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Artisan Confections - Chocolatier Jason Andelman in Clarendon and Mosaic District


Andelman

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I love the new space. It looks great. The only tiny suggestion I would make is to have some kind of description on display of what is in each kind of candy. That information was available in the old location, as I recall, and I had a bit of a fumble going into the new store to order chocolates while not remembering what was in what. I had looked at the website beforehand but hadn't written down the information. (I needed to mail order chocolates for someone who will only eat dark chocolate.) The employee I dealt with was wonderful about getting the information for me, but having it right out on display is pretty helpful.

Good luck with the new shop!

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I love the new space. It looks great. The only tiny suggestion I would make is to have some kind of description on display of what is in each kind of candy. That information was available in the old location, as I recall, and I had a bit of a fumble going into the new store to order chocolates while not remembering what was in what. I had looked at the website beforehand but hadn't written down the information. (I needed to mail order chocolates for someone who will only eat dark chocolate.) The employee I dealt with was wonderful about getting the information for me, but having it right out on display is pretty helpful.

Good luck with the new shop!

Funny. We actually had a sign up with all of the descriptions for the first few weeks. Honestly, nobody ever looked at it, so we changed it out with a sign about shipping, classes, etc... Maybe we will have to find room for both signs. Thanks for the heads up.

-J

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Funny. We actually had a sign up with all of the descriptions for the first few weeks. Honestly, nobody ever looked at it, so we changed it out with a sign about shipping, classes, etc... Maybe we will have to find room for both signs. Thanks for the heads up.

-J

Sounds like you can't win on this one :angry:. At least, if there's something posted, anyone who asks can be directed to it, and it saves the store employees the work of digging out the information.
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In addition to a newly-chic website design and lovely space, a sibling has arrived in companion to the already tasty fleur-de-sel caramels: pecan caramels for $10. Although my tastes leaned toward the former, the latter had big pieces of chopped pecans in it. I did also indulge in a really great piece of coconut caramel too.

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(Chocolate-covered pretzels.)

It's hard to resist stopping in almost everyday, being a 7 minute walk from here now

Try one of their chocolate covered marshmallow hearts next time. A modestly priced treat that's big enough to share (if you're my big hearted 6 yr old).

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Try one of their chocolate covered marshmallow hearts next time. A modestly priced treat that's big enough to share (if you're my big hearted 6 yr old).

Thanks. We try. BTW, those marshmallow hearts will be available the end of this week along with various other V-Day goodies. (Salted Butter Caramel Hearts, Cassis-Rose bon-bons, and a couple other things.)

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It's official. I now spend more money on Jason's chocolates than I spent on coke in the '80's, Batard-Montrachet in the '90's, and emergency generators and Roquefort in the '00's.

And guess what? They're even better at getting me laid.

I am glad I can be of assistance. I feel like a drug dealer and pimp all rolled up into one.

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Although the much-controversial salted caramel bunnies were sold out, equally good were the cherry caramel. Cherry-juicy and caramel-y blended together to coat your throat with chocolate goodness. Thanks to Marissa for hanging out on Easter there!!

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Hello. My name is goodeats. And I am addicted to bittersweet bark with candied ginger (and Chinese food too).

A box of $5 yields various sizes of bittersweet chocolate with bits of candied ginger infused. There is also a cherry-laced one. GO!

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BIG,BIG CHOCOLATE SALE THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY (7/30-7/31)!

As some of you might know, for the last 8 months I have been heavily training for a climb of Mt Rainer (that glaciated peak out near Seattle, not the MD suburb). Well, after hundreds and hundreds of hours at the gym, miles and miles of training hikes, and 2 practice climbs (Mt Washington in the winter and Mt Whitney in June), the big day is finally upon me. I head out to Seattle this Monday for the the big daddy (with an extended stay in the Pacific NW after the climb).

