The Divine Dish

Visit to Ethel M. Chocolate Factory, Las Vegas

Posted on Jun 02, 2010 under Archives | No Comment

A while back while researching info for my Las Vegas travel guidebook I took a tour of the Ethel M. Factory in Las Vegas.  Ethel M stores are found in Las Vegas, but if you don’t live there you have to order from their website.  Here are some pics inside the factory.

The tour is free and starts adjacent to the M & M Store, where you can buy just about anything with the M & M logo.  Here is a shot of the production tables, where all chocolates are hand crafted.

The tour is short and includes a mural of the history of Ethel M. Chocolates.  Head Pastry Chef Jin Caldwell accompanied me on the tour (interview is on last post).  In addition to thinking up and creating new chocolates, she often makes chocolate sculptures, one is below.

The tour ends at the Ethel M. Shop, where you can taste a sample (free!!) and see the many hand crafted chocolates that they create.

I wandered around here for awhile and Chef Jin was nice enough to select a huge bunch of chocolates for me.  They have massive amounts to choose from so I let her select a nice variety of favorites that she created.

In the winter Ethel M decorates the entire factory (and their huge cactus garden, which you can walk through after the tour) with Christmas lights, so December is a really nice time to visit.   The tour and chocolate samples are free and if you have kids or just love chocolate as much as I do  it is a great place to stop by when in Vegas.

I came away with tons of chocolates and a nice present for Matt.  The signature pecan brittle was my fave and didn’t last very long.  The Ethel M Chocolate Factory is located at 2 Cactus Garden Drive in Henderson.

Interview with Ethel M Chocolates Head Pastry Chef Jin Caldwell

Posted on Jun 02, 2010 under Archives, Chefs, Interviews | No Comment

On a recent visit to the Ethel M. Chocolate Factory I interviewed Jin Caldwell, who is their head pastry chef.  She was nice enough to give me a tour of the factory and picked out some great chocolates that she created.

For Caldwell,  the art of creating chocolate confections is the realization of a lifelong culinary passion. as the former chocolatier and pastry chef for Wynn-Las Vegas and the Bellagio Hotel, Chef Jin has worked under the direction of world renowned pastry chefs such as Jean-Phillipe Maury and Frederic Robert.   A graduate of  Le Cordon Blue Culinary School-Scottsdale, Arizona, Chef Jin has had a life long passion to create great cuisine.

Chef Jins’ culinary skills have earned her numerous awards and worldwide recognition. In 2003, she won the grand championship of the American Culinary Federation Culinary Challenge, with two “gold” and one “silver” medal. She has been featured in numerous national venues, including the Food Network and Rachel Ray programs Chef Jin also represented the United States at the 2006 World Ice Cream Cup in Rimini, Italy, where her chocolate-raspberry ice cream cake was judged to be among the world’s best.

In 2007, Chef Jin was invited to be one of 12 team captains selected for the prestigious national pastry team championships held in Nashville, Tenn. her 3-person “Team Caldwell” was also the first all-female pastry team to ever compete at this high level of culinary expertise, and earned a silver medal overall in the 13-hour competition. Team Caldwell also took first place in the chocolate entremet, frozen entremet & chocolate bon-bon categories.

Chef Jin sat down with me after our tour and talked about what probably is the best job in the world, creating great chocolates!