For a certain segment of the population, there’s chocolate, and then there’s everything else. Fortunately, there are plenty of amazing restaurants, chocolate shops, and bakeries across the country that are more than willing to cater to the cocoa-or-bust crowd. We scoured the nation to track down some of the most delectable, must-try treats for chocoholics. Here are 20 of the best.
Related: We Tried 15 Kinds of Chocolate and These Are the Best
Where to get it: Strip House, New York and Las Vegas
If a rich, moist chocolate cake is the holy grail of desserts for any self-respecting chocolate lover, then the chocolate cake at Strip House is the holy grail of holy grails. You’ll get a dozen layers of chocolate cake, 11 layers of filling, and a top layer of made from semisweet French chocolate ganache. Can’t make it to New York or Vegas? You can buy online through Neiman Marcus, but this indulgent treat will set you back a cool $125, not including shipping.
Where to get it: Le Cirque, Las Vegas
With a ceiling draped circus-tent style in a rainbow of fabric, intimate Le Cirque offers a dessert that’s showy and elegant enough for its surroundings: the Petite Boule de Chocolat, or small chocolate ball. It’s a gold leaf-topped chocolate sphere filled with praline mousse, white chocolate ice cream, and a hazelnut caramel crunch. As if that’s not enough, it’s drizzled with warm chocolate sauce once presented at the table, allowing the ball’s shell to melt away and reveal the filling inside.
Where to get it: Ghirardelli Ice Cream & Chocolate Shop, more than 20 locations nationwide
High-end chocolate maker Ghirardelli knows a thing or two about satisfying your sweet tooth. If you can make it past the endless displays of bagged chocolates, the ice cream fountain awaits with temptations like the Midnight Reverie Sundae. It’s Ghirardelli’s own chocolate ice cream layered with dark chocolate hot fudge and miniature dark chocolate chips. On top, you’ll find whipped cream and one of the company’s signature squares of dark chocolate. If you don’t go into sugar shock before leaving, pick up some Milk Chocolate Caramel Squares on the way out.
Where to get it: Dorothy Lane Market, Dayton, Ohio; select stores nationwide
For our money, brownies are still the chocolate dessert to beat — on their own or à la mode, chewy or crunchy-edged, plain or with nuts or candy mixed in, they’re as versatile as they are delicious. Ohio’s Dorothy Lane Market has created a brownie empire, and the treat that started it all is The Original Killer Brownie. Crunchy pecans, gooey caramel, and a liberal dusting of powdered sugar elevate a yummy brownie to something dangerously addictive, indeed.
Where to get it: BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, more than 200 locations nationwide
BJ’s is known for its pizookies, signature pizza-cookie hybrids that dominate the chain’s dessert menu. For chocoholics, the obvious choice is the Triple Chocolate Pizookie, which features a chocolate-chunk cookie liberally covered with Ghirardelli chocolate chips and a couple of fat scoops of Ghirardelli chocolate ice cream. Too much chocolate? (As if!) You can swap in vanilla ice cream, or go for the more classic Chocolate Chunk Pizookie.
Where to get it: Serendipity 3, New York
Serendipity 3 may be among the Big Apple’s most iconic dessert spots, and its Frrrozen Hot Chocolate is among the best-known treats on its well-trodden menu — it’s so beloved the restaurant reportedly serves 10,000 of ’em a month. The sippable treat blends more than a dozen cocoas, ice, and milk. It comes topped with a mound of whipped cream, a drizzle of chocolate, and both a spoon and a straw to conquer it.
Where to get them: Gideon’s Bakehouse, Orlando, Florida
The humble chocolate chip cookie gets a not-so-humble makeover at Gideon’s Bakehouse. Each cookie weighs in at close to a half-pound after the giant balls of dough are rolled in a thick layer of chocolate chips and dusted with coarse sea salt. They’re so popular that the bakery sells out daily, and you can only buy a half-dozen at a time if you don’t preorder.
Related: The 20 Best Classic Cookie Recipes
Where to get it: Royers Round Top Café, Round Top, Texas
If you love brownies — and really, what self-respecting chocolate lover doesn’t — then you have to make the pilgrimage to Royers Round Top Café, something of a mecca for pie lovers. Its Sweet and Salty Pie is a brownie-like base, topped off with caramel and sea salt, served in true Texas fashion with vanilla Blue Bell ice cream. Can’t make it to the Lone Star State? They also ship nationwide via Goldbelly.
Where to get it: Mike’s Pastry, Boston
Boston is no stranger to bakeries that can make mouth-watering cannoli, but Mike’s Pastry is legendary for its 19 flavors of creamy, crispy goodness, made fresh daily and sold in massive numbers. For chocoholics, the ultimate treat is the chocolate-covered version. The fried shell is covered in a liberal coating of chocolate, and the cream is packed with chocolate chips. Chocolate cream, chocolate mousse, and chocolate ricotta cannoli are on the menu, too.
