“It’s super scientific,” said Mike Landgraff Jr. as he delicately whisked the mysterious blend of cream, syrup, and Belgian chocolate in a metal mixing bowl. “Making chocolate is the closest thing to a chemistry class you’ll ever get. There is a lot more going on there than you can see.”
The back room on the far side of his shop’s glass partition does look a bit like a laboratory, but the aroma of hot chocolate—as in real melted chocolate, the kind that quashes the most fervent diet with a single dollop—floods the air, and Landgraff Chocolate seems a lot more like “Willie Wonka” than science.
Landgraff Chocolate is a family-owned operation that opened its doors last August in Boardman. The store sits at 850 E. Western-Reserve Road in a small strip-plaza surrounded by fields just off the I-680 interchange. It’s an unprepossessing location, until you enter the store and catch sight of the chocolates lined along the trays inside. Out on the sales floor the walls are still collecting decorations and the number of candy trays behind a glass partition do not quite run the length of the counter, but the chocolates are extraordinary, both in taste and in appearance. Many of the confections literally shine as if made of polished metal, an effect of trade secrets that Landgraff refuses to divulge.
The Landgraffs are local people making a go of it in a slowly recovering economy. So far the store has seen steadily increasing sales, several joint promotions, and a loyal customer base. The business is filling corporate orders that run in the thousands of pieces. And their Facebook page is already filling up with testimonials. “I stopped here for the first time ever yesterday and Michael was so incredibly helpful and nice!” a woman named Melissa posted.
“The chocolates were amazing.” Mike Landgraff Jr. is indeed a big, friendly man who has a surprisingly delicate touch at cooking things, something he’s been doing his whole life. He admits he sneaks a bonbon from the sale counter every now and again. “One piece a day makes your day really good.” Coffee-filled is his favorite.
The chocolate store opened a few doors down from the Bread Chef, the other family business run by Mike Landgraff Sr. The elder Landgraff learned the chocolate trade after working several years for another candy-maker in the region and then collecting literally hundreds of candy cookbooks. “Since then, he’s had chocolate in his head,” said Mike about his father. Mike Landgraff Sr. taught the trade to his son, who is also a professional drummer in several local bands, and Mike Jr. has been perfecting his candy-making talents ever since.
The craft of the chocolatier is remarkably precise. Making quality confections is actually a two-day process. Tempering machines keep the rich streams of melted chocolate “exactly right all the time,” said Mike Landgraff Jr. Laser thermometers gauge the exact moment to pour the tiny buttons of pure chocolate into the frothing bowl of cream, Landgaff’s mixing technique has the practiced meticulousness of a professional musician (which he is), and the mixture suddenly coalesces into a mouthwateringly thick, deep brown ganache. The newly-made ganache will rest for an hour, butter will be added to the mix, and the final product will be piped into ornate chocolate molds which will then sit for 24 hours before the chocolates are ready to be placed in the showroom trays. Sixty-eight degrees is the exact right temperature for storing chocolate. Climate control is a necessity.
“We build these upside-down,” Mike Landgraff Jr. said, referring to the molds which give the bonbons their delicate shapes: florets, sea-shells, smooth domes, hearts, geometric patterns, or stylized animals. The most striking are fish-shaped chocolates about the size of a gold-fish; these piscatorial candies are tri-colored, shading from purple to reddish to green. Its confections have over 30 varieties of flavor made in-house. The Landgraff family roasts their own almonds, creates all their own fillings, and uses entirely natural ingredients. “I like to consider this an art,” Mike Landgraff Jr. said. “It’s the not rushing that makes these so good.”
Surprisingly, given the quality of their artisanship, the chocolatiers are at least partly self-taught from hundreds of books on candy making. The family bought the best machines available from Italy—the “Cadillac of chocolate machines,” according to Mike Landgraff Jr. —top grade raw chocolate from the country most famous for its confections, and coffee from Branch Street Coffee Roasters in Boardman.
This combination of the international and the local is part of the Landgraff mission. Last May Landgraff Chocolate paired with Magic Tree Pub for a sold-out night of wine and chocolates. Their chocolate bars can be found at High Octane Coffee in Canfield. And, of course, they continue to look for new partnerships. Their contribution, they hope, is one small part of a new phase for northeastern Ohio, and Youngstown, in particular, which has made national headlines for its economic hardship. Landgraff Chocolates, Mike Landgraff Jr. said, is part of what he sees as a Youngstown renaissance.
“I’m really glad that the entire Youngstown community is starting to support these kinds of businesses and we want everybody to know that we make our chocolate right here,” Mike Landgraff Jr. said.
Landgraff Chocolate – 850 E. Western-Reserve Road, Boardman, 44514. Phone: 330-953-0255. Facebook: www.facebook.com…
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