What does this have to do with chocolate? Well, we are going to be closing the shop for 1 week (from 8/1-8/9) and would like to empty out all of our remaining inventory. So, on Friday and Saturday everything(well almost everything) in the shop will be discounted 30%. Of course, supplies will be limited and when we are out, well, we're out. The discount is not valid for bulk chocolate, classes, or gift certificates. Also, it can not be combined with any other offer (Groupon, etc...). Please stop by if you are in the hood to get some great deals on our products. We are open from 11-7 both days. Directions and other info can be found on our website at www.artisanconfections.com.

Best,

Jason

PS: please feel free to move this to another forum if necessary

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So...any reason to come by tomorrow morning, or did the DR faithful ransack the shop today?

My +1 went today and I understand that Jason said, "WOW, this is like Wal-Mart on Black Friday!" I am grateful that she snagged some boxes. My soft belly, not so grateful, but whatever.

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So...any reason to come by tomorrow morning, or did the DR faithful ransack the shop today?

Don't really know about the DR.com faithful, but the Artisan Confections faithful were out in full-force today. Feel free to stop by tomorrow, but we really don't have a whole lot left. I imagine we will be sold out of pretty much everything by the end of the day. My plan worked. :)

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Don't really know about the DR.com faithful, but the Artisan Confections faithful were out in full-force today. Feel free to stop by tomorrow, but we really don't have a whole lot left. I imagine we will be sold out of pretty much everything by the end of the day. My plan worked. :)

I'm sad for me, because you sold out of the caramels before we could get any, but happy for you all that you're officially a "standing in line anxiously awaiting opening" kind of place. Good plan!

Have a great climb :D

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Stopped by last night on the way to the American Flatbread dinner. I had a pineapple passionfruit truffle right from the counter that was really good. The flavor was just awesome and went so well with the chocolate. Picked up some packages of goodies for the road, my Hubby working late that evening was very happy.

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I was in the neighborhood last week and picked up some chocolates as a surprise for my husband: Tahitian vanilla bean, cherry caramel, and fleur de sel caramel. I tested the vanilla in the store and it was wonderful. I snuck one of the fleur de del caramels out of the package at home. I don't know if I've been found out yet, but it was worth it, in any case :) . Haven't tried the cherry caramels, but that was what my husband tried first, and he loved it.

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I really loved the bittersweet bark that I bought with crystalized ginger, that is one of my favorite flavor combinations. Hubby loved the peanut butter bar, and my caramel bar was just great. But seriously that Passionfruit truffle is out of this world good. Will be back for some stocking stuffers!

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At 5:30 a.m. on September 16th, Kelly Holland and Jason Andelman embarked on Crooked Trail 100: their joint venture to hike 100 miles through Shenandoah National Park over the course of just one weekend. At 10:45 p.m. on September 18th, Kelly and Jason achieved their goal.

To help Shenandoah National Park Trust launch its new hiking club, the Hundred Mile Club, which challenges members to walk 100 miles in our national park and raise or pledge $1/mile or more.... Kelly and Jason challenged themselves to compress their hike into one weekend--and raise $5,000 for the Trust.

Congratulations, Jason! What an impressive achievement!

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I absolutely love Artisan Confections, I have been telling Hubby how much I love it so he goes there in the future to get my chocolates. I am such a big chocaholic, but am fairly particular and Artisan Confections just suits my tastes really well. Although I always seem to miss them when I am over that way I am either too early, too late, or on the wrong day of the week!

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Am resisting the urge to eat all the chocolate I bought all at once... They had some tasty new flavors when I stopped in last night. Also FYI from their FB:

Don't forget about our big open house tomorrow (Saturday 11/19) from 11-5. We will be tasting a bunch of our new flavors and almost everything in the shop will be 15% off all day long! Hope to see you there...

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They have quite a lot of turnover in the collection! Ancho chile and earl grey are back, and some of the new stunners include apple calvados and orange clove (very festive). The new domes are honey thyme and raspberry caramels, but the precious gold domes are still the crackalicious salted butter caramel. Don't forget to place your holiday orders early! The place is hopping busy and I think it helps them (and us!) out.

