Pierre Hermé, one of France's most renowned pastry chefs, forged a strange alliance back in 1999: He teamed with an American supermarket to create a line of chocolates. Of course, the supermarket he chose wasn't your basic grocery store. It was Wegmans, a chain of innovative and ambitious megamarkets on the East Coast. Now, Hermé's velvety confections are available by mail order--most thrillingly, his passion fruit­-milk chocolate ganaches and pistachio-almond pastes dipped in dark chocolate. Given the premium ingredients, such as Valrhona chocolate, the $33-per-pound price is a bargain (www.wegmans.com). 

--Monica F. Forrestall

Published May 2002