volume 7, number 7 July 2002
New Mexico's Premier Food, Arts and Lifestyle Magazine

Death by chocolate would be a sweet demise. Those convinced of criminal chocolate intent can have their devil's food and eat it too at the new Mayan-themed Xocoatl chocolate shop in Taos (121 North Plaza). Delicate noses are led to the back of the old county courthouse on Taos Plaza by the traces of musky cacao beans and essential oils hanging in the air like the memory of yesterday's lingering kiss.

Xocoatl, meaning "bitter water" in Nahuatl and known to us now as chocolate, was originally served as the beverage of choice for Mayan royalty. At Xocoatl even non-royals can appreciate the Mayan, French, and Mexican chocolate brews that are whipped up as you watch. The finished project tastes just as good whether you enjoy it while reclined on plush cushions in one of the dessert rooms or at the half-moon-shaped bar. Dashes of cinnamon, gratings of vanilla, pinches of red chile powder, and dribbles of honey are just a few of the spices now whisked into the traditional "bitter water" of Old Mexico's kings.

Xocoatl's chocolatier Scott Van Rixel has pulled out all the stops in his vision for a sweetly decadent hideaway. Inspired by last year's popular film Chocolat, Van Rixel lathered the old courthouse adobe walls of the shop's foyer a rich gray-blue, sponged the old jail cell walls into lost Mayan tombs, and turned down the lights. In Xocoatl, time stops, fatigue falls away and wonder blooms.

Row upon row of gleaming, white and dark truffles fill glass shelves. One taste of those luxurious chocolate confections (a melting mélange of the finest chocolate, butter or cream and liqueur) and your taste buds cry "C'est magnifique!" Suddenly you see the connection between the chocolate truffle and its fungal cousin—the similarities of size, color and cost become wedded in value-added preciousness.

Pots de crème, terrines, mousses, white chocolate crème caramel flans, exotic bread puddings, pulled sugar, spun sugar, chocolate fondues dipped with dried fruits, fresh Bing cherries, dainty cakes—nearly anything your little noodle can imagine or your heart desire, Master Van Rixel aims to provide. Though certified as a master chocolatier by the Association Française du Commerce des Cacaos, Van Rixel exudes the aura of a benign sorcerer. "I'm a pusher of a legal drug," he jests.

Xocoatl opens at a lazy noon hour and stays open until midnight on weekends and until 10pm during the week. On holidays (like Mother's Day) you'll definitely need a reservation, so plan your party or secret rendezvous in advance. The enchantments of Xocoatl await.

To order confections by mail or to make reservations, call 751-7549.

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