The Bougie Chocolate So Tasty It Made Andrew Zimmern Drop An F Bomb

Andrew Zimmern is primarily known for sampling unconventional food from around the world, which he showcased on his wildly popular Travel Channel show, "Bizarre Foods." He's an advocate for food sustainability — which is why Zimmern wants donkey meat to be legal in the U.S. – and has also hosted a number of other food-based shows, including "Wild Game Kitchen." 

He's not so much known for his pastry or dessert recipes, but that doesn't mean he doesn't appreciate a good bar of chocolate. In 2023, Zimmern shared on Substack that he'd sampled a coffee- and cardamom-flavored chocolate bar from Éclat Chocolate, a sweet he loved so much that he used an enthusiastic expletive to describe it.

Zimmern gushed, "They are un-f******-believable. Get on these now ... it blew my mind." The chocolate bar, called a Parallel Bar, features distinct stripes of milk and dark chocolate, each with complementary flavors. Zimmern continued, "Each chocolate was delicious, but together they were amazing." Éclat explains on its website that the flavor was inspired by a popular type of Middle Eastern coffee, which blends the unmistakable essence of java with warm, spicy cardamom. It also makes such interesting flavor combinations as chocolate with allspice and sesame or porcini mushroom and thyme.

Some of the best chocolate in the world comes from places like Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy. Andrew Zimmern's preferred chocolate, Éclat, doesn't come from any of these countries or from Europe at all. The chocolatier behind the brand, Christopher Curtin, creates his confections in West Chester, Pennsylvania, a town just outside of Philadelphia. Born in Wisconsin, Curtin studied pastry and chocolate-making all over Europe and in Japan before becoming the first American to win the title of Konditormeister, or Master Pastry Chef and Chocolatier, in Cologne, Germany.

His creations combine European technique with astonishing beauty and unparalleled flavor but pay homage to his American roots as well. Curtain celebrated a famous American historical site, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, with his solid milk and dark chocolate bars he named for the iconic house. Curtin's chocolates and caramels have not only been praised by Zimmern but also by other famous culinary names like Eric Ripert, who actually collaborated with Anthony Bourdain to make Good & Evil chocolate bars, which were sold by Éclat before being discontinued due to Bourdain's death in 2018.