Philadelphia: Naked Chocolate CafÃ©

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Naked Chocolate Café
September 4, 2006

By: Ken Alan - kalan@aroundphilly.com

There's no getting around it: food is to love as chocolate is to sex. How else to explain the titillating name Naked Chocolate Café, Philadelphia's toothsome new dessert lounge and chocolate boutique?

The cotton-candy pink and caramel brown (naturally) 32-seat café along the 1300 block of Walnut Street is a sugarplum of a location, within one block of popular East-of-Broad-Street restaurants El Vez, Lolita and Vintage Restaurant and Wine Bar. This locale was just what Naked owners Tom Block (co-founder of Thomas Sweet Ice Cream and Chocolates in Princeton, New Brunswick and Georgetown) and his 24-year-old daughter, Sara, set out to find. So far things have been sweet.

Vast display counters gleam with a delicious array of ever-changing chocolates and truffles, dipped fruits and macaroons, mini-cheesecakes, homemade tortes and crème brulee. Chocolates infused with thyme, chili powder or lavender will make you swoon. The pot de crème sampler may send you into convulsions, not unlike that unforgettable restaurant scene in When Harry Met Sally. If you're up for sharing, try the Chocoholic Platter, an assortment of truffles, chocolate-dipped fruits and baked treats that serves up to four people.

Then there's the dessert lounge, a cozy enclave to partake in a tasty blend of beverages. Enjoy "drinking chocolates" - hot or frozen drinks for one or two with flavors like Bittersweet (deep and dark), Aztec (with hints of nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves) and the Classic with milk and dark chocolate. Even the teas are dessert-inspired, like mint truffle and Mayan chocolate. Everything is available for take-out.

Don't think that the younger set is immune from the decadence served at Naked Chocolate Cafe. A recent visit showed me almost as many cherubic faces - mostly smeared with real butterscotch pudding - as there were grown-ups, with some in the same sticky condition. Yet it was the couples at the cafe, huddling over classic hot fudge sundaes, which made me take note.

I couldn't help but notice how they each wore the same enraptured expressions, like they just had great sex - by chocolate.

Mon. - Sat., 10am to 11pm; Sun., 11am - 9pm; Naked Chocolate Café, 1317 Walnut St., Philadelphia, 215.735.7310; www.nakedchocolatecafe.com

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