Håkan Mårtensson admires his deluxe chocolate creations for Fika from last year but unfortunately is unable to attend 2012 show because of Hurricane Sandy (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Metropolitan Pavilion
125 West 18th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
November 9-11, $35-$40
www.chocolateshow.com
2012 chocolate show photo album
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, the American Heart Association, and other health-related organizations, the consumption of dark chocolate is good for you. It improves coronary circulation, provides antioxidants that might help battle cancer, and is even beneficial for the teeth. Not that we needed that information to continue out steady intake of dark chocolate, but it’s great to know as we prepare for the fifteenth annual Chocolate Show, being held November 9-11 at the Metropolitan Pavilion. A bevy of chocolatiers, pastry chefs, cookbook authors, and other gourmands will fill four thousand square feet with all kinds of chocolate, which has been a beloved part of the human diet dating back four thousand years to the Amazon. One of our favorite things to do every year is to sample the dark chocolate as companies strive to make a nonbitter delight reaching toward the 99% mark. Among the standouts from past shows that we’ll be looking forward to again are the Grenada Chocolate Company, 5th Avenue Chocolatiere, Rogue Confections, Co Co. Sala, Salt of the Earth Bakery, and Guittard. (Several exhibitors had to pull out because of Hurricane Sandy; keep watching this post for further changes.) Founded by Sylvie Douce and François Jeantet, the Chocolate Show is an international affair, now being held in cities in France, Russia, Korea, England, and Japan as well as the United States. This year’s fête features a Kids Zone, cooking demonstrations, book signings, culinary discussions, and more, featuring appearances by such chocolate specialists as Fritz Knipschildt, Donald Wressell, Chocolatina, Steve Klc, Johnny Iuzzini, Debbie Prinz, Francine Segan, Martin Howard, and a slew of chefs from the Institute of Culinary Education. This year the Chocolate Show has also teamed up with New York Cares for a coat drive to help those people in the tristate area affected by Hurricane Sandy, so bring a jacket along with the admission price, which is $35 on Friday and Sunday and $40 on Saturday, with two children (between the ages of five and twelve) admitted free with each adult.
Mott Green’s Grenada Chocolate Company is once again one of the standouts at the annual New York Chocolate Show (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Update: The 2012 New York Chocolate Show did not disappoint, despite some late cancellations because of Hurricane Sandy and the concurrent running of the second show in Lyon. Among our new and returning favorites this year are the Grenada Chocolate Company’s Salty-Licious bar, Prestat’s Dark Chocolate with Raspberry bar, 5th Avenue Chocolatiere’s cold signature truffle, H.S. Chocolate’s maple bacon chocomel, Pacari’s Cuzco Pink Salt & Nibs bar, Salt of the Earth’s oatmeal chocolate-chip cookie, François Payard’s Parisian macarons, Gnosis’s health-conscious healing raw chocolate peach Goddess Bar, Maria Luisa Rodriguez’s orange zest Jazz Brownies, and Fleur Jerusalemy’s elegantly designed, hand-painted, New York-centric Fleur de Xocoatl collection. As usual, we came home with more chocolate than we could possibly imagine — in addition to gorging ourselves at the show with all the free samples — but is that really so bad? As we noted above, chocolate is good for you, so why not indulge?
Craig Cataldo, also known as Craig Schwartz, is a New York icon. Better known as Radioman, he travels across the city on an old bicycle, wearing a boombox around his neck like a treasured jewel. The life of this eccentric character is now on view in the entertaining documentary Radioman. Although many might assume that Radioman is a crazy homeless drunk — something he did struggle with in the past — it turns out that Radioman is a beloved figure in the film world, appearing in more than one hundred films and television shows. He devotes his life to being an extra and hanging out on movie sets, where he converses with the stars and approaches his bit parts like they are starring roles. The documentary, directed by British filmmaker Mary Kerr, features a slew of celebrities singing the praises of Radioman, including George Clooney, Helen Mirren, Whoopi Goldberg, Tina Fey, Meryl Streep, Ron Howard, and, most philosophically, Josh Brolin and Robin Williams. Kerr follows Radio, as he’s known to his closer friends, as he does his thing on local film sets, discusses his childhood and the difficult time when he was arrested and hospitalized against his will, shows off his frighteningly cramped and bug-infested apartment, and travels to Hollywood to try to get into some Oscar parties. A gregarious, well-spoken, and occasionally crude fellow with a big, scraggly gray beard, Radioman, who looks much older than his sixty-one years, is like a giant old teddy bear that you just can’t get yourself to throw away because it means that much to you. Radioman is screening November 9 and 15 at the IFC Center, with Kerr and Radioman on hand to talk about the work, as part of DOC NYC, a weeklong celebration of nonfiction film at IFC and the SVA Theatre comprising more than seventy documentaries, along with panel discussions and master classes. Among the other highlights are Artifact, about Jared Leto’s band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, and their battle with their record label; Eddie Adams: Saigon ’68, which tells the story of the iconic photograph of a gun pointed at the head of a Vietnamese man; Informant, about activist and FBI mole Brandon Darby; and Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself, a look at the life and career of the beloved participatory journalist.
