by Shandea Williams
Daily Lobo
Any restaurant with the words chocolate and bakery in the title is bound to be delicious.
Luckily for me, I stumbled across the Chocolate CafÇ and Bakery. It was hiding near a Taco Bell and a karate studio on Monte Vista Boulevard. It opened in 2001 for breakfast and lunch. Recently, the cafe added dinner to its menu.
If chocolate is your thing - for dessert or in a meal - then this is the perfect spot to satisfy your
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
cravings.
I entered the front door as a starving college student ready to stuff my face with all it had to offer. I plopped down in a nearby booth and checked out the menu. The restaurant had a huge dessert menu in the front that included the famous Heart of Darkness and Chocolate Jones for $3.95 each. I ordered something off the dessert menu first. After that, I searched the lunch and breakfast menus for something tasty.
On the breakfast side, there was the chocolate raspberry pancake for $4.95 - made with a semisweet chocolate ganache; it seemed like more than a treat.
For someone interested in something with New Mexican flair, is also has green chile biscuits with green chile sausage gravy for $4.35. I suggest the breakfast burrito for someone looking for a lot of food for a low price. It costs about $5 and includes potatoes, cheese, chile, eggs and your choice of meat.
I had my eyes on the lunch sandwiches. The bread is freshly baked at the cafe every morning. The cafe offers French, wheat and
herb bread.
Although it took me awhile to narrow down my choices for a sandwich, I chose the Albuturkey, which has Swiss cheese, turkey, avocado, tomatoes and green chile. All of that was piled on a large baguette for about $5. Sides come separately for the menu items, but you can tack on a side of homestyle fries for $2.19 or potato chips for 60 cents. If you are a vegetarian, the California wrap is quite delicious.
The cafe's baker, Gary Cline, has been performing his magic in the kitchen for more than 30 years. Cline said he uses European-style recipes that use sugar to enhance the dessert. He said he is a strong believer that sugar is an ingredient, not a flavor.
Chocolate CafÇ and Bakery
2933 Monte Vista Blvd. N.E.
Monday through Friday
7 a.m.-8 p.m.
Saturday
11:30 a.m.-2 p.m, 5-9:45 p.m.
Recommendations
Heart of Darkness
Chocolate Jones
Chocolate raspberry pancake
Green chile biscuits
Breakfast burrito
Albuturkey sandwich
California wrap
Harrison Brooks / Daily Lobo
Gary Cline stands behind his creation, the Heart of Darkness chocolate dessert, at the Chocolate CafÇ and Bakery on Monte Vista Boulevard.
