VACATION WITHOUT LEAVING HOME:
The Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival in San Francisco
By Erin Wild

All Rights Reserved, 2006(c)

Have you ever wanted to try Goat's Milk Ice Cream or Chocolate Biscotti? The 11th Annual Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival in San Francisco Sponsored by Project Open Hand gave me the perfect opportunity to do so. When I first arrived, the crowd was just beginning to congregate at the various tents, which offered such tantillising treats as ginger chocolate bon bons, fudge, salt water taffy, ice cream sundaes drenched in chocolate, chocolate biscotti, and goat's milk ice cream to name but a few of the samples given out during the annual festival. In order to try out the samples, I found my way to one of the half dozen or so tables where you could buy a ticket good for either 6 (for $10) or 15 (for $20) samples. I opted for the 6-sample ticket.

My first stop was Z. Cioccolato, which is located at 474 Columbus Ave in San Francisco. At their tent, the ladies were slicing fudge for sampling while the gents were passing out salt water taffy to the people waiting in line. The line was fairly long, but as I overheard two ladies standing behind me say "Isn't this what we are here for," I found myself nodding in agreement. I didn't mind waiting in line for 5 minutes to try a few awesomely delicious samples of fudge. Each person received two very thin pieces of two very different flavours. I opted for the tiger butter fudge and the pumpkin flavoured. The tiger butter was simple, sweet, and very traditional. The pumpkin was rich but not too rich. It brought back childhood memories of Halloween and Thanksgiving with the smell of autumn lingering over the San Francisco Bay. I was reminded that summer was slowly slipping away as I savoured the last bits of pumpkin fudge.

My next stop was La Tempestra, where I sampled a bit of chocolate biscotti. I am a big biscotti fan, but I am also a traditionalist. These biscotti were a bit overwhelming, and I don't think I would buy the chocolate flavoured biscotti. However, the texture was just right; just as biscotti should be.

I wove my way through the crowd and up the stairs where they were offering demonstrations by local and well-known Chefs. I happened to catch the last half of Chef Tony Gemignani's demonstration. Chef Tony is co-founder and owner of Pyzano's Pizzeria in Castro Valley. He was making a lemoncello with fried plantain dessert pizza. While he was making this pizza, he told the crowd his story of where he came up with the idea of making a dessert pizza: while he and his wife were trying to find the best canolli in San Francisco for their wedding, he decided he could make a pizza using the same idea. In fact, Chef Tony was a guest chef on Emeril Live, and according to his story, Emeril asked Chef Tony if he could use his idea. Of course, the answer was "You can do whatever you want."

I found my way to the booth which was offering the goat's milk ice cream. I stood in line, which was only about 5 people deep, handed my ticket card to one of the volunteers, and received my sample of deep chocolate ice cream. LaLoo's farm is located in Sonoma County. Their deep chocolate ice cream, although odd-sounding (coming from a goat, you say??), is very spoon-licking'ly delicious. It has the bite of goat's milk, but give it a few minutes, swirl it around in your mouth, savour the chocolaty goodness, and you will soon forget how "odd" it really is! I certainly know I will buy a pint or three the next time I am at the market.

My last and final stop was at Little Laura's Sweets' booth. The volunteers were sampling out deep chocolate cookies with a marshmallow and chocolate topping. I grew up in a household where cookies were our staple dessert and I am a big fan of cookies. I am also a big fan of marshmallows. But of course, I was here at the festival for the chocolate. And a chocolate cookie with marshmallow is what I got. It was decadent, sweet, and chocolaty. It was a nice way to end my sampling expedition as I knew it was time to stop and find the booth selling the bottled water considering I had a nice sugary chocolate buzz going on.

The day was slowly coming to a close as I looked off into the distance of the San Francisco Bay. I sat myself down near the music stage to rest my weary feet and rehydrate myself while waiting out the sugar buzz. Much to my surprise, a local band from Marin County was warming up onstage. I recognized the lead vocalist because he is also a bartender at one of the bars I sometimes visit in my home town. I had seen this band before, a number of times, where they had played Wednesday nights at the Fourth Street Tavern until recently. Buckaroo Bonet's Los Tres Borrachos is a funky, bluesy band who has roots here in Northern California but sounds and looks like they are from Tennessee. Lead by vocalist Buckaroo Bonet, they cover songs by such greats as Johnny Cash and Elvis. Their boot-scootin', foot tappin' music was a hit with the crowd because soon the seats were filling up and no one could keep their feet still.

After listening to some great tunes and watching the kids dancing circles around their parents, I decided it was time for me to return home. With the last remnants of chocolate day dreams dancing in my head and the echoes of funk-a-billy music playing in the background, I walked past Pier 39 and towards the ferry building. My chocolate cravings had been met and I was ready to catch the ferry back to Marin.