We Found Love Right Where We Are
In case you’ve been looking for love in all the wrong places, you’ve come to the right place.
And to be clear, this is the right place if the love you’ve been searching for happens to be in the form of a Valentine’s Day gift. To be even more clear, the only matchmaking skills we’re offering involve you, dear readers, and the best local place to find chocolate treats and gifts for your loved ones.
We think we’ve found the perfect match:
Fall in love with LaRue Fine Chocolate and owner and chocolatier, Elizabeth Logan McDaniel.
Words and Images by: Team OTGG
Something For Everyone
Elizabeth makes (thousands of) chocolates for everyone in her shop in the Poe West development in the Village of West Greenville. And she really means everyone.
“Even when I wrote my business plan, I know that I’m not supposed to say my business is for everybody. But it really is for everybody who likes good chocolate. We get everybody in here, and it makes me really happy. I’m so glad it’s not just middle-aged white women, and I am a middle-aged white woman.”
Emphasis on the good chocolate. Elizabeth is a graduate of Ecole Chocolat and holds a Professional Chocolatier certificate with honors. She has also achieved the rank of Maitre Chocolatier from the same school.
Elizabeth's expert status is evident in every piece of handcrafted, small-batch, artisan chocolate, from the texture of the fillings and the balance in each complex flavor combination to the deftly painted shells.
And speaking of ingredients, she sources local and organic ingredients such as Bee Well honey, Happy Cow Creamery butter, Bulls Bay sea salt, Queen's Cupboard sugars, and Nellie T's peanut butter. The quality is clear, inside and out.
Allow us to whet your appetite with some of LaRue’s signature flavors:
BOCA GRANDE tequila, Grand Marnier, lime, orange, salt, white chocolate ganache in dark chocolate. It's a margarita party in your mouth!
THE EARL milk chocolate ganache infused with earl grey tea and honey surrounded by dark chocolate.
SCHEHERAZADE orange cardamom milk chocolate ganache rolled in pistachios.
Keep It Simple, Sweetheart
Tempted to phone it in with a drugstore box of waxy and stale chocolates?
“Don’t do that to the person that you love,” Elizabeth says.
LaRue makes it really easy to nail the oft-times complicated gift-giving.
LaRue's Valentine's packages come with an assortment of chocolates, flowers arranged by Elizabeth, and a bottle of wine paired with your chocolate selection. Each box contains signature chocolates and some seasonal flavors specifically designed for Valentine's Day. The best part? These are wrapped up and available for preorder on the website. How much easier can it get?
And none are even close to “standard” holiday flavors: like DATE NIGHT made with strawberry puree, sparkling wine and a drop of rose oil in white chocolate; MINT TO BE filled with mint-infused honey; HOT LIPS that incorporates habanero pepper; the vegan LUCIOUS IS LUCIOUS with coconut cream, dark chocolate and raspberry; and STRAWBERRY VALRHONA HEARTS that are a burst of berry flavor.
And that’s only a handful. So you can be sure, whatever assortment you order will both delight and entice.
More Than Chocolates
But wait! There’s so much more to LaRue than a pre-order chocolate shop. In the market for an off-Main date night out? Or a boozy book club?
A Certified Specialist of Wine through the Society of Wine Educators, Elizabeth has created a wine and cocktail program to enhance the dine-in experience, whether you’re stopping in for a Friday night out or a Saturday afternoon with a book. She’s ready to pair chocolates with wine or composed drinks and recommend a tasting experience that everyone will enjoy.
Most recently, that includes cocktails using her newest toy—a cotton candy machine—to create whimsical and tasty garnishes. Her Valentine’s Day concoctions include 50 SHADES OF GREY, an Aviation served with Fernet Branca cotton candy; FRENCH KISSIN’, a side-by-side comparison of the French 75 with cognac and gin; and SIDE PIECE, tequila, passionfruit with muddled jalapeno and topped with coconut soda.
And even if chocolate isn’t your thing, the menu will accommodate other tastes, with treats like green tea ice cream with sesame seed brittle, cheese boards, ricotta pistachio cake, and many other desserts to make even a Tuesday night feel a little bit special.