Good Stuff Goes All Willy Wonka
Cheflebrity Spike Mendelsohn, one of the local burgermeisters actively sought out by certain residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., is rolling out new gourmet chocolate bars modeled after the signature milkshakes mixed up at Good Stuff Eatery.
The oversized confections will sell for $5 apiece at the flagship Capitol Hill outpost — and the forthcoming Crystal City, Va., and Georgetown locations — beginning this Friday.
Co Co. Sala executive chef Santosh Tiptur said he relished the opportunity to translate Mendelsohn’s sippable sweets into a bite-sized format. “It’s always interesting and challenging when you try and re-create someone else’s imagination,” he told HOH.
Mendelsohn tapped Good Stuff’s three most popular shakes — the Soursop Hop Strawberry (thick, fruity draw inundated with strawberry syrup), Milky Way (treat-filled soup stocked with crumbled malted milk balls and twin streams of caramel and fudge sauces) and Toasted Marshmallow (coconutty cooler festooned with a floating, lightly caramelized marshmallow) — for the prototype chocolate bars.
Although embellished with always fun Pop Rocks, the strawberry bar struck us as the most faithful re-creation of its hand-spun counterpart. Of course, we absolutely loved the Milky Way bar’s malt ball crunch and melt-in-your-mouth milk chocolate (40 percent Venezuelan chocolate). We could take or leave the toasted marshmallow bar (dark chocolate was a nice touch).
We also noticed that the “exclusive” Soursop Hop Strawberry Bar appears to be a carbon copy of Tiptur’s pre-existing Strawberry Jammin’ Bar. But given that treat retails for $10 a pop, chocoholics will be able to enjoy Mendelsohn’s version at a 50 percent discount.