Vosges Haut Chocolat: What flavor is your favorite?

Whenever my husband and I are in Chicago, we try to stop into the original (I think?) Vosges Haut Chocolat boutique on Michigan Avenue and have a glass of their La Parisienne or Aztec Elixir Exotic Couture Cocoa. Now our local wine store sells Vosges chocolate bars and the cocoa mixes, so I like to try to sneak a couple of bars in on top of our order. (Vosges is expensive, no doubt, but added to a couple of bottles of liquor and wine my husband barely notices!)

My all-time favorite is the Goji: goji berries + pink Himalayan salt + deep milk chocolate. The combinations are unique so you have to taste slowly and savor every flavor. Also wonderful is the Black Pearl (ginger + wasabi + black sesame seeds + dark chocolate), the Creole (New Orleans style chicory coffee + cocoa nibs + Sao Thome bittersweet chocolate), and the Red Fire (Mexican ancho & chipotle chillies + Ceylon cinnamon + dark chocolate).

I don't like nuts, so that limits my options a bit. But my husband likes the Woolloomooloo (roasted & salted macadamia nuts + Indonesian coconut + hemp seeds + deep milk chocolate).

I haven't tried any of the Vosges Organic Exotic candy bars--if you have, please weigh in! Also, awhile back on some food channel I watched the making of a Mo's Milk Chocolate Bacon Bar (applewood smoked bacon + Alder wood smoked salt + deep milk chocolate). Very intriguing but I haven't been brave enough to try--yet! I like bacon and of course I like chocolate, so why not??!

Vosges's truffles are amazing, and also diversely flavored! --and named! I'm always hoping my husband will gift me with a Lunar Chocolate of the Month collection of truffles. Okay, maybe that's a little much; how about the Gatsby collection (available only during January and February)? Who wouldn't love this?:

Inspired by the famous love story of the Great Gatsby and the love of his life, Daisy, I [Vosges Owner/Chocolatier, Katrina Markoff] created a collection of two decadent truffles. Rich dark chocolate swirled with bubbly brut Champagne and topped with a red rose petal completes the Gatsby truffle. The delicate Daisy truffle pairs white chocolate with pink rosé Champagne from Reims and a few drops of rose water, kissed with a pink rose petal atop. The 16 piece box arrives dressed in a prim pin-up girl wrap with secret love notes tucked inside and includes 12 Gatsby and 4 Daisy truffles.

Or maybe something a little more unusual on the palate, such as the Collezione Italiana?:

Sweet and savory, reinterpreted. Lift the purple lid and experience Italy in an interpretation of savory + sweet. Your tasting begins with the Rooster truffle, a mélange of Taleggio cheese, organic walnuts and Tahitian vanilla beans draped in bittersweet dark chocolate. A bit salty, slightly tannic and rich in mouth-feel with an undercurrent of sweetness.

Um, whoa.

Everything is pretty pricey but a worthy occasional splurge. If you do purchase one of the Couture Cocoa mixes, follow the recipe on the back of the box, or I like blogger Topsy Turvy's method.

So, what are your favorite Vogges chocolates? I'll be flying through O'Hare on the way to Washington DC this weekend; I may need to pick up some chocolates at the Vosges boutique in the airport! Recommendations welcome!