Berkeley’s Xocolate Bar shop expanding into Rockridge next month
By Lou Fancher
If people ate jewelry and sculpture, Malena Lopez-Maggi would still be making them. Instead, the 42-year-old entrepreneur and co-founder with life partner Clive Brown of The Xocolate Bar on Berkeley’s Solano Avenue creates artisan chocolate. Expanding into a second location in Oakland’s Rockridge district (thexocolatebar.com/help-us-grow), one glimpse at the exquisite artistry of the thriving shop‘s confections tells the beholder that customers will undeniably be consuming art when Xocolate’s new outlet opens in September. From bonbons shaped into scrolls, butterflies, hearts and sunrise scenes to chocolate “salami” for a sweet-themed charcuterie board to Buddha heads arriving in best-selling tamarind mango truffles, the craftsmanship is astonishing. Their spreadable white chocolate “brie” recently won a gold medal as the best new product at the San Francisco International Chocolate Salon, possibly the top West Coast artisan chocolate festival. Lopez-Maggi says her creative appetite is voracious. “I’m a prolific maker,” she says. “I can make and make and make and fill up a room instantly. Chocolate gets eaten, unlike sculpture and jewelry that take up space.” About the choice of location for a second shop on Oakland’s College Avenue devoted largely to retail and allowing the original space to become a production center, she says, “It had to be Rockridge. There’s no other place with the same food traffic, foodies, (Rockridge) Market Hall and Chocolate Dragon Bittersweet Cafe that already sells our chocolate. “It also has an elevated mom-and-pop small business feel, and BART is close by. It’s close enough to use the same staff in both shops but still far enough to reach a new audience.” Since launching Xocolate in 2006, strategic timing, savvy marketing, nimbleness, versatility and the adventurous spirit of passionate purpose have been signature operational features. The shop has survived economic downturns in 2008 and 2012 and the travails of a global pandemic. In 2020, online sales brought national prominence and set the company on a growth trajectory. Not just catching trends but leading movements in artisanal chocolate-making, the products made in-house use organic, fair trade chocolate with ingredients such as natural-color cocoa butter and edible mineral dust for decorations. Many vegan and gluten-free options are offered. A selection of made-at-origin bars from other makers rounds out the house-made collection. Lopez-Maggi’s origins are anchored in Santa Rosa, where she grew up an only child living with her mother and grandmother after her parents split up. “My mom’s side is from Chile and my dad’s from Mexico. I was painfully shy as a kid and probably would have been diagnosed as autistic if we’d had that awareness at that time. “I remember my grandma was an incredible cook. Everything tasted delicious and was made from scratch. It was simple Chilean food that relies on fresh ingredients and not messing it up too much.” Lopez-Maggi says her mother was a first-wave feminist whose dominant theme was, “I’m never gonna cook because I’ll get stuck in the kitchen.” With a working mom, she spent most days with her grandmother. Favorite memories beyond the kitchen involved craft. “We watched the Martha Stewart show. I loved her so much we recorded her Thanksgiving special, and I’d watch it over and over. She put turkey in an encrusted covering, and the layering and sculpting was visual craftsmanship you wouldn’t expect applied to a turkey. Even the way she shoved her hand between the skin and the flesh and placed bay leaves in a decorative way, it was a flourish I loved.” A neighbor had an unlicensed candy store in his garage that was the inspiration for Lopez-Maggi’s first and much-awarded flavor found in Xocolate’s fruity, tangy tamarind mango Buddhas. “He’d roll up the door, we’d go in there and shop candy,” she said. “There was a push-pop with the taste of Mexican tamarindo candy.” Years later with the flavor recreated in a ganache encased in dark chocolate, the item along with Xocolate bonbons are perennial favorites. Awards and industry attention —like that given to the aforementioned “brie” that she knew from the start was a winner — have solidified her reputation as a gifted crafter whose flavors and artistry are reliable and surprising. “I don’t enter a contest unless I know I have a winner. The fact that the brie was convincing and looked just like a cheese, I knew held surprise. The spreadable texture was unique and the tangy lime with sea salt and chocolate taste, I knew worked. It’s out of left field, and I believe no one else would have thought of it. Just like my cacao fruit jam, it’s surprising and good.” That doesn’t mean opening the second shop has been smooth sailing. While the deep space, movable walls and a mezzanine level make it conducive to hosting community events, workshops and classes, challenges during the process have included significant financing to the tune of more than $65,000. Even so, the inventory is coming together, with expanded offerings available for purchase that Lopez-Maggi picked up while scouring antique markets. Among the treasures found are Depression-era candy dishes and a 3D antique viewer with old images of cacao growing in a jungle. Play/Pause VideoMute/Unmute VideoT-shirts and bags with the colorful prints used in their packaging; posters featuring 1950s Life magazine ads and cutouts from books published in the 1910s; books on chocolate and candy; and a backroom gallery where emerging artists can show confection-inspired work may position Xocolate to be a Rockridge hub. Among postpandemic thinking she is most grateful for is a more relaxed attitude about chocolate. “People had the ideal of a French truffle being the creme de la creme of what an artisan chocolate is,” Lopez-Maggi says. “That has changed. “As chocolate has come out of different cultures, they’re less adamant about dark versus white or milk chocolate. The stigma is gone, and people are off that high horse. They welcome uncommon flavors and approach artisan chocolate as a special gift rather than a snack.” |