West Chester Dish

WEST CHESTER, PA – American-born Master Chocolatier Christopher Curtin, owner and founder of Éclat Chocolate, one of the country’s premier artisanal chocolate boutiques, at 24 South High Street, introduces his new line of Mendiants, thin pure chocolate wafers.  These delicate single-origin chocolates, available in nine varieties, are the perfect Valentine’s gift for serious chocolate lovers.
A modern take on the chocolate bar, Éclat’s Mendiants are crafted to melt in your mouth to extract maximum flavor and each variety’s distinct pattern and texture subtly change the sensory experience of tasting the chocolates.  Mendiants come in six single-origin varieties, including Ecuador, a milky-sweet 39 percent chocolate, Tanzania, a dark 75 percent version and Alto El So, a balanced 65 percent chocolate which is extremely rare because it comes from a small estate in the Amazon with a limited production run.  Other varieties blend the chocolates and spices to create flavors as nuanced and complex as fine wines, like the exotic Aleppo Pink Peppercorn which combines three single-origin chocolates with the fiery bite of pepper.  Packages of Mendiants costs $14.50.
Other sweet gift ideas include Éclat’s ever-popular four-piece ($6.50), 12-piece ($18.50) and 20-piece ($28.50) boxes of chocolate, specialty lattice hearts in honor of Valentine’s Day and Éclat’s famous “World’s Greatest Caramels,” which have been lauded in the pages of Vogue.  Other media accolades for Éclat include mentions and awards in Food & Wine, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Magazine and Main Line Today.     
At Éclat, Curtin combines his natural talent and years of experience.  While many of his chocolates are the result of hours of meticulous handiwork, his “laboratory” is equipped with state-of-the-art machinery that enables him to maintain his own stringent measures.  With the floors hermitically sealed and the entrances and exits air-locked, the Éclat laboratory boasts a pristine and sterile environment.  With his sophisticated chocolate making machinery, Curtin is capable of mass-producing chocolates for wholesale and private label customers, while abiding by his self-imposed and highly stern quality control standards.
Éclat is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 am to 6 pm;  and Saturday from 11 am to 4 pm.  Éclat is located at 24 South High Street, West Chester, PA.  For more information call 610.692.5206 or visit www.eclatchocolate.com.