rev:text
| - After the holiday season and all its lights are gone, I start to worry a bit that Historic Downtown Glendale--my stomping grounds--will start to get a little bit dull. Fortunately, the fun wasn't finished yet. With Valentine's Day around the corner, everyone is thinking about chocolate...and Glendale has delivered! This is a large weekend festival dedicated to the cocoa you crave, and much more.
Basically, there are dozens of booths, many of which selling chocolatey snacks. Lots of fudge, chocolate popcorn, chocolate-covered fruit, etc. The absolute star is San Francisco Chocolate and its massive tent, serving up huge $5 slices of frozen cheesecake dipped in melted chocolate. I got mine dark, and couldn't even finish such a huge portion! Gosh, this really, totally, absolutely hits the spot.
But I wasn't done. There was the turtle popcorn from another booth, covered in melted chocolate and pecans. There was also some real food, and a lot of what I'd call "fair food". I was practically in a coma by the end of it.
I think there are a few legitimate criticisms of this festival. It really comes down to the same two companies dominating the scene every year, and they mostly serve the same thing. That's no fun. Fortunately, there were a lot of cool, smaller booths I didn't recognize. Another is overall cleanliness. There were bees everywhere! They were attacking all the sugary snacks! This doesn't bother me, but it will probably bother you. Finally, there's a lot of stuff that isn't chocolate. I saw, for example, gourmet $22 dollar freaking salad dressing. Really? Is this the time?
But overall, I'm going to go to this whenever I can, and I can find something new I like every year. I'm a fan, and would recommend this to anyone with a sweet tooth.
|