A little bit of France in a cup in this shore community in Westchester County, NY. Owned and run by Angela Ingrao, Cocoa is a small and very cute shop that serves up childhood favorites such as housemade turtles with confections from Fritz Knipschildt. Also on the menu: Some of the best hot chocolate you can find on this side of the Atlantic.

Let’s face it. Most white chocolates deserve their really bad reputation for the single reason that they have no flavor. But not this one. Read on to find out why.

Most of the reviews that appear on chocophile.com include contact information for the company whose products are being reviewed, including a mailing address, phone number, e-mail address, and web site.

In some cases, however, product is not available directly from the manufacturer (especially foreign companies) and must be purchased through a retailer or distributor. A list of sources (on-line as well as bricks and mortar) can be found on the New World Chocolate Society web site.

Over the past three years or so, Dagoba Organic Chocolate has garnered the reputation of making some of the best organic chocolate bars in the US. Not only are the bars well crafted, but the flavor combinations—the work of founding alchemist Frederick Schilling—are spot on.

Many people know Garrison Confections founder Andrew (Drew) Shotts through the televised Pastry Team Championships on Food Network. However, that is just one aspect of the personality and talents of this very talented pastry chef, and one of the real pleasures of my job is to get to watch people mature, craft, develop, and hone their own particular chocolate vision and vocabulary (not to mention eat the results of all that work). Garrison Confections is one of the few Prestige Chocolatiers using Guittard chocolates (which is not surprising given Drew’s work for them as corporate pastry chef), especially those from the E. Guittard line. Drew also uses others, include white chocolate from Felchlin, a Swiss manufacturer.

Chuao Chocolatier founders Michael Antinorsi and Brian Vandenbroucke both have classical training in chocolate making from the esteemed Ecole Lenotre in France, and are working hard to merge classical French and Belgian chocolate-making techniques with New World chocolate (El Rey) and flavors. Although a relatively new company, the pair (Michael hails from Venezuela and Brian from Belgium) craft many very good chocolates with some delightfully surprising flavor combinations and unusual choices for fillings.