Katherine Clapner is just as dangerous as Willy Wonka. The main difference is that she doesn’t wear quite as much purple. But Dude, Sweet Chocolate, her exceptionally offbeat chocolate shop, offers a taste of something extraordinary–not chocolate for the faint of heart.
“I don’t have a normal palette so I don’t make traditional chocolates,” Katherine once explained to me, and in my mind this is the thesis of her entire chocolatiering career. “They’re traditional in what they are and the methods and the kinds of chocolate … But we’re not those [traditional] people. We don’t want to be those people. There’s enough of that.”
In a single bite, you’ll likely discover all sorts of ingredients you never expected to find in chocolate. Blue cheese, Cat Springs Yaupon Tea or sesame sticks are all easily smuggled into Valrhona chocolate and rendered sublime. It can only be wizardry.
Chocolate is expensive, but it isn’t over-priced. Dude, Sweet Chocolate provides peerless quality and a sustainable product in an industry riddled with notoriously shady practices.
The Macallan Modern #2 is one of Katherine’s most recent concoctions. Rich and creamy with an air of mystery, this chocolate is infused with The Macallan Double Cask 12. Chocolate at its finest, this truffle will leave a tingling hint of whiskey at the back of your throat long after it’s gone.
Dude, Sweet Chocolate (Downtown Plano)
- Hours:
- Sunday – Monday | 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
- Tuesday – Thursday | 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.
- Friday – Saturday | 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.
Where: 1016 E. 15th St., Plano
Contact: 972.424.6200 | dudesweetchocolate.com
Read more: Sweet Inventions: How Katherine Clapner is doing chocolate her way at Dude, Sweet Chocolate
