Yesterday I went to a chocolate tasting. Now, I know the very last thing anybody in the world wants to hear is someone complaining about a chocolate tasting, so I will say only: if you’re thinking about getting into the chocolate business and think you can win by coming up with the most wacky original flavor of truffle, you’re wrong. Thanks.

On the other hand, if you’re a chocolate maverick working on the island of São Tomé, off the west coast of Africa, and your mission in life is to grow the world’s best cacao and make it into unique chocolate bars, you have my attention. That’s what Claudio Corallo is doing, and his products are available in the Seattle area.

The vast majority of chocolate (the main exception is Mexican chocolate) is conched, which mainly consists of bringing the chocolate to a high temperature to drive off particular volatile compounds and smooth the texture of the chocolate. Corallo is opposed to conching. As a result, the consistency of his bars is somewhere between a Valrhona bar and a crunchy roasted cacao nib. He also markets whole roasted cacao beans, which are crunchy and earthy. His 80 percent bar has crackly sugar crystals. Corallo chocolate is a textural experience.

This is the most exciting chocolate I’ve tasted in years. There doesn’t seem to be a list of retail outlets on their web site, but it’s available in Seattle at Chocolopolis on Queen Anne and at Delaurenti. If you live in the US, you can order online from the web site. My top pick is the 80 percent bar.

You can learn a lot more about Corallo in Mort Rosenblum’s book Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light.

Today on Gourmet.com:

Dancing Fish Flakes

> Recently, at my local Japanese noodle shop, I ordered stir-fried udon noodles topped with hanakatsuo, and someone at my table actually said, “Oh my God, what is that?”

If you’re thinking about reading Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland, two things:

1. I recommend it.

2. The funniest part in the book involves a restaurant critic.

I got caught using my Safeway club card at QFC yesterday. While I was checking out on the self-check machine, the supervising checker handed me a new QFC card and said, “Here, take one of these. Next time *you won’t have to use your Safeway card.”*

This got me thinking. You know how manufacturers pay supermarkets for shelf space? I am going to charge the supermarkets for wallet space. This goes out to any supermarket chain in the nation: I will carry your club card in my wallet for the extremely reasonable price of $25/month. Call me.

On Serious Eats:

The Best Kid-Friendly Restaurants?

> My reaction to this list is basically selfish: I don’t like most of these restaurants, so why would I take my kid to one as long as we can come up with a restaurant that we’ll both like? Then again, I know millions of adults do like these restaurants, so maybe they’ll find this useful, if they can slog through Parents’ website.

On Gourmet.com:

First Taste: The Corson Building

> We all fought over a mound of intensely flavored roasted scallions and baby carrots, and my single favorite flavor of the evening was the pancetta-spiked fava beans accompanying the roast beef. Don’t be timid about asking your neighbor to pass you seconds of those—you’ve just met your tablemates, after all, and what do you care if they think you’re a fava glutton?