Premium baking chocolates in Chicago

Anyone here have a good source for decent-quality baking chocolates in Chicago? We're trying to avoid Baker's and Nestle. We can find a 5kg block of Callebaut unsweetened online for $60 shipped, but it'd be nice to find a local source, especially one that can sell us, say, half that quantity.

We obviously aren't tied to callebaut. If anyone else has personal recommendations for brands or producers, please let me know..

Whole Foods usually has Valrhona and Callebaut, plus one or two other brands. I don't know how the prices compare to what you've found online.

Fox & Obel has a rather large chocolate selection.

Yeah, but Fox and Obel is rather expensive... also, their selections seem geared towards eating chocolates, rather than unsweetened chocolate.. I'm really hoping there's some local independent place that mostly does wholesale, but can break me off a chunk every now and then.

gleam wrote:Yeah, but Fox and Obel is rather expensive... also, their selections seem geared towards eating chocolates, rather than unsweetened chocolate.. I'm really hoping there's some local independent place that mostly does wholesale, but can break me off a chunk every now and then.

Have you contacted Blommer's? They have a small retail oeration in their factory that seems to have a little bit of everything, and if they don't have it, they can go "in the back" and get it for you. Just follow your nose (unless the Feds have shut it down).

Blommer's
600 W Kinzie St
Chicago, 60610
Telephone: (312) 492-1336

I can confirm that Blommer's sells a variety of 10 lb. chocolate blocks for $30 IIRC. I cannot quite remember if they had unsweetened (I know they had bittersweet), but I would not be surprised.