Five Around the Drive: Hot Chocolate

There's nothing like hot chocolate to warm up your holiday spirit. Here are five options for enjoying a cup of cheer around town.

1.  Julienne  Hot Chocolate, $3.55. At Julienne, the loving attention to culinary details doesn't stop at the cuisine. Their delicious hot chocolate is made from actual pieces of dark chocolate, and turns out as a rich, creamy libation with just the right amount of sweetness. Ringing up at just under $4.00 with tax, it's the priciest drink on this list, but it's worth it.

2. Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate, $2.95 (tall size). You may have had the regular hot chocolate at Starbucks, but once you try the salted caramel version, it might be tough to go back. Combining mocha, toffee nut and caramel flavors with a dash of real sea salt, this is not your grandmother's hot chocolate (unless, of course, she used salted caramel for hers). It's on their holiday menu, but you might be able to sweet-talk the baristas into making it for you in the off-season, too. 

3. Café de Roma, $2.25 (small size). A new addition to the San Marino scene, Café de Roma is located across the street from Mission Nursery, on the corner of Euclid and Mission. Here you can get a tasty, and reasonably priced, hot chocolate made from Bellagio brand gourmet mixes. Whether you choose the regular or the white chocolate, you're in for a treat. 

4. Sweet & Savory, $3.00. If you like your chocolate on the bittersweet side, Sweet & Savory has the drink for you. Made with a "healthy" helping of real chocolate pieces, this hot chocolate is a definite indulgence. They usually add heavy whipping cream to it as well; I passed on that, but believe me, it was still plenty decadent. (Sweet & Savory also offers a hot chocolate for kids, made with Ghirardelli syrup, for $1.50.)

5. Want to mix up some hot chocolate at home? Your local Starbucks on Huntington Drive offers a sampler trio of cocoa mixes (toasted marshmallow, peppermint, and classic) for $9.95. (You can order other varieties, including the salted caramel flavor, from the online Starbucks store.) Julienne also sells their hot chocolate mix for $12.95. And you can pick up a number of different Bellagio mixes at Café de Roma; my personal preference would be the tin of sipping chocolate ($9.00) because I'm a sucker for the whole European-café aura that goes with it.