Serendipity 3- Las Vegas, NV

I still have a few more Chicago locations I wanted to share with you guys, but today is a special post because today was my best friend's birthday!! We went to Serendipity 3 for dessert after we had lunch with her family. Serendipity is a big sweets destination originally from New York, but if you didn't already know, Las Vegas has their own version of almost all the big tourist destinations from around the world. 

 

Serendipty 3 is located right outside the Caesar's Palace Hotel and Casino, and has both indoor and outdoor seating. Everything is larger than life in this pink explosion of a restaurant including their menus, fixtures, and decorations (almost like you're a character in Alice and Wonderland). The decor is as huge as their portions, with most of them being good enough for two. The average price for an entree here runs around $22, and their desserts are around $15 (menu can be found at http://www.serendipity3.com/food.htm). Their specialty is the Frrrozen hot chocolate, highly popularized from an episode of Sex in the City, but all their desserts and food is great. My Best Friend and I's dessert of choice for the day was their Red Velvet Sundae which was a slice of red velvet cake wedged between chocolate ice cream, hot fudge, and whipped cream. By the time we were finished with the sugar filled delectable, it had looked like we barely scraped the top of the bowl. We could only finish about 1/3 of the sundae...disappointing i know :(. 

 

To think though, that our sundae was nothing in comparion to their treasure chest sundae that will set you back around $80!! It's a chocolate treasure chest that comes filled with slices of all their cakes, pieces of their cookies, mounds of their ice cream, a heafty slathering of syrups/toppings, and coated with whipped cream. If you're ready for the challenge of sweet revenge, you're in the right place at Serendipity 3. 

Garrett Popcorn Shop©- Chicago,IL

Now that I was out of town, and my family was left at home to work, my mom asked me to pick her up some Garrett's Popcorn while I was in town. This popcorn shop is a tourist and local destination, and they're known for their famous freshly made popcorn. It's so popular, that it was named one of Oprah's Favorite Things © in 2010, and at times, it's not uncommon to see a line standing outside the doors. There are several locations around Chicago, and are found near most Chicago landmarks such as the Navy Pier, Magnificent Mile, and the Oriental Theater. They do have other locations in the Chicago area that can be found at http://www.garrettpopcorn.com.

Garrett's has about nine different flavors to choose from which include CaramelCrisp^®  (caramel covered popcorn), CheeseCorn® (cheddar cheese), Plain, Buttery, CashewCaramelCrisp®, AlmondCaramelCrisp®, PecanCaramelCrisp®, MacadamiaCaramelCrisp®, and my favorite, The Chicago Mix, which is a blend of the CaramelCrisp® and CheeseCorn®. They traditionally come in wax paper bags, and you have the option of choosing from the different sizes. Even for a sweet lover like me, a small bag was more than enough for me to share with one other person. Their portions are generous, and the prices aren't that bad; the small running around $5, and upward by size (if purchased by bag, ordering online requires them to send it in a tin which becomes a little more expensive). They do offer tin options both online and in store, and you are welcome to pick more than one flavor per tin, tin design, and tin size.  

 

Garrett's is best when consumed fresh, and when you get it straight out of the store, it's always warm and fresh. I made the mistake of buying my popcorn for my mom a day before I left, and she wasn't able to experience the true flavor of Garrett's Popcorn. I wish I had known that there was a location at the O'Hare airport, it would have made the popcorn a little fresher when it arrived back to my mom, but oh well :/. For those of you traveling to Chicago out of O'Hare International Airport, make sure to pick up your bag before leaving instead of making my same mistake, your gift recipient will be glad you did ;) 

Hershey's Retail Store-Chicago,IL

So I was in Chicago all last week, and I was unable to update the blog, but I did happen to stop by a few sweet shops around my hotel in Downtown Chicago, mainly near The Magnificent Mile. The first of my stops was at the Hershey's Retail Store on North Michigan Avenue. This store has a cozy feel to it, and almost brings you back into the beginning days of Hershey's existence, with a modern twist. 

You're initially greeted by a classic theater style Hershey's sign, and once you enter, you're welcomed by a smiling sales person offering a free sample of one of Hershey's chocolates. 

