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To listen to Rick Jordan describe the rigors of the boot camp-like environment of the French boutique chocolateries where he apprenticed– and then, to try one of his ganache pieces -- is to appreciate how crazy-intense discipline can yield crazy-delicious chocolate. (Read more about his experiences in a Q&A from the July 2011 SLM here.)
His new RJ Chocolatier is a rarefied wonderland of caramels, lollipops, macarons, ganache, pralines, and inspired chocolate sculptures that must be tasted to fully appreciate how his pain is our gain.
Jordan’s dark chocolate-lime ganache pieces do not skimp on the lime – the sour citrus flavor explodes on impact. His matcha green-tea chocolate ganache (right) is luscious; erotic is not too strong a word to describe its endorphin-spiking impact.
The macaron cookies come in white chocolate/vanilla/saffron and honey/dark chocolate flavors. The light-as-air cookie “buns” yield to the tender chewiness of the filling for a marvelous texture. To eat them with hot tea and share them with a friend would make for a sweet ritual.
The Missouri pecan butter caramel has a pliant, tender bite, and a sharp, sweet, smoky kick that makes anything by Kraft or Brach’s taste like wax—and like no caramel chew you'll find in a children’s candy shop. The strawberry caramel is intensely fruity.
The pralines are terribly delicate squares that immediately melt away on the tongue, and the candied orange peel dipped in dark chocolate must be the bedtime snack of royalty.
Jordan has also developed a line of deep chocolate creams (left), mousses, and spreads that distill the sweet flavors into yet-more-potent treats. The Ghana 41% milk chocolate mousse is creamy and dreamy. The maple spread is intensely maple-y — if it were the icing on a maple long john, you'd never eat a Danish again. Finally, the deep chocolate (66% dark) cream is like mainlining your dessert. Put it on ice cream, bananas, apples, or shortbread, or just dip with a spoon and forget what once were worries. It’s that blissful...
Jordan was the pastry chef at Chesterfield’s Villa Farotto before several sojourns to France, where he learned from hardcore pastry chefs, who've received the the coveted Meilleur Ouvrier de France, or MOF. (Watch the excellent documentary Kings of Pastry to see what it takes to earn the blue, white, and red collar.) Perhaps the most worshiped of the bunch is chocolate sculptor/chef/free spirit Patrick Roger, who was Jordan’s mentor and inspiration.
Jordan learned from France’s best and, after clearing many hurdles, finally opened RJ Chocolatier last Tuesday. The shop’s gorgeous interior features lighted counters shaped like his initials, and a “lab” where you can watch him and his assistant Nicole continually refine ideas for new temptations behind a wide glass partition.
Okay, enough background, let’s get back to the chocolate. Other goodies to try include the Blix balsamic honey rosemary 64% dark ganache piece (below left); orange/dark chocolate/caramel/Grand Marnier lollipops; a blueberry gelée; chocolate-enrobed macarons; authentic chocolate-dipped Biscotti di Prato; turtles; the “Chomallow,” almond-honey marshmallow enrobed in 65% dark chocolate; chocolate-dusted almonds; and stunning, tropically-colored caramel pieces shaped like cute little hemispheres (below right).
One item, that looks like some kind of rainbow-colored alien space egg (below left), is actually a full-scale, hollow-chocolate replica of a cocoa pod (from whence we get cocoa beans). Jordan says that, specifically, it’s a tribute to the Costa Rican Umpala-variety cocoa pod, painted in authentic colors, resting on a bed of cocoa nibs. It’s sort of a tabletop idol that permits the chocolatier to reflect on his art--then maybe eat it, too. And lastly, but most respectfully, the Gojira 70% dark w/ ghost chile and lime ganache piece (below right).
If you’re serious about chocolate, RJ Chocolatier is not so much a shop as it is a church--and just plan on Jordan’s sinful communion knocking you straight into heaven.
RJ Chocolatier
14882 Clayton (at Baxter)
Chesterfield
636-230-9300
rjchocolatier.com
Beginning next week, a selection of RJ Chocolatier products will also be available at Lumière Place{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C} and River City Casino.
