Leonidas: The Best Chocolate from Belgium

I might just be saying that they're the best because I'm completely infatuated with these chocolates, but notice that I'm going back to the fancier food and I will as well talk about my dinner tomorrow when I dine at Jean-Georges for my birthday. After I talk a bit about these chocolates, I'm going to tell you a "Things I Do For Food" story; though it won't be directly about me, but my uncle and his excellent food finding skills. So let's talk a little about these small wonders.

Leonidas is a Belgian based chocolate company, and there is no chocolate being made in this country by this company. However, there is a store on Madison Avenue that is selling chocolate that is being delivered weekly if not bi-weekly. All of the chocolate is safely shipped and kept fresh from Brussels to New York. There are many different kinds of chocolate being sold which includes chocolate bars and many different assortments of truffles. Now that you know a bit about these chocolates, I'll tell you my story.

I mentioned before that it's around the time of my birthday. It already passed but because of my trip to Texas, we didn't get much of a chance to celebrate the actual day with family. So, this passed weekend we celebrated at our bay house and tomorrow I'll be going to Jean-Georges with my grandparents for mine and my grandmother's birthday. My uncle (who will remain unnamed) was shopping for a gift for me and he thought of chocolate. In addition, he knows that raspberry is my favorite fruit, especially with chocolate. He took that into account while shopping.

He thought of going to the Leonidas store since he works in Manhattan. Once he got there he looked all over for the assortment with the feature on raspberry truffles. He couldn't find them, however. He went over to the counter and asked if they had them in stock and they replied no. That's where his bluffing skills came into play. My uncle then replied with "well, if you don't have it, I'm just going to have to go somewhere else." That pressured them to go and look in the back.

After going into the back to review their stock and check for the raspberry assortment, they found it and as well found out that they came in a new shipment that hour. So, I have to thank him for his persistence and luckily he didn't have to work too hard to find my gift. He gave me a great gift of some of the best chocolate I've ever tasted in a small box!