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Artfully Chocolate - Kingsbury Confections (Used to Include Cocoa Gallery) - Bistro and Wine Bar in Two Alexandria Locations


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I just got an email from the Cocoa Gallery which appears to be a new venture joining Kingsbury Chocolates (Old Town Alexandria) and Artfully Chocolate (Del Ray). They have chocolates, a patisserie and a cafe. The website says that they serve all sorts of beverages for your chocolate enjoyment including sparkling wines and coffee drinks.

Anyone checked this place out yet? Sounds wonderful for a cold rainy day.

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Anyone checked this place out yet? Sounds wonderful for a cold rainy day.

I stopped by last night, but they didn't have their specialty hot chocolate machinery ready yet. They hope to have it good to go next week, but with these sort of things you never know. The hot chocolate I tried last night was very good though.

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I stopped by last night, but they didn't have their specialty hot chocolate machinery ready yet. They hope to have it good to go next week, but with these sort of things you never know. The hot chocolate I tried last night was very good though.

Thanks! I'll put off my visit til next weekend.

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I forgot to mention, the info on the website is incorrect. No liquor license so no alcohol. The chocolates looked really good, but I didn't try any.

No license for now or not ever? Hmm. I thought it was a really cool thing to have sparkling wines and coffees with your chocolate.

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No license for now or not ever? Hmm. I thought it was a really cool thing to have sparkling wines and coffees with your chocolate.
Eventually they're hoping for one. I imagine it may take a rather long time to get one, but I doubt they'll get too much grief from their ANC folks or whoever it is. I think it's particularly hard because that address didn't have a license before? I'm not sure how all that stuff works.
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Eventually they're hoping for one. I imagine it may take a rather long time to get one, but I doubt they'll get too much grief from their ANC folks or whoever it is. I think it's particularly hard because that address didn't have a license before? I'm not sure how all that stuff works.

I visited on Sunday and apparenty the liquor license is something they may work on in the future but apparently it's a big hassle. They'll also expand their cafe menu in the future, but for now they have sweet and savory pastries from Buzz Bakery.

The espresso machine is now working.

They have 8 speacialy hot cocoa "Diva Drinks" which are fantastic. Mr. MV and I tried the Charro with semi- sweet chocolate and caramel sauce, and the Lucy, with chipotle infused semi-sweet hot chocolate, whipped cream and a hit of cinnamon. Both were terrific.

This is a fantastic cafe, very friendly staff, lots of art and orchids too.

They have a Chocolate of the Month club, and will be holding chocolate making classes after they move truffle production from Alexandria to DC (January).

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We went here over the weekend, and although they're still working service kinks out (we got the wrong drinks the first time around), it's a nice addition to the neighborhood. I had the Lucy, as described earlier, chipotle-infused semi-sweet hot chocolate topped with whipped cream that had a nice spice to it (but not "really really spicy", as the server said in attempting to dissuade me from ordering it!). He had the Judy - I don't remember the description except that it was milk chocolate, rainbow M&Ms, and possibly some caramel and whipped cream? Far too sweet for me, but he didn't seem to mind it. We'll probably be back soon to try other concoctions.

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I was shopping at a small gourmet deli across the street from Eastern Market last week and bought a Kingsbury chocolate, some sort of dark chocolate espresso concoction (one of those impulse ohhh that looks tasty I'll buy one moments)...wrong it was dense and flavorless. didn't even finish it.

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It looks like another location of the Cocoa Gallery will be opening in Del Ray in the space vacated by Sundae Times (across from Evening Star). I find it interesting (and a bit frustrating) that the only place on the website that lists the location is under the contact info - nothing on the Cafe page or on the main framework of the page.

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We checked it out for dinner.  Crepes are small, I recommend getting two,  I had the Seafood Crepe (YUMMY) and he had the Chicken a'la Orange, I also had soup and he had caprice salad.  Eric was very open to comments.  Sturdy paper plateware makes it easy to take outside if you wish, small bistro tables are beautiful and you are surrounded by the wonderful artwork of Eric.  And save room for the dessert crepes.  I think they are doing a good job starting small and making improvements.  And I just read today they are going to start doing Sunday breakfast brunch.  This is a great location for those in the area, but for anyone coming from outside parking can be a pain.

We did have some minor suggestions for improvement (Soup needed more flavor, salad needed more basil) and I admit I've become friends with the owners after stopping for chocolates since they opened here, so you might need to take my review with a grain of salt.  But we will be back and I'm looking forward to seeing this improve with time.

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