The walls are all decorated with all the Hershey brands, and are generally separated throughout the store by brand. Pictured above and below is the centerpiece of the whole store. It enables customers to become a "factory worker for a day," where you can make your own mix of Hershey's chocolates that cascade from the top of the ceiling to a bucket placed directly under the contraption. It's very interactive and great for kids, and even if you decide not to make your own mix, they do offer you a complimentary factory hat as a souvenir.

 

The customized gifts don't stop at mixing your own batch of chocolate, you also have the chance to be on the wrapper of your very own Hershey's bar (pictured below). This station at the store allows customers to place a picture of themselves on the wrapper, and also write a small message. 

 

Once you've gathered enough gifts and items to bring home with you, they have one more surprise to fill your sugar rush. Just in the back of the store, they also have a bake shop that offers delicious cupcakes, pastries, and beverages. When I was in, the weather outside was extremely cold compared to the West Coast so I chose to get one of their chocolaty Hershey's hot cocoa's, which of course did not disappoint. They also had a special that day, I'm not quite sure if it was seasonal, but they did offer flavors that you could have mixed into your hot cocoa. The flavor of the day when I was in was coconut..yummy :)

Sugar Factory - Las Vegas, NV

Love Bling, Celebrities, and Candy? Then Sugar Factory is the place for you. This relatively new store has already three locations since 2009 with stores in the Mirage Resort & Casino, Miracle Mile in Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino, and their newest flagship location in the Paris Hotel & Casino, right on the Strip. Their new store has just opened in the first week of March with a huge grand opening hosted by Kim Kardashian and friends (Holly Madison, Mel B., and little sister Kylie Jenner just to name a few). This place has a lot of things to look at, and large candies such as their 5lb. gummi bear or larger than life lollipops. The store fixtures are also eye appealing with a two foot mosaic duck and cupcake that sit atop their bulk candies. The location offers a 24 hr. retail candy store and restaurant, a beer garden open during the day which becomes part of their nightclub, Chateau, at night, and also a chocolate lounge with gourmet chocolate lining the walls that you can awe at while you enjoy chocolate fondue, dessert drink delights, or any restaurant items. 

 

The retail portion of Sugar Factory offers apparel items for adults, children, and infants, gourmet chocolates, bulk candy, and also novelty items. Their main product that brings in all the celebrity hype and popularity is their Couture Lollipops which are rhinestone encrusted reusable lollipop handles. The top of these lollipops unscrew and have refill pops that can be replaced with any one of their seven flavors (watermelon, cherry, bubblegum, creamy orange, blue raspberry, pina colada, and green apple). Some of their designs  are
created by celebrities such as Mel B.(Purple Passion & Lilac Swirl), Britney Spears (Ring of Fire, Big Top, Baby Pink, & Charmed), Nicole Scherzinger (Hawaiian Passion), with their most popular designs by Kim Kardashian (Champagne & Silver Rainbow). They do also have Vegas Series handles aka "Holly Madison" pops & Hello Kitty handles which have dangling charms to compliment each design. All occasions are covered in this store with their seasonal products, gift items and customizable gift baskets which can please any sweet tooth. 

 Just across the way of their retail store is their restaurant that offers anything from pasta, sandwiches, and burgers to unique items such as their goblet drinks that come in four distinct flavors (passion fruit, banana, berry, and lollipop) which definitely should not be missed when visiting (featured below), and also their dessert martinis. Their restaurant is fixated on a prime location directly across the street from Bellagio, which made for a perfect view of the fountain show while I was eating dinner. It's not uncommon to rub elbow with celebrities at the restaurant, or pass them by in the nightclub or retail store. When I was in, L.L. Cool J was at the table across from me, while Nicki Minaj & Nicky Hilton were drawing attention in the retail store. Almost every week there's a new celebrity walking through Sugar Factory's doors, and they have the photos featured around the store to prove it. 

