Jacques Torres Chocolate — Upper West Side

Treat yourself to delicious hot chocolate and browse the wonderful array of beautifully packaged chocolates. Jacques Torres Chocolate's Upper West Side location is great way to take a break from shopping and site seeing.

As Jacques says, “It’s all real.” He makes a promise that all Jacques Torres Chocolate products are hand-crafted with premium ingredients, most of which are made from scratch – from the marzipan and the marshmallows to the peanut butter and the cookie dough. Each confection is a celebration of chocolate in its purest sense and never contains preservatives, additives, extracts, oils, or essences. Jacques’ repertoire of confections includes bon-bons, hot chocolate, chocolate-covered snacks (almonds, cornflakes, pretzels, cheerios, gingerettes, marshmallows, espresso beans, graham crackers, macadamia nuts, raisins, malt balls) bark, chocolate bars, ice cream, and more.

When Torres was working as a master pastry chef, it was his ultimate dream to open a chocolate wonderland where he could be one of the first artisan chocolatiers in the US to start from scratch with cocoa beans and end with his own signature chocolate. In 2000, Jacques opened what would become his first workshop in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. Alongside his friend and business partner, Ken Goto, Jacques built the factory by hand, and like his chocolate, from scratch. From the drywall to the tin-plated ceiling to the air-conditioning installation, Jacques used his own handy-man skills and perseverance to complete the factory just in time for opening day. Fans of Jacques from his Le Cirque days and newcomers alike were drawn to his hand-crafted chocolate products and eager to catch a glimpse of the chocolate-making action through the factory windows.

Thanks to the success of Jacques’ DUMBO location, he sought to take Manhattan by storm in 2004 with a second workshop that would boast a larger factory and retail space. Located on Hudson Street in Downtown New York, this second workshop is an 8,000 square foot space featuring a state-of-the-art chocolate manufacturing plant. The cocoa bean-shaped retail space is flanked with floor-to-ceiling windows allowing visitors to peer into Jacques’ celebrated process of turning cocoa beans into chocolate bars. When warm weather approaches, look for the seasonal ice cream stand!