Seattle's chocolate is golden these days

(Editor's Note: This story has been changed from its original version. The Fran’s Chocolates Bellevue store is at 10036 Main St.)

After all these years of being known for coffee and airplanes, Seattle is tempering a new sort of reputation. This Valentine's Day, call us Chocolate City.

True, the Puget Sound area has had chocolate cred for years, with a citizenry weaned on Frangos and Boehms and raised on Dilettante. Fran's, one of our most respected chocolate companies, is entering its 26th year.

But as gourmet chocolate reaches a wider U.S. audience -- Starbucks is expected to launch a brand soon -- and trends such as organic ingredients and "single-origin" beans gain ground, Seattle's streets may as well be paved with cacao beans.

The unofficial coronation came when Seattle chocolatiers swept the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York, with locals (Fran's, Seattle Chocolate Co. and Theo) taking three of the four finalist spots. Theo won the gold, and Fran's won a gold medal in the hot beverage category.

But other keys to our chocolate city have sweetly accumulated. There's now such a critical mass

of fine local chocolatiers that a business-savvy couple opened a shop near Pike Place Market in June devoted to local chocolates.

And with Theo, a young powerhouse of a company, the city now has a double-header: a rare Willy Wonka-style factory that produces chocolate from beans to bars, plus a business that feeds into ethical trends by remaining organic, fair trade and independent.

Working on the level of a single bakery rather than a production facility, talented pastry chefs such as World Cup of Baking champion William Leaman of Bakery Nouveau have branched into confectionaries and couverture. Taste-making outsiders love Seattle, such as when Oprah Winfrey crowned "luscious" Theo with a spot on her annual "best list" in the newest issue of O magazine, months after issuing a similar rave for Fran's.

Starting in March, tourists and locals will be able to sign up for "chocolate tours" of the region, watching the candy masters at work. Even the coffee cart at the Central Library is the Downtown Chocolati Cafe, the fourth branch of a North Seattle business that produces truffles and novelty chocolates.

"Seattle has always been great at doing premium things," said Jean Thompson, chief executive officer of Seattle Chocolate Co., speaking by phone from Belgium, where she was touring chocolate factories after attending a candy show in Germany. "I just think of them as pioneers in that way, whether it's a microbrewery or, of course, coffee. I think people in Seattle have a higher sensibility for style and for taste, and they're willing to spend a little bit more on their special indulgences."

Seattle Chocolate Co. is 15 years old but the company's production has more than tripled since Thompson became CEO five years ago and started making full use of its "thoroughbred" machinery. The company also won the contract for the iconic Frango meltaways now sold through Macy's, a challenge that required running taste tests past former employees of Frederick & Nelson, the Seattle store where they originated.

At trade shows, people approach Sean Seedlock, vice president of sales and marketing for Fran's, and want to know what the deal is with our coffee, our beers, our wines, and now our chocolate.

They ask, "What's going on there?" Seedlock said.

The heart of Fran's hasn't changed much since Fran Bigelow founded the company in 1982, he said. Fran's pays attention to sourcing fine ingredients, such as the organic milk it uses from a third-generation Skagit Valley farm and its Yakima Valley peppermint, but the focus, he said, "has always stayed pretty true to the pure taste of chocolate and the quality and the consistency therein."

The broader national attention, he thinks, is connected to an overall renaissance in Seattle's food scene.

"I have people, buyers, coming in from New York (asking), 'Can we go to this restaurant? Can we go to that restaurant?' I think Seattle draws a lot of talent and creative people."

Clay Gordon, a chocolate authority and author of "Discover Chocolate," noted that a cooler climate gives Seattle and other chocolate standouts such as San Francisco (birthplace of Guittard and Ghirardelli, and now home to masters such as Michael Recchiuti) a boost for producing artisan candy.

"There are only one or two new ones in Los Angeles," he said. "There's one guy down in Florida."

Fine chocolatiers also spring up in "the places that have a reputation already for food," he said. "You have to look, where are those really, really wonderful, vibrant food communities?"