Where to get it: Jardin, Las Vegas
Jardin, one of the many elegant dining spots at the high-end Wynn resort, brings its botanical theme to the menu with its signature dessert, Fleur. This ultra-popular creation for two or three lucky guests includes layers of chocolate cake, dark chocolate mousse and raspberry jam. As if that doesn’t sound delectable enough, it comes in a chocolate flower pot, airbrushed orange to look like the real thing, topped off with flowers and crushed chocolate cookies.
Where to get it: Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery, Seattle
Whether you call it molten chocolate cake, lava cake, or something else, chocolate cake with a gooey center has become a staple on so many restaurant menus — even Domino’s Pizza — that it has faced the inevitable critical backlash. Not up for debate? The fact that lava cake is still ridiculously delicious. Get one of the best versions anywhere at Seattle’s Hot Cakes, where there are a half-dozen varieties on the menu. You can even buy take-and-bake versions that come in mason jars that can be popped directly into the oven.
Where to get it: Portillo’s, 60 locations nationwide
When is a chocolate shake more than, well, just a chocolate shake? At Portillo’s, mainly found throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, you can find out — just be sure to leave room after downing some of those famous hot dogs. They put an entire slice of iced chocolate cake into a cup with some vanilla milkshake, mix it up, then add chocolate syrup and bits of extra cake chunks on top for good measure. Drool-worthy, indeed.
Where to get it: The Melting Pot, more than 100 locations nationwide
For our money, chocolate is a big reason that fondue isn’t merely a distant memory of the ’70s. Your local Melting Pot is still one of the best places to go overboard in a sea of chocolate bliss. The signature Flaming Turtle fondue is a delectable mix of melted milk chocolate, caramel, and candied pecans — it’s even flambéed for a little extra razzle dazzle. It comes with dippers like strawberries and pound cake, but we’re not ashamed to say we’d eat it with a spoon.
Where to get them: Fran’s, Seattle
All it took was a visit to Paris decades ago to inspire Fran Bigelow to open her first chocolate shop in 1982. Today, her chocolates are sold at five boutiques and specialty shops across the country, and Fran’s has gotten shout-outs from Ina Garten, Epicurious, Food & Wine and more. The shop’s most well-known confections include boxes of rich organic caramels covered in milk or dark chocolate and topped with gray or smoked salt. They’re even earned some presidential raves from the Obamas, said to be big fans.
Where to get them: Liliha Bakery, Honolulu
“The butteriness and creaminess of this chocolate-filled puffed pastry can’t be matched nor explained,” Liliha Bakery crows. And they deserve to brag — they sell up to 7,200 of their famous coco puffs in a single day. More than a simple cream puff, coco puffs have a chocolate filling inside and are topped with a luscious macadamia-nut Chantilly cream frosting. If you need a break from chocolate, they now sell a green tea flavor, too.
Where to get it: Max Brenner, Boston, New York, Philadelphia
If you’re in the mood to share — or even if not (hey, we won’t judge) — the Chocolate Chunks Pizza at Max Brenner’s beckons. The homemade crust is topped with a liberal layer of melted milk chocolate and white chocolate chunks, then toppings like hazelnut, banana, pizza, and roasted marshmallow. You can even try to make your own, though stopping in to one of the stores will give you an excuse to eye the rest of the menu (chocolate syringe, anyone?).
Where to get them: Sprinkles Cupcakes, more than 30 locations nationwide
Sometimes you just can’t beat a chocolate cupcake, especially if it’s from Sprinkles, the Beverly Hills-born bakery that made a splash when it debuted a mind-boggling cupcake ATM. For the cocoa-obsessed, there are several possibilities on the menu, but the most obvious is the dark chocolate flavor, made with a mouth-wateringly rich chocolate cake topped with a liberal coating of bittersweet frosting and a ton of French chocolate sprinkles.
Where to get them: Balaboosta’s Bakery, East Norwich, New York
Though based on Long Island, Balaboosta’s sells its treats mainly online. That’s good news for anyone hankering for a classic dessert with a twist, like the bakery’s signature Brownie-Stuffed Cookies. There are no fancy tricks here — just homemade brownies stuffed into a hunk of homemade cookie dough, then baked into the “brookie” of your dreams. We suggest having a tall glass of milk on standby.
Where to get it: The Cheesecake Factory, more than 200 locations nationwide
Chocolate lovers are spoiled with several tempting choices on The Cheesecake Factory’s massive cheesecake menu, which had three dozen varieties at last count. For the nothing-but-cocoa crowd, the pinnacle may be the Hershey’s Chocolate Bar Cheesecake. It’s made with a layer of chocolate cheesecake sandwiched between two layers of chocolate cake, topped off with dense chocolate frosting and a thick coating of chocolate chips. If you’re planning on diving in after indulging in one of the restaurant’s notoriously huge entrees, all we can say is this: Consider wearing your comfy pants.
Where to get them: Wicked Whoopies, Farmingdale and Freeport, Maine
Whoopie pies are something of a Maine icon, and purists will scoff at anything without the signature vanilla and marshmallow cream. But Wicked Whoopies understands the power of a full-blown chocolate addiction, offering a variety with chocolate whoopie cakes held together with fluffy chocolate cream in between. If you’re also a java junkie, the Mocha Wicked Whoopie could be worth a try, too. Nowhere near Maine? You can order online.