Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
L
$$$
Hotel Monna Lisa,
Borgo Pinti
27, Florence (
&
39/55/247-9751;
www.
monnalisa.it). $
Hotel Abaco,
Via dei
Banchi 1, Florence (
&
39/55-238-1919;
www.abaco-hotel.it).
take place at his small laboratory-plant in
Visignano, near Navacchio (Via Sant'Antioco
31;
&
39/50/779042
).
(
Florence (5km/3 miles).
Chocolate World
471
Wisconsin's Candy Land
Meltaways & More
Northeast Wisconsin
Though Wisconsin is famous for its dairy
herds, most of the milk is channeled into
cheese; the state's German immigrant
food tradition leans more towards beer
and bratwurst than
schokolade
. But
there's one candy-crazy corner of the
state—the area around Lake Winnebago,
close enough to Milwaukee to cover in one
long sugar-buzz of a day trip. Here, multi-
generation family businesses operate out
of time-warp shops, where workers using
wooden paddles stir copper kettles full of
rich melted chocolate, into which they
hand-dip caramels and nut clusters and
cherry cordials—breathing life back into
the classic American candy box.
Several towns are blessed with not just
one but two premium chocolate makers.
Halfway down the west shore of Lake Win-
nebago, Oshkosh nourishes a long-running
chocolate rivalry between
Oaks Candy
Corner
(1206 Oregon St.;
&
920/231-
3660;
www.oakscandy.com) and
Hughes
Homaid Chocolate Shop
(1823 Doty St.;
&
920/231-7232
). Oaks has been in busi-
ness since 1890 in its mock-Tudor store
south of the river (it now has two other
locations as well, at 9 Waugoo Ave.,
&
920/
231-2323;
and at 3001 S. Washburn St.,
&
920/230-4548
). But Hughes Homaid is
no newcomer either; since 1942, it has
been operating out of its white clapboard
cottage near the lake, where the candy's
made down in the basement. To ratchet
up the rivalry even further, both shops
pride themselves on the same luscious
confection—traditional Midwestern melt-
away chocolates. Folks in Oshkosh are
fiercely partial to whichever brand they've
eaten every Christmas since childhood.
Luckily, if you weren't born in Oshkosh,
you're free to taste both and make up your
own mind.
At the north end of the lake, in Apple-
ton, you've got
Wilmar Chocolates
(1222
N. Superior St.;
&
920/733-6182;
www.
wilmarchocolates.com) going head-to-
head against
Vande Walle's Candies
(400 N. Mall Dr.;
&
920/738-7799;
www.
vandewallecandies.com). Wilmar has been
selling chocolates out of its charmingly
dowdy corner shop since 1956, though
inside it's a thoroughly sophisticated high-
end operation; go around the corner to
the display windows of its candy kitchen
and watch the candy makers at work. The
Vande Walle family business only opened
in 1974, but their family recipes date
from the 1920s; at Vande Walle's, you can
tour the second-floor candy-making area
and maybe snag a few samples. Compare
the Wilmar Wilmarvel (caramel-covered
cashews enrobed in chocolate) to Vande
Walle's Angelfood Candy (a honeycombed
center draped in chocolate, not available in
summer); better yet, try the chocolate melt-
aways at both and see which you prefer.
Green Bay folks have to juggle a three-
way rivalry—between
Kaap's Old World
Chocolates
(1921 S. Webster Ave.;
&
920/
430-9041;
www.kaapscandy.com),
Beer-
ntsen's Green Bay
(2000 N. Broadway;
