Winter has its advantages

If I could start every morning off with this... I think every day would be a good day.

Of course, this came from a great story about where to get the best hot chocolate in Boston, which does me no good at all, except to tell my sister about it. So, okay, it does me good in a karmic sort of way, but not in a real, hot, dark chocolatey-goodness sort of way.

The closest I found to a guide to hot chocolate in Los Angeles, something of an unnecessary luxury, which is redundant or oxymoronic or both, so leave me alone already, was an article on LAWeekly that's almost four years old for crying out loud. What he had to say, however, this Jonathan Gold, was pretty enticing, despite its age:

Angelina’s hot chocolate, known as Africain, is made with black, dense bars of Valrhona chocolate, melted, patiently boiled down with heavy cream, and served in tiny, elegant teapots at concentrations high enough to give an endorphin rush to the entire Rue de Rivoli. You could probably walk on this chocolate if you were to gather enough of it together, caulk a leak with it, or power a chocolate-fueled rocket to Alpha Centauri. The first time you down a cup of the stuff ranks with the first time you consummate a romantic encounter or smoke a decent cigar — it feels as if your head is ready to explode, and you can’t wait to do it again.

That right there qualifies as food porn if I've ever read it. Wow. Sadly, Angelina is a teahouse in Paris, so unless you've got a G4 gassed up and ready to go, we won't be indulging in that particular cup of perfection any time soon, but clearly this man knows from whence he speaks to review a good cup of cocoa.

Settle down, now.

The places to make his list four years ago included City Bakery in New York, as at that time it hadn't yet made its west coast debut — a fact happily now corrected. Also on his list was the hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows at Clementine's; Senor Fred's in Sherman Oaks where they also serve churros (I have a weakness for churros); and Leonidas, a reason to go to a movie on the Promenade or in Century City a tad early, perhaps?

Get out while the getting's cold, friends. 'Cuz in this town, that's a short window.