Michel and Valerie Brotman opened The Chocolate Box at 108 Pine St. seven months ago to celebrate the fine points of some of the area's locally made chocolates. The polished shop -- which the chocolate scene wouldn't have supported even five years ago, Michel Brotman said -- showcases four local companies (Theo, Fiori, Chocolat Vitale and Oh! Chocolates) with a range of products and price points. The rest of the shelves are filled with other nibbles, from well-known operations such as Fran's to small businesses such as Lesley's Gourmet in Bellevue, whose offerings include a raspberry truffle with a blast of pure fruit flavor and a handmade caramel topped by black Hawaiian lava salt.

Some outsiders make the cut as well, such as Portland-based Moonstruck and famed Parisian Michel Cluizel. But on their Web site (sschocolatebox.com) the Brotmans say, "In our hunt for the world's finest chocolate we found that some of the best was right in our backyard."

Here's a pre-Valentine's Day sampler of six distinctive chocolatiers that have helped make Seattle a haven for chocolate lovers. Chocolates from all six are available at The Chocolate Box and other outlets specified.

Chocolat Vitale: The Seattle-based company has no retail store but its thick, sweet, European-style drinking chocolate is available at Whole Foods Markets and online at chocolatvitale.com, among other places. Chocolat Vitale advertises the potion, which tastes something like a liquid chocolate bar, as "The Drink of The Gods." (Theobroma, the Latin word for chocolate, means "food of the gods.")

The blend of Belgian and Swiss chocolate, free of cocoa powder, is the one that won "hands down" in tough taste tests to become the house brand at The Chocolate Box, Michel Brotman said.

"It's very pure," he said. "That's the best word I can think of."

Chocolate Vitale, owned by Jim and Jennifer Schneider, also sells baking chocolate, chocolate-infused teas, chocolate-covered espresso beans and a handful of other treats.

Chocolat Vitale

206-297-0863

chocolatvitale.com

V-Day pick: A generous 18- ounce tin of the signature drinking chocolate will give your Valentine lots of sweet mugs of memory ($19.50 online).

Fiori Chocolatiers: The Bellevue-based company has no retail store but its chocolate bars, handcrafted truffles and surpassingly decadent drinking chocolate (which I like better than Vitale's) are available online and at various locations, including Motore Coffee (904 Ninth Ave.) and Metropolitan Markets cafes.

Owner Lee Johnson is known for his uncompromising standards, the freshness and elegance of his products, his chocolate's smooth, nuanced flavors, and for remarkable creations such as a ganache filled with organic strawberries marinated in aged balsamic vinegar.

"We knew of his chocolates before we even got into chocolate," Michel Brotman said.

Fiori Chocolatiers

425-957-4777

fiorichocolatiers.com

V-Day pick: A ribbon-tied pack of hazelnut truffles and balsamic caramels (eight for $21), available only through The Chocolate Box. If you can't get there, a tin of drinking chocolate ($15) is as good as a box of truffles .

Fran's Chocolates: Fran's has two retail stores, in University Village (2626 N.E. University Village St.) and Bellevue (10036 Main St.) The chocolates also are available online and at specialty markets and some supermarkets.

Chocolatier magazine once credited Fran Bigelow as being the person who "singlehandedly stirred up an American chocolate revolution" with the handmade, small-batch creations she began making in Seattle in 1982.

Bigelow has not rested on her laurels. Though her Gold Bar may still be the quintessential upscale candy bar, Fran's has added 21st-century creations such as salt caramels that Gourmet magazine said have "spoiled us for life" and a drinking chocolate that won nationwide gold.

Bigelow is still involved in daily operations but her daughter, Andrina, has taken over as CEO and her son, Dylan, is now production manager.

Fran's Chocolates

206-322-0233

franschocolates.com

V-Day pick: Pair a caramel-filled dark chocolate heart ($4.50) with a trim seven-piece red box of Fran's famous salt caramels ($11.50).

Oh! Chocolate: There are Oh! Chocolate retail stores in Seattle (3131 E. Madison St.), Bellevue (10500 N.E. Eighth St., Suite 108) and Mercer Island (2703 76th Ave. S.E.). Its products also are available online.

The Brotmans like the hands-on, old-fashioned appeal of the company's candies, which include truffles, creams and chews. The family-run business founded by Carl and Gertie Krautheim, now on its third generation, makes its own caramel, which not many chocolate-makers do, Valerie Brotman said.

Oh! Chocolate

800-887-3959

ohchocolate.com

V-Day pick: Heart-shaped ginger cookies dipped in chocolate, sprinkled with candied ginger and tied with a pink bow ($4.50 for a package of two).

