(Photo: Historic Fort Mason)

This weekend I headed out to Fort Mason to attend the San Francisco International Chocolate Salon. Located at the top of San Francisco right near the Golden Gate Bridge, Fort Mason is a former army post that is a great example of repurposing historic buildings for modern use . The old dock warehouses have been taken over by the Fort Mason Center, an organization devoted to the culture of San Francisco. Each year the center puts on thousands of events in the spaces, and the area also houses a variety of arts organizations, and the long standing Greens Restaurant: the upscale vegetarian dining establishment where one of my favorite cookbook authors Deborah Madison once reigned in the kitchen.

Having never been to Fort Mason before (shame on me!), all I knew from my peers was that this was an old army warehouse sized room devoted to chocolate… chocolate everywhere… samples of chocolate… everywhere. And I missed this last year? So this time I made sure to register early.

What I found out after walking through the fair: International Salon is more like… “International” in the baseball “world” series type of connotation. Most of the chocolates that I tried were west coast confections, with a few national companies. Overall I was a little disappointed at the lack of creativity – sure there was salt and chocolate everywhere, and bacon also made it’s appearance, but a lot of the chocolate was over sugary, and the flavorings overpowering.  Nevertheless, there were some redeeming standouts.

My first responsibility at the fair was a work errand – I had to run back to see Celia at the Omnivore Books table, and hand her off some more bookmarks and calendars from the bookstore, as she had run out (Always a good thing!) Celia was in charge of author signings from some of the choco-celebs doing talks at the fair. When I got back to the booth, there was Elizabeth Falkner, of Citizen Cake, Orson, and Top Chef fame, just hanging out. I made sure to get a requisite silly picture of her and Celia.

Highlights of the salon:

Clarine’s Florentines: The florentine is an italian cookie made of nuts and caramel, which can be dipped into chocolate. These are one of my favorite cookies, but I hesitate to bake them because I have no restraint- once I make a batch, they find themselves quickly down the hatch. My hatch, only mine, because I’m greedy. (Like that? I rhyme and I’m ridiculous…)

Clarine makes her florentines out of Berkeley with almonds mixed in a caramel of butter, sugar, honey and cream, and are dipped in Guittard bittersweet chocolate. They were the first product I sampled at the fair, and the last (I went for a second go.)

Lavender Chocolate Gelato: Ali’i Kula Lavender, a lavender farm on the island of Maui. I didn’t actually know that Hawaii grew lavender, but apparently the do all year round. Their delicious gelato is unfortunately only available in Hawaii, but I’m looking forward to recreating this combination at home this summer.

Marti Chocolates: I headed over to the Marti booth on the recommendation of Elizabeth Falkner, and was impressed with the chocolates they had to offer. Marti, based in LA had some of the more creative flavors showcased at the salon, including Goat Cheese,  Zesty Philipine Lime in Dark Chocolate, and Durian, which I dutifully sampled and actually enjoyed. I thought that the flavors of the fillings and the chocolate both came through clearly. They were quite delicious.

Poco Dolce Chocolate – it’s not a secret, I’m in love with these chocolate squares ever since I had my first one last year conveyed in this moment: “Deep, dark chocolate. Spicy chile pepper with hints of cinnamon. Crunchy little toasted pumpkin seeds nestled in between. And flecks of salt that make the chocolate sing! You experience each individual layer and then they mix together and… I can’t come close to giving them justice, you really have to just try one.”

I also liked the caramels dipped in chocolate with salt from Posh Chocolates – I’m love the combination of chocolate and salt, and this company had some particularly creative salts that they were using, including White Truffle Oil Caramel with Cyprus Flaked Sea Salt, Coconut-Pineapple Caramel with Hawaiian Pink Sea Salt, and Bacon Caramel with Apple wood Smoked Sea Salt. I thought the flavors were good, but in some cases the salt seemed to overwhelm the chocolate.

After gorging myself with chocolate, my camera became lazy- so not pictured, but enjoyed:

Fentiman’s Botanically Brewed beverages: After tasting these at both the Green Fest, at Il Cane Rosso, and now at the chocolate salon, I’m hooked. My particular favorite is the Shandy soda – a mixture of beer and lemonade (their version has less than .5% alcohol). Fentiman’s soda is also the center of food scandal, after the state of Maine decided to outlaw their products to minors (even though it has less alcohol than…bread…yes, bread.) Sometimes I’m just so befuddled by people that I want to leave and start my own country somewhere.

Marin French Cheese Company (also known as the Cheese Factory and Rouge et Noir): I recently learned from reading Gordon Edgar’s ‘Cheesemonger – A Life on the Wedge’ that this is the oldest cheese manufacturer in the country. I haven’t yet gone to visit, but I think it’s on my to-do list for this spring. Cheese tour anyone?

And finally, what would a chocolate salon be without makeovers??? (Yeah, I was a little perplexed about that too.) But, I do admit that I waited an absurdly long time in line to get my girly beauty fix at Bare Escentuals, maker of the Bare Minerals line of cosmetics. While my date sat patiently for 40 minutes playing scrabble on my ipod, (*he was very, very patient), I sat getting dolled up and left with a handful of free samples.

The lipgloss they put on was the final touch, and as I was already completely full from chocolate samples, it was the natural conclusion to our time at the fair. Will I go next year? Perhaps. The $25 price tag for the chocolate salon is a little steep, but for those willing to be gluttonous, this isn’t too bad of a deal.

If anything, I should set up a booth selling milk and water. I think I’d make a killing.