Raindrop Chocolate

810 Waugh Drive
713.524.2864

For months, Rekha and I watched as they put this cute little place together on Waugh. When it finally opened, we rushed in to find that they were still putting together their furniture and installing their cash register.

The proprietor is a former technology executive who left his job, travelled the world, working at small chocolate shops to learn the craft. He described his vision as a European-style chocolate shop with artisanal chocolate.

In this brightly painted shop, there is a glass partition where you can both watch and talk to the owner as he prepares things like rasberry chocolate truffle, and orange chocolate. I tried both. The chocolate here reminds me of Amadei, an Italian chocolate that has won many awards, including the World's Best Chocolate. The chocolate tastes like fruit without there actually being any fruit inside. When you combine a chocolate like that with actual fruit flavorings like orange or rasberry, the result is a very tropical chocolate taste. It's not for everyone, but it will knock your socks off if you're open to a different kind of chocolate.

This is a good place to grab a few bites of something sweet. If you don't want chocolates, they also have cheesecake and gelato. Go support this locally-owned and operated foodie vision. You'll feel good about being such a good neighbor, even before you try the sweets.

UPDATE (October 12, 2006): Last week, I went back to the Raindrop Chocolate and tried four truffles. I was disappointed in all four. I won't name them, but they all had one common problem--the filling tasted more like a cross between equal parts jelly/jam and chocolate, rather than a true chocolate-based ganache. I was really surprised at how much I didn't like the chocolate considering the commentary on this post and my previous good experience with their orange truffle.