Seattle Chocolate Co.: It has no retail store but its products are nationally distributed, including at Bartell, Metropolitan Markets, Whole Foods, QFC and Town & Country Markets.

I particularly like the company's truffles and its Chick Chocolates (they've been on Food Network), a three-piece, 150-calorie treat. CEO Jean Thompson calls the Chick Chocolates "a permission statement," particularly as chocolate has been shown to have some health benefits along with its calories and fats.

"We need to acknowledge that ... if you're going to spend your 50 calories, eat the good stuff, and you shouldn't feel bad about it," she said. "The idea was portion control, moderation, eating the good stuff, and don't feel guilty. Don't feel like you need to be a size 2, and don't wait for a man to give it to you."

Seattle Chocolate Co.

800-334-3600

seattlechocolate.com

V-Day pick: A round hat box filled with loose truffles ($15) or a little purse-shaped package filled with the same ($10), both prettily wrapped in ribbons.

Theo Chocolate: This fast-growing company has been lavished with much national praise, including a recent Eco-Epicurean Award from Food + Wine magazine for its social and environmental responsibility. Acclaimed baker and cookbook author David Lebovitz, who leads chocolate tours of Paris, once wrote that Theo chocolatier Autumn Martin is "crafting some of the finest chocolate confections I've ever tasted in my life."

Theo's factory tours have helped put Seattle on the chocolate map. The tours (daily at 1 and 3 p.m., with an additional one at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday) regularly sell out. The company is known for chocolates that appeal through innovative flavors and a winelike attention to nuance rather than cloying sweetness. Products include confections such as Earl Grey and burnt sugar chocolates, single-origin bars with chocolate from places such as Ghana and Madagascar, and "3400 Phinney" bars like Bread and Chocolate, with toasted breadcrumbs, Coconut Curry, and a new vegan bar of fig, fennel and dark chocolate.

Theo's retail store is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the products are now available nationwide, with local outlets including Whole Foods, Town & and Country Markets and PCC Natural Markets. Tours cost $5 per person for 5 and older, reservations recommended.

Theo Chocolate

3400 Phinney Ave. N.

206-632-5100

theochocolate.com

V-Day pick: An 18-piece "aphrodisiac collection" filled with seductive flavors such as rose and Ceylon cinnamon ($40).

IF YOU'RE BUYING FOR VALENTINE'S DAY

Chocolate expert Clay Gordon, author of "Discover Chocolate" (Penguin Books, $25), had these recommendations for people buying chocolate for their Valentine's Day sweeties:

Make an impression. "When buying chocolate as a gift, the first thing you want to do is tell the person you're giving the gift to that you're paying attention." For instance, "If you know they're not an adventurous eater, going and buying weird flavors is probably not a good idea." In other words, no Theo coconut curry bar for them. If their tastes lean toward Whitman samplers, try something that's a step or two above, but not too esoteric. For Gordon, that would mean buying a "hometown favorite" such as Dilettante.

It could be about you. If you're daring to celebrate Valentine's Day with a new date, or someone whose food preferences you don't know well, buy chocolates that match your own tastes. "Number one, if the date goes bad, and you don't ever give them the chocolate, you'll like what you bought," he said. Ideally, though, you'll hand over the chocolates along with an explanation of why you like them so much, using the gift "as an opportunity to be able to reveal something about yourself in a fairly safe way."

You don't eat the box. Don't judge a box of chocolates by its cover. "Who cares if it's beautiful gold with a lot of ribbon? ... You really should care about what's inside." There's a direct correlation between freshness and taste, so consider visiting a retail outlet and asking clerks or chocolatiers what the most popular products with the highest turnover rates are. "Anything which is in a box you buy in a store has probably taken three months to get from the manufacturer to the warehouse to the store, and who knows how long it's been sitting there? Whereas if you walk into Fran's and buy something, chances are it's been made ... in the last week, if not in the last three days. And that's an enormous difference."

It's all about taste. Don't get lost in the battle over which brand advertises what percentage of cocoa it contains. "Cocoa percentage is not an indicator of any measure of quality. ... It is the chocolate equivalent of proof in alcohol, and an 86-proof vodka is not better than an 80-proof vodka. That number doesn't tell you anything about how it tastes. ... You've got to pick it up and taste it and decide if you like it."

-- Rebekah Denn