I've been following this store since they first opened in 2009 in the Mirage, and with each new store, this place keeps getting bigger and better. Their Mirage location only offers a retail section. With the opening of their location in Planet Hollywood in 2010, they added a cafe section that carries milkshakes, sundaes, cupcakes, cakes, and gourmet chocolates. With their newest addition in 2011, they now have a retail, cafe, and restaurant. There seems to be no stop to this store, and they're only going to be growing for the years to come. It's a must see attraction if you come to Vegas, and don't miss out trying any sample of their candies or ice cream. Their associates are very helpful and love to see you enjoy all the store has to offer.

The Cupcakery™-Las Vegas, Nevada

I visited one of the local cupcakeries in Vegas called The Cupcakery™ (www.thecupcakery.com) located on Eastern and Silverado Ranch. This cupcakery has a number of locations including the Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino on the Strip, Summerlin, and also a couple located in Texas. Its a family business started by cupcake queen Pamela Jenkins, and taken to the Lone Star State by her uncle.

They have traditional flavors such as their Southern Belle™ (red velvet w/cream cheese frosting), Oh My Gosh Ganache™ (vanilla cake w/ chocolate truffle center topped with vanilla and chocolate buttercream), and Chocolate Passion™ (chocolate cake w/ chocolate frosting), and also seasonal flavors such as their Mimis Pumpkin™ (pumpkin cake w/ walnuts topped with creamcheese frosting), Kir Royale™ (raspberry cake w/ champagne frosting), and also their Lemonberry™ (lemon cake w/ blueberry frosting). The Cupcakery™ is a small shop that's made for customers to come in and take their little treats to go.

They offer some beverages such as milk and coffee, but they specialize in their delectable cupcakes, and more recently customized cakes and cupcake sandwiches (aka whoopie pies). They offer customized cupcakes also which can be ordered over the phone or in store. All the experiences I've had with this shop has been positive. Their employees are friendly and glad to help you with their selections, and their orders are made on time. They now offer nationwide shipping which is new, and great, because their cupcakes are some of the best I've tried by far. The frosting can be a little excessive, but too much is better than not enough.

Make sure to also check out their store tees before you head out. Most are adult sizes, but if I remember right, they also carry baby onesies. One thing that's truely unique are their baking/cooking aprons displayed around their store. They are for sale, and make great gifts for the queen...or king of your kitchen.

Ethel M® Chocolate Tour & Cactus Garden-Las Vegas,NV

 

I played tourist today, and took the Ethel M® Chocolate tour, which I haven't been to btw in about 10 years. Not too much has changed since I last went, but the tour did get a little bit shorter since they no longer have the "molding wing" which displayed how the chocolate is inserted into the mold and cooled.  

The tour starts in an M&M® gift shop that is colorfully decorated and is nearly a snapshot of its much larger store on The Strip, M&M® World, which is a four level chocolate mecca.

After you browse around the store, you're on your own, through a FREE self guided tour that lets you preview the production and manufacturing operations that go into creating Ethel M® Chocolates. Make sure to plan ahead though to get the most out of your trip. There are only certain times that the workers are in the factory creating these sweet treats. If you come when they're off, it's nothing more than a trip spent staring at heavy candy machinery and reading explanations off the wall.

  The tour starts in the mixing room. In this room, when I visited, they were cutting a large slab of caramel into smaller pieces (featured below). I have been here before when they had the cream beaters on, which is somewhat interesting to witness since it looks like creamy chocolate being spun around and smoothed for consumption.

The next larger portion of the tour was in the melting and molding room, which is more animated than the previous. In this room, the chocolate gets melted in huge cylinders (pictured below 1), and then channeled to be deposited into chocolate molds (pictured below 2). As you can see, the machines are mostly labeled above so you can distinguish the different machines and also to understand what exactly, you are looking at.

(1)

(2)

Just like people though, not everything is perfect in the land of chocolate. If you look close enough, in the second tray, there seems to be a chocolate overload! I wouldn't mind having that piece when it leaves the cooling station ;). All misshaped defects will be gladly welcomed at my house any day hehe. From this room, it's mostly smooth sailing for these miniature delectables. They enter the cooling station, get flipped, then and packaged for their new homes.

