This article first appeared in the Hills and Heights Magazine.
Walking into Creative Chocolates, located at Broadway and Nottingham, sends chocoholics into a state of euphoria. Surrounded by milk and dark chocolate treats, the smell makes you feel as though you stumbled upon a golden ticket and were suddenly transported to a chocolate factory. But then comes the hard part: deciding what you’re going to get.
Owner and self professed chocoholic Richard Berchin knows what you are going through. A fan from an early age, Berchin loved trying different kinds of chocolate while stationed around the world with the Army. While in the military, Berchin designed and commissioned a sculpture for the Combat Medic Memorial at Ft Sam Houston where he became interested in the sculpting process and enrolled in a course at the McNay Museum when he retired. With his new found skill coupled with his love of chocolate, Berchin opened Creative Chocolates 22 years ago to create custom chocolate shapes. “Where else can you have a job where you can eat your mistakes?” Berchin asks. However, after being in business for a while, he doesn’t make as many mistakes any more. “Now it is ‘quality control,’” he says.
Berchin has made everything from tool sets to sports equipment, chocolate replicas of hearts, stomachs and spleens for doctors and chocolate dentures for dentists (or for those people celebrating an over-the-hill birthday). In addition to the custom molds, Creative Chocolates offers plenty of truffles and turtles, not to mention froggles and Texas doo drops, the traditional turtle (chocolate, pecans and caramel) in the shape of frogs and cow patties. The shop also sells chocolate covered pineapples, apricot, peaches and orange to help you celebrate National Chocolate Covered Anything Day on December 16th.
However, for the people like Berchin who don’t need a day to celebrate their favorite sweet, Creative Chocolates has you covered throughout the year, whether you need a custom made shape or just a handful of truffles.
Creative Chocolates is open 10A-6P Tuesday through Saturday (closed 11A-1:30P on Tuesday) at 7700 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209. Find them on the web at www.creativechocolates.com.
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