"DominicanRepublic" news and stories

• Mama Fina finally puts the Dominican Republican on the L.A. culinary map.
• Viola's Gourmet Goodies isn't just a condiment company -- it's a Hollywood legend.
• Farmers markets can be high stakes for new merchants.
• Guess why WP24 is turning downtown L.A. into a dinner destination? (Hint: WP stands for Wolfgang Puck.)

This afternoon, while running a few errands, I stopped into a relatively new gourmet market nestled away in a strip mall. I browsed around for a while, checking out their prepared foods (which included sous vide packages) and trying to hide my sticker-shock expression over the price of some of their artisan American cheeses.
 
Not looking to spend a whole lot, I settled on a bar of Dagoba Organic Chocolate. I had originally tried one of their bars several months ago, an organic dark chocolate with lavender and blueberries. I usually shy away from chocolate with other flavoring, but this looked worth the risk. The lavender was not overpowering, as I'd feared, and the blueberries added a good textural contrast to the chocolate.

Having tried one bar with added flavorings already, this time I tried their Conacado Bar, named for the farmer-owned cooperative in the Dominican Republic that produces the cacao. For a 73% bar, it was surprisingly creamy, with some slightly woody notes and hints of toasted nuts.

I'm told that Dagoba also produces a bar with rosemary, although I've yet to find a store near me that carries it.