vip in the city

Hot chocolate weather

The City Bakery, which opened on West 18th Street in 1990 and entered the pop culture pantheon with the Season 5 “Critical Condition” episode of “Sex and the City,” has been credited with introducing the city’s first designer hot chocolate. The über-rich, molten concoction — available by the cup ($4.50) or the shot ($2)… add another 50¢ for a homemade marshmallow — is made from a combination of milk, cream, and mostly European melted bar chocolate. No powdered cocoa here: it’s the drink that eats like a meal. The gourmet recipe has been named consistently among the city’s best — earning “four stars” from New York magazine and a mention in the recent New York Times piece on the city’s hot chocolate fetish.

During the entire month of February, as it had for the past 16 years, City Bakery held its own Hot Chocolate Festival, with a different flavored hot chocolate offered daily, in addition to the bakery’s signature blend.

Today’s flavor was “Darkest Dark Hot Chocolate.” Other offerings have ranged from the standard to the intriguing/pause-inducing, including Caramel, Cinnamon, Vanilla Bean, Ginger, Mango Tea, Banana Peel, Tropical, Lemon Licorice and Beer. There’s also a Chili Pepper — though for that flavor combination I like the new-to-my-neighborhood Jacques Torres’ “Wicked” hot chocolate, spiced with allspice, cinnamon, and ground ancho and chipotle chili peppers.

Then on to Aspen on 22nd Street for the Grand Marnier Après-Ski event.

I couldn’t have envisioned a more apropos venue than this Flatiron district restaurant-lounge cum retro ski lodge. Snowy forest photomurals — check! Lucite deer heads and white porcelain antlers mounted on wood paneling — double check! Central fire pit — you know it! Sexy snow bunnies wandered among the guests as a fake snow/foam machine whirred in the corner. I noticed bison sliders being passed around on trays, but in the spirit of après-ski, I made my way to the back bar where steaming cups of Grand Marnier-spiked hot chocolate were being ladled out.

As the boozy warmth spread through me, I wondered how well Aspen’s winter wonderland theme works the rest of the year.

Tags: Aspen, City Bakery, Grand Marnier, hot chocolate, ski