SCOTT LINNETT / Union-Tribune
Though it was still an hour or so before sunset, it was bedtime for the little ones. "This baby has to take a rest," Mariella Balbi said, cradling a silver mixing bowl containing her sweet, cocoa-based creation, before putting it into a refrigerator.
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Though it was still an hour or so before sunset, it was bedtime for the little ones.
"This baby has to take a rest," Mariella Balbi said, cradling a silver mixing bowl containing her sweet, cocoa-based creation, before putting it into a refrigerator. "My chocolates are my babies."
Balbi, a Peruvian-born chef, handcrafts her pieces using unique ingredients from her native country, including fermented grape brandy and lucuma, a rare fruit from the country's highlands.
And with Valentine's Day this Saturday, she and other creative chocolatiers have been especially busy. At the Chuao Chocolatier stores in Encinitas and La Jolla, chef Michael Antonorsi has been preparing elixirs and gift boxes of his pieces, which combine the cocoa of his native Venezuela with unusual ingredients such as goat cheese, crushed black peppercorns and cayenne pepper.
San Diegans have had their share of high-end chocolates, but they are increasingly turning to the unusual tastes these two South American-born chefs are bringing to the table.
"It's part of the whole change of mindest of the consumer," said Antonorsi, a University of California San Diego graduate and biomedical engineer-turned-chef who co-owns Chuao Chocolatier.
"People are ready to spend more money on high quality, new products. If I can give you an experience that's tasty and can make your spine tingle, then I'm doing my job."
Balbi, meanwhile, has a loyal, cultlike following for her Guanni Chocolates, which she creates in the kitchen of Rancho Peñasquitos restaurant. She sells her pieces at farmers' markets in Hillcrest, Vista and Escondido and at Three Cups, a North Park store.
"When I bit into the passion fruit one (called Loreto), it made my knees buckle," said Eva Lindsey, of Rancho Bernardo, who regularly buys from Balbi at the Escondido farmers' market. "I wasn't a chocolate lover before, but now I'm a convert."
Balbi's Pisco chocolates are powered by, and named for its Peruvian grape brandy ganache. Her Criollo pieces are filled with elements of Manjar Blanco, Peru's traditional, beloved dessert of pecans and cream.
"What I'm trying to bring here is a piece of my country," said Balbi, 40, who hails from Lima. "In that way, I feel closer to it."
Balbi earned her degree in culinary arts in Peru; when she and her family immigrated here, they settled in North County.
Antonorsi trained in France. The name Chuao (pronounced "choo-WOW") is named for Venezuela's chocolate-producing region. Chuao's pieces, which start at $1.25, include the Picante, spiced with Napa Valley Cabernet caramel, Mexican Pasilla chili and raisin fondue. For Valentine's Day, Chuao is selling his and hers "love elixirs" – chocolate with "aphrodisiac" herbs such as cinnamon, ginger and thyme.
Balbi sells her chocolates from $1.50 for individual pieces to $25 for 16-piece gift boxes. But before living out her dream as a chocolatier, she was, just a few years ago, cleaning homes in North County.
One homeowner learned Balbi was a chef and asked her to prepare a dinner party. Balbi's reputation spread, and soon after, she began a catering business. The name Guanni, is a play on the first names of Balbi's three sons, Gianni, Juan and Ian.
Recently in the kitchen, Balbi – wearing a chef's jacket with Peru's red-and-white national colors and a sleeve patch of Machu Picchu – prepared heart-shaped chocolates for Valentine's Day. She perfumed the air by pouring organic whipping cream into a warm pan of chopped, Colombian passion fruit, before coating it in chocolate.
"Doing something that makes people happy with something I create is special," Balbi said. "It's like food for my soul."
