Blue Frog Chocolates (5707 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA) occupies the same Uptown stretch housing a wealth of food-related businesses (Whole Foods, Chez Nous Charcuterie, Vom Fass, Rare Cuts, Pinkberry, Bee Sweet Cupcakes, and the newish Velvet espresso bar).  While I drive past Blue Frog several times a week, I’d never stepped inside before last week.  Now I’m thinking, why did I wait so long?

The side-hall cottage of a shop overflows with theme gifts, molded chocolates in a staggering array of shapes, and various holiday paraphenalia….but if you keep going all the way to the back, you’ll discover a refrigerated chocolate case bearing Michel Cluizel and Norman Love chocolates.  Best of all, both are sold by the piece, which allows greedy souls (like me) to skip the fancy packaging and zero in on the chocolates.