I should really call this blog Katie Eats Cambridge. I can’t help it. I just happen to work well in this area.
On a normal Saturday or Sunday, I hit up my go to spots for food and beverage. Then at night, I find myself at one particular Starbucks in Harvard Square. I blog best when I’m around students. Being around people who are young and enthusiastic about following their dreams is a positive step for me. I’m hoping this environment only fuels my eagerness to be a better writer.
Despite my waistline’s desperate pleas, I frequent LA Burdicks quite often. I mean, it is right down the street… and I walk the whole 5 minutes to get there!
I was first introduced to LA Burdicks on a cold winter’s day in ’07, ’08, or ’09, depending on who you ask. In my version of the story, it was a very cold winter’s day in 2007. I was joined by co-Cooking Agent Ray, who insists he never went to LA Burdicks with me. I refuse to believe that.
And so my story goes that our frozen bodies made a mad dash for the beverages as soon as we arrived at the chocolate shop. The cups on display were teeny tiny and so we both ordered large dark hot chocolates.
Ok. This stuff is serious. It’s richer than Bill Gates serious. We downed the hot chocolate and the story ends with us both having very full, uncomfortable stomachs on the t-ride back to BU.
In Ray’s version of the story, it was a very cold winter’s day in 2006. He was joined by no one. He received an LA Burdick hot chocolate kit from me as a late Christmas gift at the beginning of 2008. The end. No fun.
My memory failed me and I broke down and asked Allen, my college boyfriend. In Allen’s version of the story, it was a very cold winter’s day in 2009. He’s positive we went to Border Cafe with Ray and Ivy. No, scratch Ray and Ivy. We were alone. We were definitely 21 because he’s never not had a beer at Border Cafe… so maybe it was 2008 instead of 2009? He’s positive we went to LA Burdicks because we stopped in City Sports on the way. He also remembers overpaying for parking at the lot on Church Street.
Mind you, Ray just informed me that my recollection was a sham only moments before I wrote this post. Almost 6 years (or maybe less) I believed an untruth! Then began my frantic inquiries with both Ray and Allen to get details to fill this post. None of the stories actually match up because Ray wouldn’t have received a Christmas gift from me if I had actually gone with Allen in 2009.
Since there is no real conclusion here, I’m sticking with my guns. It was Ray in 2007 in Harvard Square with the candlestick.
These days, I fulfill my rich, creamy hot chocolate destiny with Mr. E. No mystery there.
Famous LA Burdick chocolate mice — too cute to boot!
The line you will be very familiar with // Cocoa bean table marker
Chocolate confections I’ve sampled include:
Sesame Cashew
Hazelnut gianduja and toasted cashew paste coated with milk chocolate and sprinkled with Aleppo pepper
Salted Caramels
Salted vanilla: vanilla and sea salt enrobed in milk chocolate with dark chocolate stripes
Salted cardamom: cardamom enrobed with dark chocolate and topped with sea salt
Honey Caramel Truffle
Caramelized honey with herbs and vanilla, dusted in cocoa powder.
Pavé Glacé
Decadent cubes of ground hazelnuts, saffron, dark chocolate, cocoa butter and butter
Best part is you can take the hot chocolate home with you!
Unless you’re the Grinch, there’s really no way not to love this place. Go visit. The Harvard atmosphere will make you feel smart and then you’ll wisely choose the dark chocolate over the milk chocolate, you smartie you. Also, if you’re not blinded by how astronomically yummy this hot chocolate is, perhaps you’ll actually remember your first time.
LA Burdick Chocolate
52 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 491-4340
Katie Eats Boston 