TRAVERSE CITY, MI – Already known for its cherries, wines and breathtaking scenery, this little northern Michigan resort town has suddenly become an unlikely contender in the world of haute chocolate.
This month, French Culinary Institute chef Jacques Torres – whose PBS “Dessert Circus” series helped earn him the nickname “Mr. Chocolate” – will open his first chocolate shop outside New York City. Where? Ah, where else but in Traverse City? (Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Torres fell in love with this unspoiled region several years ago as a guest chef in one of Traverse City’s many food festivals, and now owns a summer home there.)
Meanwhile, directly across the street, chef Phil Murray – whose legendary chocolate desserts contributed mightily to the success of his former shoreside restaurant, Windows – has just opened Phil’s on Front, a “restaurant and chocolate bar” aimed at precisely the same high-end group of chocolate lovers. The new eatery combines an 80-seat bistro with a "chocolate lounge" where handcrafted chocolates are paired with wines and spirits, including several variations on the ever-popular chocolate martini.
“It’s kind of bizarre that all this is happening here in little old Traverse City,” he conceded. “But after all, why not?”
The chocolates are actually made two blocks away at Murray’s other enterprise, Chocolate Exotica, which has been luring chocolate lovers in off the street since 2007 in spite of its almost invisible location – thanks to a wide selection of handmade truffles, barks, dipped fruits and delights like Louis XVI cakes (almond and chocolate cakes soaked with Grand Marnier, and layered with chocolate mousse and truffle filling.)
And those are just the newcomers. They join such well-established chocolatiers as the Chocolate Den -- whose owners pride themselves on the fact that their truffles have only a three-week shelf life (because they refuse to add preservatives or use pre-mixed ingredients) as much as on the chewiness of their homemade chocolate-covered caramels – and Kilwin’s of Traverse City, one of the oldest stores in an immensely popular chain started in nearby Petoskey in 1947 that now has 50 outlets scattered from Ft. Collins to Ft. Myers.
That doesn’t count the coffee shops and bakeries that cluster around Traverse City’s tidy, tree-lined downtown – each of which seems to have its own recipe for hot cocoa, chocolate mousse, or Black Forest Torte. Nor does it take into consideration the convoluted question of fudge, a confection scorned by some chocolate purists but deeply intertwined with Traverse City’s identity as a tourist destination. (In fact, locals habitually refer to the region’s summer visitors as “fudgies” because of their insatiable appetite for it.)
That’s been going ever since 1887, when an enterprising boat builder and sailmaker named Henry Murdick sold his first batch of chocolate fudge to a batch of visitors on nearby Mackinac Island. Murdick eventually founded a complex dynasty of fudge-makers and confectioners. (One branch migrated to Martha’s Vineyard -- another island destination similar to Mackinac.) Traverse City is home to Doug Murdick, whose two stores make 16 varieties of fudge; his son Dale has a shop in nearby Suttons Bay.
But the region didn’t begin to carve out a national reputation among high-end chocolate fanciers until 2004, when former social worker Mimi Wheeler began creating intensely-flavored artisan chocolates that blended powerful Ecuadorian cocoa with local herbs, flowers, fruits, nuts and honey. Her tiny candy factory, Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate – located in the tiny coastal village of Empire -- offers such delicacies as lavender and rosemary truffles, and even a Mayan truffle flavored with a subtle but unmistakably warm dose of chili.
But why should such a remote area establish such a strong chocolate connection? No one seems to know for sure. Tourism is one possibility, but another is the fact that Traverse City is at the center of a fruit-growing region known as the “Cherry Capital of the World” – and cherries have a long-standing affinity for chocolate. So do many wines, and the area’s burgeoning wine industry has been quick to explore the ways in which chocolate and wine complement each other. At the Brys Estate Winery, for instance, new tastings of the vineyard’s signature pinot noir are usually accompanied by small squares of dark chocolate truffle.
Whatever the reason, the explosion of chocolate-making in the Traverse City area has already inspired at least one book, "The Guide to Chocolate in the Grand Traverse Region," by Indianapolis native Barbara Disborough. Released in November, the book contains maps, directions and reviews of a wide variety of chocolate products.
"There are chocolates here that are much better than European," says Disborough.