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We had a couple of last minute cancellations for our chocolate making class this Sunday (4/15) at 3 PM. If anyone is interested, please give me a call at 703-524-0007 ASAP. The class is normally $75, but we are discounting it down to $60 in order to fill the spots. It is a lot of fun and you go home with a bunch of chocolate. A great way to spend 2 hours on a hot, Sunday afternoon.

Thanks,

Jason

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One of the new flavors is divine a buttered scotch. It's sort of a cross between the salted caramel and the Elijah Craig bourbon, get them while you can!!!

Little man scarfed down the salted butterscotch, pecan caramel (half - shared with me!), and pistachio honey asap on Saturday. We didn't even make it out of the store with them! I thoroughly enjoyed the heart-shaped bailey's irish cream.

Great taste, Sundae in the Park!

*Small hint: For those of us who wants to wolf down a few pieces in the store, maybe Jason can have some cupcake liners handy to put them in? Otherwise, I feel like I'm wasting bags.

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Hey all-

Well, it was a long time coming, but this week we are opening our 2nd retail location in the new Mosaic District (Merrifleid, VA)!

The new shop is small (only 625 sq ft) and will be retail only and all production will still take place at our Arlington location. I'm really stoked about design the new space---I hope you all like it. We also have a bunch of new bon-bon flavors,new products, and new packaging as well.

Anyway, we are going to be having a soft opening tomorrow night from 6-9 PM for Fashion Night at the Mosaic District. There will be some tasting going on and all purchases will be discounted 15%. Please stop by if you are in the hood. All of the retail will be open and most are offering discounts for the evening.

However, the big Grand Opening event will be this Saturday 11/17 from 11 AM-4PM. We will have lots of samples, free hot chocolate and brownies, and raffle for a chocolate tasting. Purcahses will be discounted as well. It should be a lot of fun and we'd love to see you all there.

The Mosaic District is still getting going, but there is a lot of small (and large) retail already open. Once all the restaurants open up (most likely in the spring) it should be a real desination spot.

If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a PM or post on this thread.

Also, feel free to move this to the events page if you want.

Loction is here:

http://mosaicdistrict.com/find-visit

We are right across from the Angelika theater. Just look for our orange awning. We are on the same street (Strawberry Lane) as Sweetgreen and Freshbikes.

Best,

Jason

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Thanks. Yeah---we are for the development of the Mosaic District. I was hoping there would be more of the dining establishments open by now, but everyone (myself included) had a lot of delays with Fairfax County building permits. On my block we have Taylor and Cava Grill (probably opening in the late winter at this point) and Sweetgreen (they've been open for a couple of weeks). Dolcezza will probably be opening in the winter as well (after the holidays). Not sure of the status of the other restaurants. The MOM's Organic Market is excellent and we are right next to Four Sisters.

Anyway, hopefully some of you can make it by on Saturday for the Grand Opening event. If not, we are actually open now and will be open (7 days week) from here on out (except holidays, of course).

In addition, for you Arlington folks. We will be participating in Small Business Saturday on 11/24 with all items in the Arlington store 10% off and extended samples and tasting as well.

Thanks!

-jason

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Thanks. Yeah---we are for the development of the Mosaic District. I was hoping there would be more of the dining establishments open by now, but everyone (myself included) had a lot of delays with Fairfax County building permits. On my block we have Taylor and Cava Grill (probably opening in the late winter at this point) and Sweetgreen (they've been open for a couple of weeks). Dolcezza will probably be opening in the winter as well (after the holidays). Not sure of the status of the other restaurants. The MOM's Organic Market is excellent and we are right next to Four Sisters.

Anyway, hopefully some of you can make it by on Saturday for the Grand Opening event. If not, we are actually open now and will be open (7 days week) from here on out (except holidays, of course).

In addition, for you Arlington folks. We will be participating in Small Business Saturday on 11/24 with all items in the Arlington store 10% off and extended samples and tasting as well.

