Hot Chocolate
“Crappy?” he said.
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Segal’s still getting used to being in charge. She started considering opening her own place about five years ago, while working under executive chef Michael Kornick at MK and MK North. Her signature desserts such as Cake ‘n’ Shake (chocolate cake accompanied by a miniature vanilla milk shake) became cult favorites at those restaurants. About two years ago she felt she was finally “old enough and mature enough” to run her own shop. “It’s the hardest and most humbling experience I’ve ever had. I don’t feel that this is my restaurant,” she says. “I feel like Michael Kornick’s going to come in telling me what I’m doing wrong.”
Segal swears she wasn’t thinking of cocoa when she named the place. “I didn’t have the drink in mind,” she says. “I thought about what the word portrays: loungey, warm, sexy, relaxed.” Still, the decor is pure Hershey’s. The letters on the sign outside look like dripping chocolate syrup, and dark brown wooden chairs inside are arranged around butterscotch tables. Even the occasional white accents–a flower arrangement at the bar, a small porcelain cat statue, a painting of a pale, curvy woman–evoke lush marshmallows floating in a mug.
