Cafe Choklad is a little piece of heaven

By GAIL CIAMPA
Journal Food Editor

• See the menu.

PROVIDENCE -- For two friends meeting up for lunch at Cafe Choklad, life is good. This cozy spot at the corner of North Main and Thomas Streets not only offers a getaway from the hustle of the day, but a menu bursting with chocolate.

In fact, it's awfully difficult not to opt for chocolate -- in one perfect form or another -- and just skip sandwich, salad or soup altogether.

Stepping in the door and walking past the lace-curtained windows and up to the counter to order, the first thing you see is a glass case of chocolates -- appropriate, since Choklad is the Swedish word for chocolate. These are not just any bonbons. These are homemade truffles and a line of imported Belgian chocolates filled with caramel, nuggets, praline and hazelnut.

If you make it beyond that case and look up at the menu board, the next distraction comes in the form of homemade pastries and cookies that sit just out of reach on the counter. Homemade Danish, cinnamon buns and cookies all tempt a guest. An orange chocolate muffin called directly to me.

But the lineup of sandwiches keeps a hungry woman focused.

Brie with Black Forest Ham served on cranberry pecan bread sounds promising, as does a Cuban Cafe. But there's the Chicken Caprese, offering a breast of chicken topped with cheese, tomato, pesto and roasted red peppers on foccacia. Eventually, you come to the S'more Panini, an outrageous original with semisweet chocolate, graham cracker and marshmallows on brioche.

But it was the classic chicken salad croissant that I couldn't pass up. My choice was made easier when my companion selected the Cuban sandwich and I knew we could share.

The warm up

But back to the chocolate.

We decided to warm up first with two specialty beverages. We opted for one Cafe Mocha and one hot chocolate. The mocha is a blend of espresso with chocolate and steamed milk. The hot chocolate, too, is made with steamed milk. Both are topped with whipped cream and shaved curls of dark chocolate.

Cafe Choklad makes its own cocoa blend, which makes these drinks creamy, dreamy and rich. They taste like dessert in a cup. In a perfect world, they would be served in a nice ceramic mug instead of a paper cup. But this is a deli, after all, even if it is a Euro-deli with Swedish touches.

Drinks in hand, we chose a corner table along the comfy, cushioned banquette. The colors are Scandinavian classics of green, white and blue. The decor is simple and clean.

Soon the sandwiches arrived in neat baskets on trays. With sandwiches, you have a choice of a bag of carrots or a bag of potato chips.

In an interview after my visit, owner Marie Retlev said that when diners choose the carrots, they can feel fine about having a cookie for dessert.

Sorry to say, I opted for the chips (and the cookie) while my more disciplined companion chose carrots with her Cuban sandwich.

The chicken salad was a delight. The croissant, freshly delivered daily from Vie de France, was chock full of chunky chicken, roasted in house. The dressing was delicate, a light blend of Hellman's mayonnaise and tarragon. The sandwich was adorned with a light spring mix of greens blended with tiny bites of ripe tomatoes.

The Cuban Cafe was a lovely, mild version of the sandwich with pork tenderloin, Black Forest ham, Swiss cheese and dill pickle. It was served on foccacia and grilled with a delicate touch of oil.

I would have liked to try a soup but the day's two choices -- chili and ratatouille, a vegetable stew -- seemed too much to go with sandwiches. Indeed, Retlev said she is introducing lighter broth soups to complement the current lineup, which includes her homemade carrot dill and a clam chowder that comes from Blount Seafood of Warren.

Retlev and her husband Jens were the proprietors of Bristol's Cooks and Butler, the soup distributor they later sold to Blount. The couple were also the first owners of Redlefsen's Restaurant in Bristol.

Today, Jens works with Thomas John, the high-profile former chef of Mantra, for Au Bon Pain in Boston, and makes those homemade truffles for his wife at the cafe.

The finish

Without soup, we had room for that orange chocolate muffin, a chocolate chip macaroon and some of those Belgian chocolates.

We especially couldn't wait to try the chocolates that were in the shape of Flemish Beguine nuns. They come in three kinds of chocolate, each with a different filling. The dark chocolates are filled with caramel. The white chocolates have a nougat center and the milk chocolates are pralines. Each filling blended nicely with its chocolate.

Moist on the inside and crunchy on the outside was that macaroon we spied upon ordering. Retlev said she often dips the macaroons in chocolate, but this day she filled them with chocolate chips instead.

But the muffin that had called to me was my favorite treat. Moist chocolate with just the right tang of orange, and creamy frosting, too. It was so fresh, and tasted just like a homemade muffin should, moist and chocolatey and decadent.

In spite of all the chocolate and pastry, Cafe Choklad is remarkably free of excesses, either in design or menu. Its simplicity easily keeps even chocolate crazed diners on a palate-pleasing course.

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Details, details

Cafe Choklad, 2 Thomas St., Providence, (401) 383-4764, www.cafechoklad.com. Deli casual. Wheelchair accessible. Open Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat. 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; V, MC, AM. Street parking. No high chairs or boosters. No smoking. Soups $4.25; salads $5.50 to $7.95; sandwiches $6.50 to $7.95; breakfast sandwiches, served until 11 a.m. $3 to 4.50; muffins $1.70; cookies $1.50; specialty coffees $3.

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Bill of fare

The bill for two at Cafe Choklad, might look something like this:

Cuban sandwich . . . $7.50

Chicken Salad Croissant . . . $7.25

2 waters . . . $3

Cafe Mocha . . . . $3

Cocoa . . . $3

Cookie . . . . . . . . $1.50

Tax . . . .. . . . . . $2.02

Total . . . . . . . . $27.27

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Cafe Choklad