Thanks!

-jason

Thanks for the info. I have been trying to be really good and not eat all my goodies from my last stop in too fast. I love the dark chocolate disks that you have in the bag, they make the perfect afternoon, "I need a bite of chocolate," craving I have.

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Stopped by last night. Nice, clean space, but the reverb in there is deafening. Soon, when there will be more than one person talking at a time in the store, it'll be obnoxious (and noxious). Please, please, please, if for no one else but your employee, deaden that noise somehow! The butterscotch bon bon was terrific. It tasted like a much improved and chocolatey version of a butter rum Life Saver. The bourbon bon bon was nice, although my palate would've enjoyed more bourbon, but I can see how that flavor would need to be tempered for mass marketing. I'm saving my malted milk bon bon for tonight!

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Stopped by last night. Nice, clean space, but the reverb in there is deafening. Soon, when there will be more than one person talking at a time in the store, it'll be obnoxious (and noxious). Please, please, please, if for no one else but your employee, deaden that noise somehow! The butterscotch bon bon was terrific. It tasted like a much improved and chocolatey version of a butter rum Life Saver. The bourbon bon bon was nice, although my palate would've enjoyed more bourbon, but I can see how that flavor would need to be tempered for mass marketing. I'm saving my malted mild bon bon for tonight!

Thanks for the feedback. Not sure what can really be done about the sound. It is such a small space and unlike a restaurant, there usually are not a bunch of people in here at once (and most people are in-and-out in a short period of time). Are you sure it wasn't guitar reverb from the soundsystem? :) I do like me some rock.

I haven't really noticed it as a problem today. We'll haveto see what it is like tomorrow.

Yeah, sometimes we want to up the booze content on the bon-bons, but that often tends to overpower the chocolate. What I like to do is eat the bourbon bon-bon, and then take a shot of Four Roses right after. :)

Thanks for coming by!

-jason

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I, too, enjoyed the grand opening. I was there when it opened and was happy to see so many there. I picked up some bark, some callets (or whatever you call the pure chocolate), and some bon-bons.

And now I am waiting for the website because I can only remember what three of the four bonbons I bought were. I got vanilla, Earl Grey, butterscotch and...i just can't remember!

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Thanks to all those that came out to the Grand Opening on Saturday. It was pretty damn busy the entire day and luckily we didn't run out of anything (samples yes, chocolates no). Good to see a lot of old faces mixed in with the plethora of new faces.

Matt- Sorry the new and improved website is not up yet, that was the one of the many things that still needs to get completed and we are hoping to have a site up with the next 10 days or so. If you describe the pattern on the chocolate, I can tell you what the flavor is. :)

Now we march into the holiday season! I look forward to my next day off, which will be on December 25th...... (well I guess I will have this Thursday off, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a 'relaxing' day...)

Hope to see you all this season (either in Arlington or Mosaic).

Cheers,

Jason

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Welcome to America. :lol:

Haha. I mean, I love sharing what we make, but it was a serious feeding frenzy over there on Saturday. We had of four us working , and basically all I was doing the entire day was replenishing the sample plates. I think we ended up going through 3 gallons of hot chocolate. And I will say, that there is no place more "America" than Fairfax County, Va.! (I grew up there, so that's okay for me to say, right? :))

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If you describe the pattern on the chocolate, I can tell you what the flavor is. :)

The one I'm not sure of has orange and green leaves as the pattern.

Also: after finally trying one of the butterscotches, I think Earl Grey might have a competitor for my favorite.

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The one I'm not sure of has orange and green leaves as the pattern.

Also: after finally trying one of the butterscotches, I think Earl Grey might have a competitor for my favorite.

Green and orange leaves would be Orange-Clove (61% ganache infused with orange zest and clove)

Yeah, I am a big fan of the Earl Grey Tea as well. We use the very fruity 64% Manjari in the particular bon-bon, which seems to work with the Earl Grey.

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