Cocoa Belle Review

We headed to the River Market for lunch on Saturday and stumbled across Cocoa Belle, the new confectioner in Ottenheimer Hall. The metropolitan stand, which features artisan truffles, held its grand opening on Saturday. We had to wade through a crowd of women lusting over the chocolates to place an order at the counter.

When we made it there, we ordered nine truffles so we could sample several selections and the cash register rang up at a steep $19.50 with tax. I think that level of pricing is going to be hard to sustain for this little shop once its newness and novelty wears off. But who knows. Tourists in Little Rock definitely spend more money on less worthy treats.



Now on to the chocolates themselves. We definitely don't have anyone in Little Rock who is making creations like these. We've long wished for a full-fledged Godiva store here, especially since the chocolatier at River City Coffee and Tea moved on. Cocoa Belle fills a void in Little Rock.

The confections are purely scrumptious. We have four left in our little box and are continuing to savor them. Cocoa Belle's truffles are inventive. We've so far tried a raspberry truffle that had real berries (including a couple of seeds) in them -- it was a lovely marriage of tart and sweet, but didn't leave us feeling overwhelmed.



The milky truffle is a classic -- plain jane but yummy. My favorite is the Key Lime truffle -- white chocolate, graham cracker crust, cream and a little lime zest. I ordered three of these and am saving the remaining two for an after-work indulgence this week. My husband gives his endorsement to the Grand Mariner-stuffed truffle. Why? "I don't know," he said. "It just tasted really good."

Cocoa Belle's owner, Carmen Portillo, told me that this week she'll begin stocking homemade pralines, which include hazelnuts and almonds. I prefer pralines to truffles, so I'll definitely be stopping back by, though Cocoa Belle will have to be a rare treat in our household. Our palates loved these confections, but at $2 a pop, our wallets can't support the craving.

Retail Therapy

Nothing like a little window shopping at the Container Store to restore balance and order. After a long month and a full-force bad mood, Reluctant Shop Boy made a suggestion that we drop in after dinner on Thursday. I came out feeling a high -- even though I left sans shopping bags. The Container Store makes me want to give gifts to everyone I know just so I can wrap them. The gift wrap is a bit high ($5ish for a small roll, $4 for bags, $2 for four gift tags), but oh-so-adorable:

Riverside's Rockin' Some Deals

A friend who's been furniture shopping mentions that there's a big 40 percent off sale going on at Riverside Furniture Factory Outlet in North Little Rock. Love this place! I have three pieces of their furniture, and it's all sturdy, good-looking stuff. If you're not familiar, Riverside is off JFK next to the new Saver's, formerly where Big Lots used to be.

On a regular day this store has scads of beautiful pieces at cheap prices. The idea of a sale there blows my mind. Needless to say, I'll be hitting the other side of the river soon.

By the way, I do realize there's been a dearth of good photos here lately. What can I say? My cell phone camera blows. But I'm eyeing one of those 3G iPhones so maybe you'll get better visuals soon!

Bridal Bonanza

Looks like the Wal-Mart of Wedding Dresses is going to open up shop in North Little Rock. Yuppers, David's Bridal has taken out a permit for a location on McCain. (I reserve the right to make fun of David's, having strutted down the aisle in deeply discounted David's original. Yes, that was after the initial trip to Low's.)

It only makes sense that David's would go in to NLR. With Bridal Row on JFK doing so much of the matrimonial merchandising in this area now, it's probably a competitive move. The new location will be at 4188 E. McCain. GoogleMaps puts the new store in the area of Jason's Deli.

We hear things ...

A couple of dear friends who also serve as loyal correspondents have provided some juicy shopping details.

One found a gorgeous black leather Hobo bag at Poor Little Rich Girl for $50 on Saturday. It matches a wallet she already has. A serendipitous find that reinforces my view on this little Hillcrest boutique. If you keep going back you're going to come across The Find. Same friend plucked up a pair of perfectly fitting Prada sandals there last fall.

Another friend followed the advice listed here and hit JT Designs this weekend. She reports that they're hosting an event next weekend (June 27 -28) complete with sales on merchandise, contests, food and the like. A good time to get acquainted with one of The Rock's little gems!

Chenal Web site is Up

The Web site for the Chenal Promenade is up this morning, we learned from an intrepid correspondent. It's pretty, pretty, but it doesn't offer a whole lot in the way of new information. We'll see a J. Crew, a bebe, a DSW -- all of these have been reported locally. Maggie Moo's will open June 26. The pictures show there will be an outdoor fireplace and water feature. Posh! You can browse the site at your leisure at www.chenalshopping.com. (You can become a VIP to get more Chenal updates!)

Hitting a Low's Point

I collected wedding magazines years before meeting Mr. Right. As a mature, reasonably pulled-together woman, this is something I should find shameful. But I wear my wedding-obsessed badge (veil?) with pride. Weddings are practically a hobby for me.

