Mast Brothers Chocolate

Despite my many trips to New York City, I have never really explored Brooklyn. On my next trip there, I hope to make Brooklyn more of a focus. Among my stops will be the much-discussed, much-drooled-over, highly-recommended Mast Brothers Chocolate Factory in Williamsburg Village.

Mast Brothers is the only 'bean to bar' chocolate maker in New York City, and one of only a handful of such operations in the United States, doing all of their confection production in-house. The building in which they conduct their business is over 100 years old and to call it a factory may be a bit of a stretch, since the brothers (Michael and Rick) make all of the chocolates by hand with a devoted staff helping them along. The atmosphere, I'm told, is more like a studio with Rick and Michael working as "handcrafters of chocolate" as they like to refer to themselves. Each of the bars they make are individually wrapped by hand in beautiful, patterned paper - always a selling point for crafty types like me. The chocolate, having been made entirely by hand in their studio, must taste absolutely divine. Below are photographs by Eric Ryan Anderson.