Sweets + Lardo = Drooling Over Seattle Mag’s Chocolate Issue

Leslie Kelly experiences severe cravings while perusing our latest issue.

By Seattle Mag February 1, 2013

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What a bittersweet mistake!

I sat down late last night with the February issue of Seattle mag, and immediately started drooling over the gorgeous photos and mouthwatering prose describing the city’s finest chocolate makers and treat purveyors. [Get a digital copy for your tablet here.]

The big bad burn was that my cupboards were bare, not even a square of my favorite bar, Theo’s Dark with Salted Almonds, which is a staple… along with the low-brow box of Junior Mints kept in the freezer. (Thanks to the Bay Theater in Ballard for turning me on to that cool trick!)

So, I’m strongly cautioning you now, dear readers, step away from the magazine unless you have access to Lesley’s Gourmet Chile Soft Caramel or Fran’s Chocolate Covered Blenheim Apricots or – what’s this? – Bakery Nouveau’s William Leaman further cements our adoration by creating a lineup of beautiful confections? Who knew?

So many amazing chocolates and none of them were within my reach.


I’m also a sucker for hard candy, so I was tickled to see This Charming Candy’s whimsically flavored lollipops (shown above) like Watermelon Basil and Black Pepper Melon splashed on the pages, but dang. Where was I going to find one in the midnight hour?

A powerful lesson learned – keep some candy in the house at all times – I thought I’d be safe flipping to the back of the book, but boom! There was the Key Ingredient feature I wrote about Holly Smith’s love of lardo and more images that looked good enough to eat.

I’m an unabashed fan of the Café Juanita chef/owner, so when she described some dishes she likes to finish by draping it in thin slices of the cured pork fat, I immediately went and bought a chunk of the stuff at DeLaurenti. She recommends keeping it in the freezer.

Hey, I think there might still be a bit in there. Oh, that might be just the thing to put on my toast this morning. Guess this says something about my pantry priorities: pork before chocolate! 

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