ethall working in a Chocolate factory?
Lush! I love his chocolate!
I am a follower - and our blogs are linked on my blog...
Now that is just not fair to show off your chocolate shop. Yum! I LOVE chocolate....and NY.
I'm dead and gone to Heaven.....and I put up some kilos just watching you photos, damn!
Hi Pat. Thanks for your kind words on my blog. I'm glad you enjoyed your visit to Tucson. Drop by anytime. I'm looking forward to hearing about New York at Christmastime!
Just discovered your site and blog. Happy to be a follower on Facebook as of today!
Am I the only girl who doesn't have a thing for chocolate, in fact when I read Joanne Harris's book I felt quite queasy at times. No need to count me in the giveaway then!
NY is such a Wonderful place to be right now...I bet his hot chocolate is REAL hot chocolate...!
Oh, how fabulous!
I'm Swiss, so chocolate is in my blood!
Thanks for the chance to enter your delicious giveaway.
:o)
pippirose59 at gmail dot com
I'm a new follower via GFC.
pippirose59 at gmail dot com
Pat, what a fun give away! Count this chocolate lover in the this one for sure.
Great post. You always give us such interesting information along with your amazing photos. ~ Sarah
Pat, just me again to say I'm a follower! ~ Sarah
Chocolate?!?!?! I'm a follower...that's just too easy! I remember watching Jacques Torres on PBS when he had a show called...um Chocolate Circus? Something like that. Of course that was a long time ago ahem..... I was barely out of the crib. LOL!
Licks & Wags, Niki
I would follow you anywhere Pat! Love that HUGE chocolate bar! Anne
I'm entering this for my mom, the only thing sweeter than chocolate on this earth. :)
Oh wow white chocolate snowmen! Fantastic idea! Love the idea of a choc filled stocking. Great gift ideas.
OO dark choc giveaway! Yes please count me in! My fav chocs are either white toblerone at Christmas or Bendicts Bittermints- I know so different from one another! Both are delish if you get the chance to try them.
YUMMY!!! Ooooh I hope I do NOT win... I'm afraid I would eat it ALL.... ooooh la la YUMMY!!!
Yum how delish!! I loved reading about the process and seeing the great images!!
Do come and enter my giveaway from Fifi Flowers $200 value!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
Dark chocolate is my favorite! And this has to be the most fantastic smelling store in NYC!
I'm a follower:)
You know Im a faithful follower:)
Pat you are totally making me drool ... oh that chocolate looks like perfection!
you know, for some reason i thought i already followed you ... guess it was because i read your blog once a week ... so now, i am actually following!
Wow! How in the world did I miss this post of yours? I thought I have read every single one. So happy I didn't miss out on the chance to win this great gift. BUT, even if I don't win I was thrilled I got to read this post. I have always wanted to go to Jacques Torres shop but didn't know where it was. So while it wasn't the same (no yummy chocolate to taste and smell) as being there, I really enjoyed this post.
Oh and you KNOW I'm a big fan of your blog...and of yours :)
Hugs,
Joanne
I love dark chocolate and I am so glad that you are giving me this opportunity to win!
You know that this lady from Tennessee follows your faitfully!
This give away is now closed! Thank you all for your lovely comments and for becoming followers of my blog. I truly appreciate it!
Hi ,
Very interesting pictures . Any idea if there is an outlet in denver?
Johann
Your blog is so awesome!
I just recently started following you.
You must of like traveling a lot?
Anyhow I got to visit this place!!!!
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