Not just forValentine’s Day

‘Chocolate is for every day, all year long.’

I moved to West Michigan not long ago. And since I love having company, I invite friends from all over to come visit. I send invitation notes that include a chocolate “mitten” from Patricia’s Chocolate in Grand Haven.

“The heart will tell you where to find me,” I say.

Friends have told me they’ve eaten Detroit, or Traverse City. The smart ones tell me they’ve eaten the entire chocolate mitten and now don’t know where to find me. They ask me to send another.

Other chocolate mittens at Patricia’s have hearts showing the location for Lower Michigan colleges: the GVSU Bar, Spartan Bar, and so on. As for those squiggles, they’re Michigan rivers.
And for sure, there’s a lot more than mittens at Patricia’s. A lot. All year long. Which leads us to owner Patty Christopher’s winning thought: “Chocolate is for every day, all year long.”
Bravo!

“Who doesn’t love chocolate?” she said. “And who doesn’t love artisan chocolate? It’s special because the flavors linger.”

She continues: “Chocolate makes us all happy, because it releases endorphins. They give us joy. And you feel a sense of pleasure in the moment, even while you’re looking at the chocolate because we also eat with our eyes.”

She says it’s a feeling everyone should have every day, which is why chocolate “is a very important part of our food group.”

So yes, Christopher eats chocolate every day.
She specializes in ganache (a thick, glossy mixture of chocolate and cream) and caramel chocolates. “We like to add new chocolates into our product line all the time,

so we’re constantly creating and coming up with new ideas,” she continues. “Because we’re a French chocolate shop, we like to focus on those chocolates that are part of the French tradition.”
Ooh la la.

New right now are Dubai Bars, along with Dubai Bites. Think Dubai, as in the United Arab Emirates. They’re considered “a unique taste of luxury” – and are a viral sensation. They’re made with dark chocolate, pistachio paste and shredded pastry dough called kataifi.

There are Florentines. Almost like a French cookie, or a wafer that’s thinner than bark. Patricia’s offers a citrus version as well as a berry version.

There’s Fortunato No. 4, a limited type of chocolate thought to be extinct but re-discovered in recent years in the Peruvian Andes. It’s the rarest cacao in the world and “the mother of all other varieties.” Patricia’s offers two ingots in a tasting sampler, or 10 ingots in an elegant gold-lined box.

The display case is filled with tray after tray of different squares of ganache and caramel, each more intriguing than the last. Flavors include cherry, blueberry, coffee, bleu cheese, coconut, honey, lemon, …. Many are decorated with hearts or lighthouses or the outline of Michigan, with both peninsulas. Some have curvy lines that look like fine art.

There are chocolate-coated marshmallow snowmen, chocolate-coated popcorn called popped nosh, chocolate-coated orange and lemon peels called Citronettes. Annie’s fruit gummies are “snuggled” in chocolate.

Vintners Choice chocolates, in a dozen flavors, pair perfectly with wines. Some shortbread cookies have chocolate, some don’t.

A portion of each sale of Dr. Stork’s Happy Hive Honey Chocolate is donated to a non-profit that supports young adults transitioning out of foster care. A portion of each R.E.A.D. chocolate bar supports tutoring for adults to help improve their literacy skills.

We pride ourselves on making things from scratch,” Christopher said, with as many locally sourced products as possible. “And our packaging.”

The French-inspired shop is small, with crystal chandeliers and bistro tables and Eiffel Tower dishtowels. There are only a handful of employees; they include pastry chefs. You’ll often see them just beyond the public’s shopping space, drizzling or weighing or packaging. The whole building smells magnificent, especially during winter Fridays and Saturdays when ready-to-drink hot chocolate is available.

The powder is available to take home; directions call for milk or maybe even water. Christopher says the shop makes it with whole milk from Country Dairy, available at local grocery stores. And a little Half & Half.

Christopher began thinking about learning to making French pastries when she was a special education teacher, and then a school psychologist.

Five years before retiring, she began making after-retirement plans. She liked the idea of becoming a pastry chef, but the programs were at least six months long. Since she was still working in education, she couldn’t be away from school for such a long time.

So she took a few guest chef classes at a French pastry school in Chicago, and she studied at a chocolate academy in Montreal. “I didn’t know I could be a chocolatier,” she said.

Her chocolate shop opened in 2006, two years before her school retirement. Patricia’s offers custom chocolate gifts with your logo, branding, special design. They’re popular for weddings, graduations, anniversaries, reunions, corporate gifting.
Patricia’s Chocolate

126 Washington Ave.
Grand Haven, MI 49417
Patricia’s Chocolate Shop in Grand Haven, MI | Chocolate Store
Mon-Thurs: 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m.