KATE WEISER CHOCOLATE

IMAGINATION YOU CAN EAT

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Dallas’Cosmic Chocolatier

By Suzanne O’Dell

Nestled beneath the steady gaze of Dallas’ iconic Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is Trinity Groves, the appointed threshing floor for the city’s latest and greatest offerings of aspiring culinary genius. Architecturally stunning at first sight, this aptly named row of storefronts serves as the “Holy Trinity,” of Big D’s burgeoning start-up culture--unilaterally ruled by Innovation the Father, Talent the Son, and Hope the Entrepreneurial Spirit. Here we find the happy stage for Kate Weiser, the twenty-eight-year-old chef-owner whose whimsical world of chocolate has the Metroplex swooning under its spell.

If Art and Science ever fell for one another, I’m relatively certain that the resulting love- child would be a Kate Weiser bonbon. The moment one sets foot inside the bright and spacious storefront, the intoxicating smell of chocolate is enough to slay you where you stand. The scent emanates from every molecule in the place, like some sort of cosmic magic--deep, bold, and overwhelmingly magnetic.

On this day in particular, it wafts from the open kitchen where Kate and her team are meticulously slathering a marble countertop with the buttery beginnings of blonde bars, in all their golden gooey glory.

To further the dramatic effect, every corner of the space itself is disarmingly beautiful. Immaculate rows of Kate’s hand-painted creations line a large display case by the register, a portal into an art form that borders on extra-terrestrial. Embossed with vibrancy, precision, and her signature paint spatter technique, the confections are like moon rocks transplanted from another galaxy.

The flavor profiles themselves are mounted before each row of bonbons, tiny and succinct invitations for your taste buds to come out and party like its 1999.

Ninja Turtle: Buttery caramel, ground toasted pecans

Yuzu: Dark chocolate with Japanese lime

Cognac: Liquid center with Couvoisier cognac.

Caramelized Pineapple. Buttery Popcorn, Mango Habanero, Lavender Apricot, Red Wine and Berry, Key Lime Pie . . .

In fact, the kitchen is oddly reminiscent of a laboratory, with neat rows of beakers and vials, test tubes, droppers, thermometer wands, gloves, and even a blowtorch. Every movement of artistic freedom is mirrored by one of laser-precision. The layers of every bonbon itself are painstakingly deposited by hand, infusing each with an array of stunning and perfectly balanced flavors. Every bonbon actually takes days to create from start to finish, each its own unique experiment.

Meanwhile, a chocolate wheel rotates methodically in the entryway of the kitchen, tempering its brew relentlessly to maintain the delicate chemical balances firmly dictated by laws of chemistry. Just one degree off and the texture, composition, the taste can change altogether.

“I love that the tiniest change can make the biggest difference,” Kate chimes in. “When you graduate culinary school, you tend to think there is only one way of doing things. One way to make a pie, one way to make a cake, but there are so many different ways. I’ve made every mistake possible and there are a million ways to mess up, so when you get it right, you really feel like you accomplished something that day.”

“I feel like everyone who specializes in chocolate is a little bit crazy.”

And this was true, in the very best of ways. At any given moment, the chef-owner voluntarily breaks into laughter, song, or dance that seems to well up from a constant supply of gratitude. “I grew up as a little wild child, always moving, dancing, creating something, getting dirty . . . I was in a break dancing club in high school, no big deal,” she jests, while striking a pose.

Petite, agile, and blonde, the native Kansan is the quintessential All-American girl whose open and amiable demeanor makes you feel like you’ve just run into a long-lost friend. As she speaks, she whirls about the kitchen, wearing her husband’s neon blue indoor soccer shoes (clearly several sizes too big).

“Our dog ate my really expensive chef shoes, so I ‘borrowed’ these from TJ,” she explains, responding to our film crew’s quizzical looks. “They’re so comfortable!”

Undoubtedly the object of many a “friend-crush,” Kate is the kind of person who you sincerely want to cheer on, if not be paired with in a three-legged race. Her aura is magnetic, which makes it obvious why her signature bonbons have become an overnight sensation among Trinity Groves patrons.

Inside her culinary laboratory one will happily discover the playground for a self- proclaimed “mad scientist” who has unleashed her inner artist. It’s a slight nod to a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-esque relationship but delightfully more endearing.

“I’m very easy going, but in the kitchen, I’m very deliberate and very methodical. Molding my personality to be these two different things at once actually works well with chocolate. I get to bring science and art together. There’s kind of like this weird balance between those two ideas. You have to follow certain scientific formulas and recipes and everything is very exact. If you’re off even the tiniest amount with whatever you’re working with, your entire recipe can just go out the window. But then there’s the art aspect where you take all those rules and all those formulas, bending them in a way that doesn’t ruin the recipe, but makes it your own.”

“It’s very methodical, it’s very deliberate, but then it’s also like, ‘Well, fuck it. Just have fun with it.’ You have to really be at the top of your game, but then be willing to throw caution to the wind at the same time.”

For Kate, the line between freedom and restraint is bridged by chocolate. Traces of the ethereal combination of passion and poise are everywhere: in the test tube displays of luscious pastel macaroons, between the smooth lines of the shop’s smart geometric branding, within the vibrant packaging of each box of delicacies, and, most prominently, in the larger-than-life portrait of the artist herself, face speckled with the same spectrum of color she uses to breathe life into her creations.

The stunning portraiture of the chef owner spans the back wall emphatically as a living hologram of her work itself—art bearing the very image of its maker. This is the marriage of form and content, of art and science, of passion and control, of heart and mind. We find it in Kate's art, and in the unforgettable taste of the love that has given birth to it.

When I ask if there’s much holding her back these days, she shrugs and smiles. “I sometimes get underestimated because of my youth or lack of life experience. I feel like I have to prove myself more. It doesn’t bother me, though.

“I never focus on the negative—I don’t have time.”

And honestly, we don’t either . . . because the chocolate is just that good.