The Tiffany’s of Chocolate

Chocolatebox Cafe in La Canada brings two lifelong friends together for what may be L.A.’s best. Chocolate. Ever.
by Lucinda Michele Knapp

Life is not a box of chocolates.

It is not always pleasantly surprising. It is not always engrossing. And it is not always sweet.

But life is made sweeter by some things, one of them being abiding friendship. And it’s one abiding, lifelong friendship that’s made Chocolatebox in sylvan little La Canada such a unique place and such a magical discovery.

Chocolatebox founders Zareh and Harmik met 41 years ago in an Iranian kindergarten and have remained fast friends ever since, going on to successful careers in the high-tech industry, becoming family guys and settling in the U.S. It seems an odd switch from their vast experience with things like fiber optics and systems development—to open up a mood-lit, Euro-style, delicate jewel of a candy shop in the foothills of Los Angeles. But just meeting the two men, now in their fifties—Zareh exuding a fatherly glow, exactly the sort to spoil you with too many sweets, and Harmik beaming with pride and passion—it all seems to make sense. These guys love their work, and their lifelong friendship has helped them build a business as coherent and brilliant as their friendship.

The little shop is an absolute confection unto itself, a Tiffany’s for the sweet tooths of the world—and because of the excellence of the chocolates (and gelato, and espresso, and baked goods), any Audrey Hepburn-wannabes who cruise by will know that their girlish figures will remain intact. The gourmet goods served up here with the delicacy of fine jewelry are of such high quality you can only eat two or three before feeling sated. And if you eat seven or twenty-three, well…er…at least you know it’s certified European organic.

They offer six basic tropes of chocolate, all hand-created in Belgium. It’s amazing to examine the ganaches—the sleekest of their offerings, with artist-designed crests atop each one in soft colors—and see that each is genuinely hand-done, little irregularities only making them more endearing. The whole place is endearing, actually. An independently-owned chocolatier with such high-flung ambitions seems a thing of absurd beauty in L.A., a mecca of regularized and identical Starbucks and shopping-mall See’s Candies. “Everything has become so similar and mass-produced,” says Harmik, brandishing a miniature espresso in a tiny ceramic cup. “We do not want people to come in and work here. We want them to come in and relax, like they do in Italy. You don’t see Italians working while they are at cafes. And that civilization has lasted much longer.”

This logic appeals to me. I sample the gelato. It’s real. Sorry, Pazzo Gelateria, but this stuff is better, and I should know, because I subsisted on a diet of gelato, gnocchi and espresso (and nothing else) for the month I lived in Italy after college. I never forgot the taste of real Italian gelato, and it’s hard to find in this town. The acid test is not the creamier, richer flavors like cioccolata or straciatella, but the fruit flavors, which are so hard to do without coming off either astringent or overly milky. The mango here hits the mark dead-on. I find out why: the men fly it over direct from Verona, one of Italy’s best cities for gelato, in humidity- and temperature-controlled airplanes. The chocolates arrive in similar swank style. I swoon.

(Now, if the BFF’s Zareh and Harmik chatted up the Silverlake Wine folks and the Cheese Store of Silverlake, and set up a little wine, cheese and chocolate tasting at, say, the Edendale Grill or at Little Radio, they’d immediately assume their rightful place as the darling of the foodie hipsters…I can only dream…)

Another appeal of this place is their departure from tried-and-boring chocolate flavors to spot-on, unusual and interesting combinations: green tea-bergamot, pear, rose, cinnamon, pistachio, mango, wild strawberry, violet, champagne, grappa, and the astounding chili pepper: flavors which feature throughout their ganaches, pralines, marzipans, and truffles. A violet marzipan is perfumed, not cloying, and vanishes without excess heaviness (marzipan can be oily, but Chocolatebox’s is not). White truffle-blueberry is a great surprise, the white chocolate earning, here, the right to be called chocolate—and not overly sweet, with a mouthwatering, fresh blueberry flavor lingering. The absolute signature taste of the night was the chili pepper truffle, which expanded on the palate with a slow whiz-bang of dual flavor developments: rich dark chocolate with its nutty and wine-whispered undertones, and the slow building warmth (but not too hot) of chili. I used to be one of those folks who’d frequent the hot-sauce shop at the Farmer’s Market on Third & Fairfax, and there—under the tutelage of an equally fiery boyfriend—I explored the nuances of hot peppers. A good chili flavor should not clobber you with heat: it should gently build, and an undertone of richness and smoky body should build. Chocolatebox’s chili pepper truffle pairs this with the velvety sweetness of a truffle, and it’s a match made in heaven.

They’ve got adorable Halloween chocolates for the kids, with holiday designs stenciled delicately onto them like lacy, spooky paintings. While I’m there, two families troop through, the kids’ eyes fixedly glazed onto the gloriously radiant candy cases.

But it’s the parents who seem to have the most fun, because this is a candy store with refinements adults can fall in love with. In line with their name, the to-go boxes for Chocolatebox’s candies are objets d’art themselves, one reminiscent of a ladies’ hat box, another fanning open jewelry-style with three tiers, creating a glorious multilevel arc of sweetness. Another grown-up offering: glorious Italian espresso. And sugarfree chocolate bars taste remarkably free of maltitol, with a nutty, rich mouth-feel.

So with that, hats off to the two best friends who created—through the well-oiled machinery of a lifelong friendship—this perfect jewel box of a chocolate shop. “Good friendships don’t die easily,” says Hamik. “If they’re good, they stay forever.”

The same’s not true of chocolate, though. With their lack of excess sugars, syrups, or preservatives, Chocolatebox’s chocolates have a very brief shelf life. So eat up—life may not be a box of chocolates, but you can always take a little grown-up time out, leave the laptop in the car (you’re in La Canada, it’s not gonna get stolen), and…eat one.

Or seven.

5 out of 5 sporks
Address: 714 Foothill Blvd., La Canada.
Phone: (818) 790-7918.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Price: $$$ (depending on volume; two or three chocolates won’t set you back at all)
Recommended dishes: chili pepper truffle, buttermilk caramel, ginger ganache, mango ganache, and really any and all of the chocolates, depending on your own tastes; Illy espresso; gelato.
Vibe: Euro-decadence with a papa’s refined pride.