Here in Burbank where I live, there is a depressing shortage of good hot chocolates. Sure, every diner on every street serves one in a small coffee cup, topped with whipped cream, but we all know that's just the powder mix. And cafes and coffee shops have hot chocolate, of course, but I've rarely found these to be up to the quality level I expect.
Earlier this year, Commissary opened right across the street from the Burbank Studios (formerly NBC). We had heard the coffee there was worth stopping in for, so one Saturday, my fiance, her sister, and I stopped by. And that leads us to this, my first review of a hot chocolate from a cafe or restaurant.
There was no hot chocolates listed on the menu, so I ordered a water with a pastry. As they were preparing the coffee my fiance and her sister had ordered, my fiance asked if they made hot chocolate. It turns out they do.
They told us they make a ganache with Tcho chocolate and use that with steamed milk to make it. Great! This is what I had been looking for here in my hometown! A great quality hot chocolate, using an amazing artisan chocolate like Tcho! Why wasn't it on the menu?
The verdict? Not bad, but not what I had hoped, either. The regular hot chocolate was tasty, but very mild. It tasted more of steamed milk than of hot chocolate. The cinnamon one had the same small amount of chocolate flavor but also very strong cinnamon. Cinnamon was definitely the dominant flavor, where as I thought the chocolate should have been.
I'm going to go again. Maybe the guy making it that day was a little off, or maybe I can even ask them to crank it up a notch for me. I'd love it if they really let the Tcho chocolate come through and be the main flavor. They're definitely on the right path, using the right stuff. They just need to amp it up a bit.
Los Angeles certainly has plenty of amazing hot chocolates, and I plan to review many more. In fact, sometime soon I'd like to do a post on my top ten in the city. Anyone have any recommendations? As for Burbank, I'm still searching. Have you tried the hot chocolate at Commissary? What did you think?
UPDATE 7/24/14 - I stopped in again, and this time when I ordered the regular hot chocolate, I asked them to make it double strong. He asked me "Double the chocolate?" to which I replied, naturally, "Yes, please!". Much better! This was the hot chocolate I had been hoping for. Very chocolatey and rich, you could really taste the quality chocolate this time. I'm not sure what kind of milk they used as the base, but it was a bit thin. That's a minor critique, though. If you go, order a double strong hot chocolate.
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