Kate Weiser, executive chocolatier and pastry chef at Chocolate Secrets in Dallas, shows off a chocoalte tie.

Chocolate Secrets
3962 Oak Lawn Ave., Dallas

Our final destination was Chocolate Secrets, a candy shop where the ambiance — with a wine cafe and ice cream bar — easily could be mistaken for a European candy store, except for the fact that all the truffles on display feature a distinctly American touch — vibrant colors.

Kate Weiser, executive chocolatier and pastry chef there, started out as a pastry chef, focusing on plated desserts.

“So chocolates were a totally new adventure for me,” she explains. “I really didn’t know what I was doing. I practiced a lot, I researched so much and I just loved how challenging it was and I loved how it kind of kicked my ass a little bit. And three years later, I’ve improved more than I ever thought I would and I’m making the most delicious chocolate.”

One of those chocolates is the aged Gouda bon bon. Made with dark chocolate ganache, it also has chunks of Gouda in it.

“It’s one of those hard cheeses and dipped in chocolate it’s so good, so I thought, ‘Why not put big chunks in a bon bon in ganche?’” she explains.

The cheese also inspired Weiser to shape the bon bon like a little mouse.  

“We like to kind of be kitschy, but not too kitschy,” Weiser says.

There’s also the sea salt caramel, brushed with bright blue cocoa butter coloring inspired by the salt in the sea. 

“That’s our top seller,” she says. “It’s almost, what came first, the chicken or the egg? Because they say this is our top seller, so therefore it is the top seller. But I think it would be doing well even if they didn’t tell everyone.”

Another favorite is the saffron-flavored bon bon. A friend brought Weiser a kilo of the spice after a trip to Iran and the candy is shaped like a pyramid and sprayed with gold paint.

“People see it as a very exotic spice, so people are really intrigued,” she says.

The writing under the shop’s name claims Chocolate Secrets offers wine, chocolate and bliss. From what I tasted, that seems to be the case.