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Just like her Chocolates, Martine is Sweet, Unique and Loved by AllBy Madelyn Miller, the TravelladyYou expect a French woman to have style and verve, but the sweetness in Martine Leventer is an extra bonus. I met her in the Flagship Martine’s Chocolates boutique in Bloomingdale’s on the Upper East Side of New York on a rainy afternoon. As we walked through the store, many people stopped to say Hi. Everyone seemed to know her. Maybe it is because she is very generous with chocolate samples, but I think it is because she seems to take a special interest in everyone. Martine never meant to be a chocolatier. She was actually a journalist who really wanted to be a business woman. But French girls at that time did not grow up to be business owners. So she interviewed business owners instead.
She wanted Schiapparelli pink for her packaging. But no one in America knew what color Schiapparelli pink was. She wanted unique dishes to display her chocolates. She found them in a flea market and her American husband kindly tried to explain that those old plates were given away free in the supermarkets years ago. No matter. Martine loved them. And when I saw how wonderful the chocolates looked on the antique plates, I wanted some antique plates, too.
Martine makes things that she loves and that interest her. And the rest of the world seems thrilled to buy it in white, milk and dark chocolate. One of her favorite molds is a Yorkshire dog.
If you love Chocolate as much as I do, you will feel like you are walking through a museum when you visit her jewel of a shop.
Although Martine is a purist, she does indulge some of her chocolates with gorgeous marzipan roses that look almost too good to eat. Actually, everything in Martine’s Chocolates looks too good to eat –but don’t let that stop you.
My favorite was a dark chocolate piano filled with a soft butterscotch caramel. Even as I type the words, a Proustian memory of the flavor passes over my palate.
Her chocolate is art
If you are on a diet, do not feel you have to avoid Martine’s. She has thoughtfully created sugar-free chocolates for her customers. She said you can serve them as regular chocolates and no one will even know they are sugar-free. Just like chocolate bunnies, Martine’s chocolates are multiplying. I loved Martine’s Chocolates at Bloomingdale’s, the Main
Course on 6, 1000 Third Avenue, New York Martine’s Chocolates Too, 400 East 82nd Street (right off
First Avenue) New York 212-744-6289. |
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She
must have learned a lot, because by the time she came to America and opened her
chocolate shop thirteen years ago, she knew exactly what she wanted.
Flea
market finds and vintage pieces play a big part in Martine’s style. She even had
a favorite broach made into a mold so she could cast chocolate flowers from it.
At the very front of the Bloomingdale’s store is a cabinet of antiques that are
for sale. I lusted for a pair of the earrings I saw, but my mission for the day
was chocolate. Chocolate is one of the few things in the world I love more than
jewelry.
You
will also see a wonderful collection of animals, sports items, musical
instruments, New York souvenirs, flowers and wedding items. Many are custom made
or customized by color and message.
What
makes Martine’s chocolates taste so special is Belgian chocolate and very fresh
ingredients. And everything is handmade.
Her
favorite chocolate candy is a brandied cherry because she and her brother used
to fight over them as children.
The
breathtaking creations are the solid chocolate figurines. Hand molded and hand
decorated with food coloring, they can be personalized on the premises, and made
to order. They keep at controlled room temperature for 2 months.
If
you spend much time in Martine’s chocolate shop, the most frequently heard
refrain is, “OH, my God,” as people take their first orgasmic bite. Many people
ask how many they have to buy and are told, as many as you want, as few as one.
But only buying one would be to miss so many wonderful experiences.