Posted by David Hamilton on February 16th, 2010

Bundoran Farm’s protected rural environment is beautiful, but what makes it special to us is the proximity of this idyllic spot so near to Charlottesville.  This little college town continually surprises us, and this Valentine’s Day, the surprise we enjoyed most was Gearhart’s Chocolates.

Pastry chef – chocolatier Tim Gearhart established the business that bears his name in 2001.  His shop, at the City  Market on West Main Street, anchors the dessert end of a local-food mecca, including friends-of-Bundoran Feast (when you need a legitimate Calabrian Sopressata, and you need it now!), and the Albemarle Baking Company (you’ll need a ciabatta to put under that sopressata).

Gearhart focuses on a few kinds of chocolates, executed with precision, and made from the best ingredients available (it turns out Venezuelan Criolla Cacao, whatever that is, makes a difference).  The chocolates look like they’re on loan from the Metropolitan Museum, and the price can be kind of surprising if you’re used to picking up a half pound of dark chocolate at Rite Aid.

The most interesting thing about Gearhart’s is the shop itself, which should be on any food enthusiast’s agenda for a Cville trip.  Entering the storefront, no bigger than your average master-bathroom, the visitor encounters a small table, with a catalog and sample dish, and sees a jeweler’s case against the back wall. The chocolates, six or eight varieties, are presented like diamonds.  Seeing the product in this case causes an incredible mental transubstantiation: these are no longer expensive chocolates, they are incredibly affordable jewels, and edible!

This mental process is important, because we didn’t understand, until our first visit, how much better it could be to enjoy one or two really terrific chocolates, than to consume the comparably-priced giant bag of Reese’s cups we favored in college.  It’s a lot cooler, and we can attest that these chocolates also have magical powers with regard to one’s marriage, especially when deployed on Valentine’s Day.

For us, Gearhart’s exemplifies Charlottesville:  a community which has made room for artisans and cultivated local businesses that want to do something extremely well, to create something special and otherwise hard to find.  These small pleasures are all around this area, and finding them is, for us, every bit as enjoyable as finding the jack-in-the-pulpits on Bundoran Farm’s trails.

Filed under: General