06 February 2026
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Chocolate is always a good idea, but there’s at least one day of the year when eating the sweet treat is non-negotiable: Valentine’s Day. Although the holiday is often synonymous with heart-shaped boxes filled with truffles, there are many other creative ways to satisfy a chocolate craving. Chefs around North America are elevating the humble cacao bean into dishes that are both sweet and savory. Here, you’ll find restaurants that feature chocolate in unique, inventive ways — sometimes on the dessert menu, other times for dinner.
Tejas Chocolate + Barbecue (Bib Gourmand)
Tomball, TexasWhen husband-and-wife duo Scott Moore Jr. and Michelle Holland founded Tejas Chocolate, they set out to create a bean-to-bar business that could double as a neighborhood chocolate shop. Moore Jr. was a chocolatier at the time, yet as the years went by, he added another form of culinary artistry to his resume: pitmaster.
Chocolate and barbecue might not be the most traditional combination, but at Tejas Chocolate + Barbecue, the two go hand in hand. “We wanted a place for friends and families to share, so adding barbecue to those gatherings seemed like the perfect fit,” the website reads. Here, you can have brisket tacos and pulled pork sandwiches followed by chocolate bread pudding and chocolate panna cotta. There is also craft beer and hot chocolate along with inventive truffles made freshly from cocoa beans right in the Tejas Chocolate factory.
Elcielo (One MICHELIN Star)
Washington, D.C.At this fine dining Colombian restaurant, one course on the “Experience” tasting menu stands out more than the others. At some point midway through dinner, servers pour warm chocolate onto guests’ hands, and they’re instructed to lick it off of their fingers. Chef Juan Manuel Barrientos calls the sensory experience “Chocotherapy.” It’s an ode to chocolate, and it’s intended to encourage guests at Elcielo to relive the sweet, carefree nature of enjoying chocolate as a child. Once guests have had enough, servers come over and pour water over their hands so that they can wash up, dry off, and continue with the next course.
Pujol (Two MICHELIN Stars)
Mexico City, MexicoOne of the best ways to eat chocolate in a savory context is mole. This traditional Mexican dish is typically prepared with stone-ground cacao powder or high-quality bittersweet chocolate along with dried chiles, nuts, seeds and spices. At Pujol in Mexico City, Chef Enrique Olvera’s “Mole Madre, Mole Nuevo” features a circle of “mother mole,” aged since March 2013, surrounded by “new mole,” which showcases the same ingredients in an entirely different flavor profile.
The mole madre, which has now been aging for more than 4,000 days, is constantly reheated and adjusted based on the time of year. “What you look for when reheating a mole is for the ingredients to meld and for there to be a better integration of the ingredients into the whole,” Olvera says. “When it’s apple season, we put in apple. When it’s banana season, we put in banana.” The iconic dish alone is worth a trip to the Mexican capital.
Moody Tongue (One MICHELIN Star)
Chicago, IllinoisSometimes, a perfect slice of chocolate cake is all you need, and this 12-layer German Chocolate Cake — made with coconut, crushed graham crackers and mini pretzels — has become the stuff of legend in the Windy City. While The Dining Room at Moody Tongue offers a hyper-seasonal tasting menu, The Bar has a more laid-back, a la carte vibe. Although you could absolutely go to The Bar at Moody Tongue solely for the cake, it’s important to know that the dessert was intentionally designed to drink with beer, which is why it isn’t overpoweringly sweet.
Try enjoying the cake alongside the house specialty, the 12 Layer Cake Imperial Stout, aged for 12 months in bourbon barrels and built with a similar flavor profile to the cake itself, with notes of chocolate frosting, toasted coconut and graham cracker crust.
Nicōsi (One MICHELIN Star)
San Antonio, TexasAt this dessert-only restaurant, Chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph’s creativity shines. The eight-course tasting menu is full of dishes that turn unexpected flavor combinations into innovative desserts. The menu changes often, showcasing a host of flavors that push the boundaries of what dessert can be. Past iterations have included a churro with a chocolate pastry shell topped with charred corn tortilla powder, as well as a dish featuring chocolate, avocado, peach leaves, water buffalo milk and cocoa nibs.
“Dessert is a really special art,” Bristol-Joseph says. “I don’t think it’s easy. I don’t think that it’s given enough credit. There is a lot of craftsmanship.” The theater and whimsy of the Nicōsi experience elevates dessert to a level like none other. This is a one-of-a-kind dining journey, and on Valentine’s Day, the restaurant is promising to put out a one-night-only menu that will surprise and delight.
Sabayon (One MICHELIN Star)
Montreal, CanadaThis tiny, 14-seat restaurant in Pointe St-Charles offers a special tea service on Friday and Saturday afternoons. Pastry Chef Patrice Demers creates each of the three dessert courses, and sommelier Marie-Josée Beaudoin selects the three teas to pair with each bite. Typically, the menu consists of a scone with seasonal toppings, a plated dessert and petit fours to finish, such as a candy cap mushroom ice cream bite covered in dark chocolate.
While teatime at Sabayon changes often, you can expect dishes made from locally sourced ingredients that highlight the flavors of Montreal, and chocolate always makes an appearance in one form or another. The current menu includes a white chocolate Chantilly infused with meadowsweet, an herbaceous plant in the rose family, along with sea buckthorn granita and crispy pumpkin seeds. There is also a coffee-infused chocolate mousse served on top of a soft pecan cake that comes with a frozen pecan parfait featuring a green cardamom-infused chocolate crémeux (creamy, custard-like sauce).
Gabriel Kreuther (Two MICHELIN Stars)
New York, New YorkChocolate is a mainstay on the menu at this Two MICHELIN Star fine dining institution, whether it’s an ube pearl with a milk chocolate brownie or a chocolate sticky toffee pudding. For Valentine’s Day, Gabriel Kreuther is offering a special menu that features chocolate in two forms. First, as part of the amuse bouche course, there will be a strawberry negroni made with white chocolate and orange confit. Later in the meal, for dessert, guests will indulge in a dark chocolate soufflé with cherry and blackberry confit.
Hero image: Chocolate Bread Pudding with Cajeta Caramel Sauce and Chocolate Panna Cotta from Tejas - ©Scott Moore Jr./Tejas Chocolate
Thumb image: Chocotherapy at Elcielo - ©Elcielo/Elcielo
