Chef and owner, Joshua Needleman, introduced these items with a special chocolate-tasting event. Among the delectables were all-dark Cocoa Truffles, an assortment of bon-bons with fresh infusions of mint and raspberry, as well as “Chai This,” which blends tea, exotic spices, and chocolate. In September of 2004, Chocolate Springs started offering its selections in Boston at the South End restaurant, Formaggio. Chocolate Springs was recognized in the March 2006 issue of SAVEUR magazine as one of their TOP 10 star chocolate makers in the United States. Other articles have appeared in Sante Magazine, Berkshire Living, Travel and Leisure Magazine, The New York Times and the Berkshire Eagle. The Champagne Cognac Truffles were featured in the August 2005 edition of Time Magazine. The serious hot chocolate and velvety mousse cakes have become local favorites. Since opening, Chocolate Springs Café has become a special destination for locals and tourists alike. With the desire to fuse European tradition, Japanese aesthetics, and his own local roots, Joshua returned home to the Berkshires to open Chocolate Springs Café in September of 2003. Ultimately, Joshua traveled to Japan to experience for himself the culture that he had admired for so many years. Once again, the rigors and precision involved in this art-form were reinforced. During his employment Joshua was invited on three trips back to Paris to visit the facilities of La Maison du Chocolat. Joshua was honored to work with founder and Maitre Chocolatier Robert Linxe who shared his passion for chocolate. Once again an appreciation for cultural diversity and art were fueled. Joshua moved to New York to work at both their Madison Avenue and Rockefeller Center boutiques. He then serendipitously had the great fortune to be offered a job at La Maison du Chocolat in New York City. Joshua returned to the United States to work again at the Wheatleigh Hotel as well as at Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires and finally as pastry chef at the Cranwell Resort and Spa. Joshua had the opportunity to work at several prestigious establishments, including a stage with Maitre Chocolatier Michel Chaudun. He was inspired by the artistic beauty and admired the spectacular pastry and chocolate shops. Joshua then relocated to France to explore another culture and learn directly from the French culinary traditions. While working at Shuji’s during his high school years, Joshua developed a deep love and appreciation for Japanese culture that inspired an Asian theme for Chocolate Springs Café.Īfter graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in 1994 with an externship at Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Arizona, Joshua began to refine his skills at the Wheatleigh Hotel in Lenox, Massachusetts. Joshua first entered the culinary field at age sixteen, and established his foundation in discipline and hard work, while working at Shuji’s Japanese restaurant, a New Lebanon historic landmark. The name Chocolate Springs Café pays homage to Joshua’s hometown and provides its own modern-day therapeutic escape. Grant and Marquis Lafayette are among the many notable historical figures that made pilgrimages to the Lebanon Springs. Joshua is a native of Lebanon Springs, New York: a town that was named for its year-round natural hot water spring that was believed to have therapeutic healing powers by the Native Americans. Joshua Needleman, creator and chocolatier of Chocolate Springs Café, has been fascinated with chocolate all of his life. Joshua Needleman and the Story of Chocolate Springs
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