Savory Spice Shop and Chocolate Tour

My sister and I had a lovely little day in the city on Sunday. First, we headed over to Savory Spice Shop in Lincoln Square, which had just opened the day before. Owner David invited me to check it out and I'm glad I did. The entire store belongs on Pinterest - it's adorably homey and cute with every spice, salt, extract and exotic ingredient a gourmet foodie could ever want. Many and I spent some time checking out the wares and tasting our way through some amazing treats before making our purchases. I got some black garlic for a dip they were offering samples of, along with ingredients for a dill dip. Mandy picked up cinnamon sticks for an autumn party and we both got samples of a ghost chili curry that I am simultaneously terrified and excited to try. I signed up for the Chicago Food Swap meet next month, which will be hosted there. I can't wait to go back and fill up on a few items that I am sure I cannot live without.


We picked up a quick lunch across the street from the shop at Garcia's. I had a fish taco and an al pastor taco, both of which were delicious. Love me some tacos.

Then off we went to the Wrigley Building to meet up with our group for the main event. We snagged discount tickets to a chocolate tour of Chicago hosted by Great Food Tours months ago and have been waiting to cash in. First stop was Vosges, which is mostly known for its bacon-chocolate combos. We actually tried two truffles, one containing paprika and the other yams. Both we quite delicious and the yams were unexpectedly savory.

We then headed to Leonidas, a shop that only sells imported Belgium chocolates. The cases were beautifully bestowed with all sorts of specialties I couldn't pronounce. We tried two pieces here - a white chocolate encrusted milk chocolate nougat and the Great Alexander, which was dark chocolate encapsulating a salted caramel. That might have been my favorite item all day.

The next stop was the Goddess and the Grocer where we sampled a triple chocolate cookie and a peanut butter bar.  As a connoisseur of all things peanut butter, I felt like the bar was not nearly everything I expected. Same with the cookie.

Chocolate cupcake cheers!

Our final stop was More Cupcakes where we sampled the Valronha and the triple chocolate cupcake. My Valronha was the better of the pair - a chocolate cake with a chocolate pudding center and dark chocolate ganache. That said, the cake was a bit dry.

All said, it was a cool tour of the city that featured a few dessert places I wouldn't have otherwise visited. I did think the tour group was too large for some of the smaller boutique eateries, however.  But I love chocolate, and chocolate was delivered in spades.