"The Enfant Terrible of the chocolate world!" - Steve DeVries
A few weeks after I visited Maison du Chocolat, they phoned me and said that Robert Linxe was visiting from Paris and he wanted to meet me. I was a little nervous because people say he's the world's greatest chocolatier. But I met him and he was very nice to me. He kissed me on both cheeks. He spoke mostly French and someone translated.
 I gave him one of my chocolate bars and he sat down and tasted it. It took him a while. When he was done, he said "Extraordinaire - This is very fruity and smooth. You must have had a factory help you make this." I said no, I made it in my kitchen. He laughed and thought that was very funny.  He wanted to know what dreams I had for the future. He told me that I would be able to do great things someday if I continued to have passion. He told me about all the years he worked on chocolate as an apprentice and how hard he worked and how he started Maison du Chocolat. He said that the most important thing was to have passion for what you do. Then he gave me his favortie truffle to taste - the Baccus. It was extraordinary. I am proud to say that we are now friends and I will never forget the encouragement he gave me. |