What could be better than an all-chocolate kitchen?
The holiday music piping through the store adds to the notion that this is indeed a workshop in which magic is taking place.
That magic has been available for everyone to see the past few months inside of Chef Roby's All-Chocolate Kitchen, 507 S. Third St., Geneva.
Alain Roby has been juggling his job as the senior corporate pastry chef for Hyatt Hotels with some charitable work in his hometown since Sept. 10, when he opened his chocolate workshop with the intention of building an all-chocolate replica of his kitchen while also raising money for the Saving Tiny Hearts organization.
Roby finished the kitchen earlier this month, using 1,800 pounds of donated Belgium chocolate to complete it. He couldn't even estimate how long it took him.
“It was a lot of hours,” Roby said last week, while working on a sugar sculpture for a customer at the store. “I came in anytime I could after work, and I also took some vacation time and days off at the Hyatt, to work on the sculpture.”
The chocolate kitchen fills up a corner of the 2,000-square-foot suite, which was donated by developer Kent Shodeen and his family for Roby's charitable cause. The chocolate kitchen features an interesting piece, made to look like a painting, that combines parts of State and Third streets in a Geneva portrait.
The chocolate kitchen doesn't quite match the Guinness World Record 20-foot-high chocolate skyscraper that Roby created two years ago with 2,285 pounds of dark chocolate, but it has worked wonders for Saving Tiny Hearts.
“Those in the Saving Tiny Hearts organization have been very pleased,” said Roby, who along with his wife, Esther, chose the organization because of congenital heart problems one of their sons faced in the past.
The money raised at the shop through sales of Chef Roby recipe books, hot chocolate mixes and numerous chocolate specialties will go toward the work of Saving Tiny Hearts.
“But the shop has also helped with the awareness of the organization,” Roby said. “Spreading that awareness is just huge for them.”
The most popular items for visitors have been the chili hot chocolate hearts and the hot chocolate, Roby said.
Roby's original intent was to be in the Third Street storefront only through the holiday season, but so many people have asked about it staying open longer. He is now confident the kitchen will be around through January.
“I have talked to the Shodeen family and they are agreeable to letting me stay through January and maybe into February,” Roby said.
The idea has been swirling in Ruby's mind that the chocolate kitchen workshop concept could evolve into something permanent. But it's a big idea that Roby can't quite wrap his arms around at the moment.
“It would be a major time commitment, and I just can't think about that right now,” Roby said. “But we'll see what happens.”
The All-Chocolate Kitchen will be open from noon to 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24; will be closed Christmas Day and then open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 26, and 4 to 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 27. Later hours are planned for New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, with regular hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Jan. 2 and 4 to 7 p.m. Jan. 3.
If you go
<b>What: </b>Pastry chef Alain Roby's All-Chocolate Kitchen, featuring a chocolate replica of Roby's kitchen, and items for sale such as recipe books, hot chocolate mixes and chocolate specialties.
<b>Hours: </b>
Dec. 24: noon to 3 p.m.
Dec. 25: closed
Dec. 26: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Dec. 27: 4 to 7 p.m.
Dec. 31: noon to 8 p.m., possibly later
Jan. 1: closed
Jan. 2: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Jan. 3: 4 to 7 p.m.
The shop may stay open Fridays through Mondays through January.
<b>Where:</b> 507 S. Third St. Geneva
<b>Details:</b> chefalainroby.com