I wasn't even 20 years old when I first read about Low's Bridal in my mother's copy of Southern Living. I wasn't even living in Arkansas, for that matter. It sounded like my bliss. Affordable wedding gowns downstairs and designer dream frocks on the top story? I was obsessed with the mere notion. So when I was happily in love and called to move to Arkansas three years later, I was thrilled that I might soon have the chance to shop at Low's.

When Reluctant Shop Boy proposed, I booked an appointment to browse dresses at Low's on New Year's Eve. My mother and sister flew out to go with me. And it was a nightmare.

The saleswoman was rude. The store made me change in the middle of aisles rather than in a dressing room even though there was only one other bride there. The sale prices weren't very reasonable.

Three years later, a good friend is on the search for her own Holy Grail of purchases. We've had fun perusing stores around here, looking for a dress that is perfectly her. When she said she wanted to try Low's, I asked if I could join her. I wanted to give the warehouse of confections another chance. Surely this experience would be different.

It wasn't. This time the saleswoman acted like she would have rather been watching soap operas than helping my friend with the most emotional purchase of her life. And the store had pulled the tags from one of her favorite dresses so she wouldn't know who designed it. So she couldn't price compare.

I mean, would you buy a car if the dealer wouldn't tell you whether it was a Nissan or a Pontiac? Of course not. So why is it ethical to apply the same principles to bridal apparel?

Two trips to Brinkley. Two bad experiences. Two girls perfectly happy to take their business somewhere else. Anywhere else. Even eBay!

Design on a Dime

Every time I drop in JT Designs, I'm the only person there. And I don't know why. It's a fantastic little store. Some of it's vintage, some of it's new, all of it's affordable and adorable.


My guess is that it's in a location that's easy to miss, though, and this puts it at a disadvantage. JTD is on the little triangle corner between the Capitol View hill and the Blind School on Markham. If you were heading west from downtown, you'd probably miss it, unless you knew it was there. (It would be on your right just a couple blocks up from the Italian Couple. Address is 2233 W. Markham St.). So now you know and you are tasked with dropping in.

At JTD, you'll find some pretty neat things -- some of them pieces that will remind you of grandmothers or great aunts or those other really chic women in your life whose closets you wish you'd had the opportunity to raid before they chucked all the really cool stuff. Other pieces at JTD are just little quirky things that will make your home more fun.

Case in point, my new Puppy Tail dog leash holder. Easily Excitable Shop Pup never had such a cool place to hang his guide after a long walk. He's already sitting in front of it, begging for a stroll in the evenings.One thing about JTD that is interesting: A lot of their new merchandise comes from stores we don't have here -- probably stuff they bought at warehouse sales or on e-Bay. We spied some paper lanterns labeled Cost Plus World Market and noticed the aforementioned Puppy Tail had a little IKEA insignia on it.

You'll also find some great vintage jewelry, neat antiques (some might need a little sandpaper or reupholstering) and an extensive array of retro china and silver.

I really don't want this place to go out of business. The owners are exceptionally nice without being pushy, and they seem to really enjoy running the shop. Go check it out while they're running a big 25 percent off sale. Also noted: they're willing to bargain on lots of their merchandise.

Back in the Game

Apologies for not posting much in the last week. Our Internet was down. We spent several days going back and forth with Comcast before they finally strung a new cable line, providing us with consistent Internet access for the first time in six months. We'll try to step it up this week ...

From the 'As Seen on TV' Files ...

The Magic Bullet blender, the battery-operated closet light bulb and now the Ped Egg. All have come home with us from local stores that have started hawking products previously only sold through dialing 1-800 numbers. For years, we would sit mesmerized during the lengthy commercials touting these devices. The only thing that kept us from buying them was the fact that we'd have to read someone in China our credit card number over the phone.

For a solid year, Reluctant Shop Boy would spend at least an hour every Saturday morning watching the Magic Bullet ad and then pestering me to order it. So when it showed up in Belk last summer, it came home with us. He made me smoothies for a week, and has since only touched it when I beg him to dice onions.

I've also been on a life-long quest for soft feet. I've used everything from Origins to Keihl's to Fresh, only to always end up with scratchy heels. Enter Walgreens. Driving past it last week, I noticed a sign advertising the Ped Egg for $9.99. This As Seen on TV product has gotten a lot of press lately. I'd been reading about it for a while on some of my favorite beauty sites. Lots of reviewers said it rocked, so I made an impulse turn into the drugstore parking lot to pick one up.


So far, I'm disappointed. I'd imagined the Ped Egg experience to be like having the guy at the nail salon use the little razor to scrape the dead skin off my feet. That's my favorite part of a pedicure. Using a Ped Egg is nothing like that. It's more like using one of those sweater shavers on your tootsies, except it doesn't work all that well. The skin doesn't all end up in the little egg as promised, so you need to pull a trash can over while using it. My feet improved a bit after using it. Still, it's not the miracle foot filer it's been called.

Our drawer stuffed with As Seen on TV castaways continues to get fuller. So why am I having a hard time resisting that counter vegetable chopper with the press-down handle?