By David Klotz, special to the Blog
For a decade and a half Chocolat Vitale has sat at the corner of 3rd and 65th, existing in the liminal space between Phinney Ridge and Ballard known as Stumbletown. What started as a purely wholesale chocolate provider has been turned into an eclectic shop specializing in, yes, primarily chocolate, but also an array of hand curated and hard to find fine food and beverage items.
And of course there’s the records. Lots and lots of records.
But first was the chocolate. Chocolat Vitale started purely as a wholesale purveyor, but when current owner Janet and her husband Cam and sister Carol took over the business in 2010 the plan was to make it retail first. They moved into the old New Roots Organics location (which now sits at 46th and Leary) and continued the line of drinking chocolate started by the previous owner. But their love of collectibles spawned another line of business, sitting in the same store.
“We would just find stuff, which people would come in and buy,” she said of the early chocolate-antique store.
Over the years the consumables would expand, and the collectibles would focus.
“I have some of the best cheese in Seattle” she says proudly, and with justification. She sources from France, Italy, Switzerland, as well as locally. And her “cheese guy” is the “best kept secret in Seattle!” Many of the cheeses sold are hard to find anywhere else.
There’s also tea, wine and of course plenty of chocolate. And like the cheese these are often sourced directly, through relationships she’s built up. The Darjeeling she served me was from a third generation estate, the chocolate directly from a small family provider in Venzuela.
All of the consumables are precisely curated. “I’m trying to find stuff people haven’t seen, and can’t get on Amazon…that’s my goal. A respect for food.”
But what about all the records?
Chocolat Vitale had always been full of collectibles since the retail store opened, and it still has tons of items for sale. But during the pandemic the focus shifted to records.
“We have a small, but mighty collection,” Janet says.
Husband Cam has been the main driver on the vinyl side of the business. As a record collector since the age of 8, this was a natural fit. But it also helped that during the pandemic people were looking for things they could enjoy at home. As a café they were allowed to stay open with precautions, and they ended up selling “a LOT of wine, chocolate and vinyl.”
With such an eclectic collection, how does it all tie together?
“They are all the things you can get into at any level: beginner, intermediate or advanced, and enjoy,” Janet says. “That’s my model.” And indeed Janet is happy to dive deep into the intricacies of tea, some from that Darjeeling estate, or just serve you a cup to enjoy, while Cam was ready to help me to track down information on my own hard to find record, which I’d been stumped to identify beforehand.
So be sure to stop by, and if you happen to be in on a weekend, you might even get to see Cam DJ!
