A Museum Dedicated to Chocolate

Eddy Van Belle has set up Choco-Story chocolate museums in Belgium, France and Mexico, and it took very little for him to convince the master chocolatier Jacques Torres that New York needed one, too. Space was available, since Mr. Torres had moved his wholesale production out of his flagship shop in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manhattan. This chocolate museum takes history seriously, using priceless Mayan artifacts and other objects to tell a story that goes back to Ecuador in 3500 B.C. Ancient and modern chocolate-making equipment is on view, and demonstrations show how bonbons and traditional Mexican hot chocolate are made. There are chocolates to sample and a play area for children.