Once upon a time, no self-respecting traveler would visit Atlantic City without bringing home a souvenir box of assorted flavors of saltwater taffy. In Provincetown, there’s a fudge shop on practically every corner. Tourists flock to tour the chocolate factory in Hershey. Even Buffalo prides itself on being the “sponge candy capital of the world.” But what about Woodstock? What’s that town’s signature sweet?
Up until now, there hasn’t been any. But things are changing: There’s a high-end artisan chocolatier in town now, enviably perched right on the edge of the Village Green, in the space that used to be a Win Morrison real estate office at 2 Old Forge Road. And the chocolates are divine. It’s only a matter of time before visitors won’t dream of leaving Woodstock without a box of EJ Bonbons tucked in their totebag. And locals will dream of getting an assorted box of these morsels as a gift for any occasion.
EJ Bonbons & Confections opened on May 28, the brainchild of Emily Kellogg and Pierre Pouplard. Kellogg is a Woodstock native who always knew she would make sweets for her living. “I was 6 the first time I ever made cupcakes from scratch,” she says. “I was 8 when I first learned about the Culinary Institute of America and said, ‘This is what I’m doing with my life.’”
While still in high school, Kellogg took cooking classes at Ulster BOCES, and then attended the CIA, with a concentration in pastry-making. Upon graduation, she headed for New York City, where she “worked at quite a few restaurants,” with her eye on the prize of eventually ending up at Per Se, “the Holy Grail of restaurants to work at in Manhattan” circa 2016.
She got hired at Per Se, a three-Michelin-starred sanctum of French/American cuisine in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, about five years ago. “I was working in pastry, but got put on the chocolate station,” she relates. “At the end of your meal, you get shown this box of chocolates, and that’s the grand finale of your meal.”
Kellogg got hooked on the exact science and subtle art of chocolate-making, working her way up to the post of head chocolatier. She also fell for a co-worker, sous-chef Pierre Pouplard. A native of Nantes who first learned to cook from his grandmothers, both accomplished chefs, Pouplard got his professional training at the École Grégoire-Ferrandi. He worked at such prestigious restaurants as Le Meurice Paris and La Tour d’Argent Paris, but “always wanted to work in another country,” he says. The international reputation of Thomas Keller, chef/owner of Per Se as well as the French Laundry in California’s Napa Valley, lured Pouplard to New York.
When the pandemic struck and restaurants had to shut down, the couple started “talking about our future – doing something more sustainable,” Kellogg recounts. “We were visiting my mom in Woodstock, and we saw that this shop was available. We really lucked out.” They pounced on the space, engaging a carpenter uncle to renovate it. The counter in the sunny front room is shingled with barn boards from a family farm in Vermont and topped with a slab of marble from a nearby quarry.
But it’s in the back where the magic happens: a chocolate-making laboratory with walls covered with white tile (for easily cleanup of spatters), filled with shining stainless-steel equipment. There’s a Selmi automatic tempering machine that keeps the bonbons at the optimal temperature to set up, as well as a panner, a sort of centrifuge for tumbling nuts in a chocolate coating. The spherical bonbon molds are made of polycarbonate, kept perfectly polished to give the candies a high-gloss finish. Kellogg and Pouplard use colored cocoa butter to paint the shells of the bonbons with stripes, streaks and starlike patterns that identify what flavors are in the ganache inside.
“Chocolate is a very scientific and time-consuming product,” Kellogg observes. “Part of what made me fall in love with chocolate is that it’s a challenge. You have to follow rules.”
The results of their painstaking labors are displayed in the front counter, arrayed in long wooden racks that Pouplard made himself. Each bonbon is a true work of art, to the point where it feels almost sacrilegious to bite into one. Right now, they’re available in a dozen flavors: Black Forest, Hazelnut Praline, Lemon Custard, Maple Pecan, Matcha Yuzu, Mojito, Passionfruit, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Raspberry Dark Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Strawberry Cheesecake and Tiramisu. “We’ll change some in three or four weeks,” Kellogg promises. “As the year goes on, the flavors are going to change to reflect seasonality.” The couple made three specials for Fathers’ Day: Maker’s Mark Bourbon, Rémy Martin and Spicy Mexican Hot Chocolate.
What’s her personal favorite? “Strawberry Cheesecake. I could eat that all day.” Pouplard favors the classic Hazelnut Praline, Kellogg says. This visitor from Hudson Valley One loved sampling them all, but was especially entranced with the tart fillings: the Mojito, the Passionfruit and the Raspberry Dark Chocolate. The latter is even vegan.
Also available are caramels in five flavors, nougats, dragees (chocolate-covered almonds, peanuts and hazelnuts) and pâté de fruit. Prices range from $12 for a small selection to $32 for one each of all 12 bonbons, with an identifying key. The packaging is very classy: metal tins and boxes that look like books, all emblazoned with the tasteful EJ Bonbons & Confections logo. You’ll see that painted on their picture window as well, and on their wall the slogan, “Art never tasted so good.”
Amen. Woodstock didn’t know it needed this place, but it does now. Check it out from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday or 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. To learn more, visit https://ejchocolates.com or www.facebook.com/ej-bonbons-and-confections.
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