The tour takes maybe 5 minutes to walk through, depending on whether you read anything on the walls, or watch the t.v. monitors that explain everything that goes on within the factory. The best part though is at the end, where you're greeted by some sweet sales girls that offer you a sample of their chocolate coins in either white, milk, or dark chocolate. Today however, was my lucky day because they also offered me a complimentary piece of milk chocolate caramels drizzled with dark chocolate. Delish!

If you didn't get your chocolate fix through the tour, they also have an Ethel M® Chocolate shop that allows you to mix and match your own box of chocolates to take home with you. 

Chocolate not your thing, or have someone in your group who just doesn't understand the beauty of sweets? There is also a botanical cactus garden that guests are more than welcome to walk around at their leisure and read about the different desert landscape plants. This place has a little something for everyone, and even if your group all loves chocolate, it doesn't hurt to walk around the garden to get some of those pounds of chocolate that you enjoyed out of your system before loading up into the car ;)

 

The Original Farmers Market- L.A., California

I've been to Los Angeles a number of times, and have seen a fair share of all the trendy little cupcake shops and unique boutiques but on this blog, I wanted to show love to L.A.'s farmers market near The Grove. Now this farmers market isn't your typical farmers market, it's The Original Farmers Market located on Third and Fairfax. It's a permanent fixture that's been around since the 1930's, and is home to a number of different stall like restaurants, bakeries, shops, and services. The market is opened seven days a week rain or shine.

Upon entering the market I was greeted by a very unique statue, or what is referred to as the travel angel.

 I think he was supposed to represent all the tourists that travel from all over to world and come to visit the market. As you can see in the picture, there is an explanation for him however, I don't remember what it said completely (sorry :/). There was a lot to see, and a lot of commotion all around. Restaurants were wooing customers their way, customers were lining up in all directions to make their orders, and I was looking every which way for somewhere to grab a quick snack. The market offers food for every palette. They have Country BBQ, Asian, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian, French (which by the way offered fresh crepes), and everything in between. However, it wouldn't be in my blog unless it offered sweets, and there were a lot to choose from. 

The selection was enormous, and they even had one stall that was centered towards the back of the market which offered candies by the pound and also sweet treats such as marzipan's, jelly fruit slices, cookies, fudge, and candy apples (Magic Nut & Candy Co. pictured above) .

Aside from that, they offer baked goods made fresh daily by local bakers from around the world (T & Y Bakery from Russia & Normandie Bakery from France). There was also a stall named Du-par’s Pie Shop which offered everything pie! They had everything from your traditional fruit filled pies (apple, lemon, etc. ), to more sweeter choices (such as their famous chocolate cream pie). 
 
The market not only offers food though, they also had stores where you could buy novelty items, candles, 100's of hot sauces, and they even had a cute sticker store that only sold stickers (kind of cute and unique if you ask me :) ).

Candy Heaven-Sacramento,CA

So I was looking over some old photos from last Thanksgiving, and wanted to share a little about some of the sweet stops I had seen along the way. Our first candy crawl was in Sacramento, California at Old Sacramento (which is really quaint and cute btw if you haven't been www.oldsacramento.com)  

They have quite a few little sweet shops however, this shop was really unique. The store is called Candy Heaven, and the name says it all.  There's candy all over the walls, and candy filled barrels stuffed around the store. What really tops it all is that they let you eat all the candy you want as long as you consume it in the store. Don't try being sneaky or greedy either. As friendly as are about letting you indulge, the employees do keep a watchful eye on any sticky fingers trying to take any outside.  

 They have everything from your typical candy store items such as salt water taffy, gummies, lollipops, fudge; but they also carry imported and hard to find old fashioned candies. 

I took about three trips around the store, and after having a few treats, I made my to the counter to check out. There was however, a "special" container that they had tucked behind the counter labeled crickets. I asked the sales girl what the container had inside and without even a squeamish look she replied that they were chocolate covered crickets; and since they were in the store, I was more than welcome to try them before leaving. It's not normal of me, but I figured since I was out of town that there was no harm in trying something new (even though I was only one state over haha). The chocolate crickets were crunchy and tasted like hay. 

It didn't taste gross or juicy like they make it seem on shows like Fear Factor, but it's not something I'll be buying in bulk any time soon.