It's The Milk Chocolate (Can't Be Beat)

A brief slice of Americana - R. had a symposium to attend in Harrisburg on Friday, and I was nominated as the designated not-getting-lost person. My reward, as it were, would be a visit to Hershey Park on the way home. But before that, we had to navigate through at least one meal (the day was punctuated by free Hershey's chocolate, as I used the free wireless outside the symposium).

After some reconnaissance, two blocks away I found Bricco, a joint venture between the Hilton (where the symposium was held) and a local culinary school. I like these kinds of places, because it's all students, usually very eager, and even if the food ends up being no good (which is rare), it's usually not expensive ($42 for two apps, two mains, and wine). My favorite such place is in Barcelona - top-flight 4 course lunch, with wine and cigar, for under 20 euros (well, eight years ago that was an incredible bargain).

Food was not bad, flatbreads with hummus, caponata and a beet salad, followed by sweet potato ravioli for R. and bacon & blue-cheese burger for me. No complaints. If ever I return to Harrisburg, I shall dine at Bricco. We also took in a wine flight for lunch:

2007 Sella & Mosca "La Cala" Vermentino di Sardegna - fresh green nose, pear, papaya. Not very bright, but lots of leanness and cleanness, citrus, quinine and bitters. Despite the softness, this was actually pretty refreshing, and the only one R. liked.

2007 Geografico Vernaccia di San Gimignano - minerally and fragrant, touches of licourice and fennel. Light, fresh, floral, and again with the cleansing bitters. I enjoyed this one as well, but R. wasn't keen on the licourice aspect.

2007 Attems Pinot Grigio (Collio) - not great, but it reminded me that I like what they do with the grape in Friuli - aromatic, a bit grassy. An almost oily palate, disappointingly soft - perhaps it saw some oak (which is to say, too much), but such a different PG profile - not overtly oaky , nothing buttery or vanilla'd, but rather wooly and medium-bodied. I didn't much care for it, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Soon, it was time for my reward. Which is to say, to take R. to Hershey so she could get her reward. The free tour was a lot like "It's A Small World" crossed with Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, complete with singing cows - for me, total nightmare - when I was about 9 years old, we got stuck in the Disneyland IaSW ride - the transport system broke down while we were in the deepest levels of hell - it took them about an hour to get it moving again, perhaps longer, and we weren't allowed to get out of the boats (naturally). Unfortunately, the music and puppets were on a different electrical system and remained completely and utterly functional throughout the ordeal.



This is not my video, but I think the caterwauling of the girl in this video is the perfect punctuation to the experience. When the 10 minutes of torture is complete, you are spun out into a vast chocolate shop, with impressive selections of every Hershey product, including 5 pound Hershey bars, giant Hershey kisses, yard-long Twizzlers, saucer-sized York Peppermint Patties, Jolly Ranchers that would give you lockjaw, and the indispensible chocolate lip balm.

So there you are, we've gone and done Hershey. Now you don't have to.