Before I hosted my first chocolate dinner 4 years prior to this one you see before you, the entire premise of these dinners actually grew out of a Caesar Salad I ate at a restaurant in Berkeley.  It was a solid Caesar Salad made with anchovies and egg yolks – the way a Caesar Salad should be. What made this salad memorable was the flaked chocolate intermingled amongst the flaked parmesan.  For days following this one meal, I just kept thinking about different flavors and foods that chocolate would complement.  The more I thought, the more I realized that I could also play with the traditional notions of chocolate and what — on the surface — is considered to be savory or sweet and create some really unique and flavorful experiences.  For that first, epic meal, I didn’t re-create that Caesar Salad (nor did I make what everybody thinks I make for every chocolate dinner – mole sauce) but for this FOURTH chocolate dinner, I did happen to deconstruct it in my head so that I could isolate what was memorable about a really good Caesar Salad.  What was lasting and vibrant was the way the flaked, dark chocolate added a complexity and coated the back of my throat as I swallowed each bite.  So atop my Caesar Salad was a light dusting of dark chocolate.  But, what really made my salad stand out from other Caesar Salads was something more; I heavily doused the salad with chocolate croutons.  Since chocolate bread is not necessarily something you’d find in your average or specialty grocery store, I made the bread from scratch.  I researched and practiced different types of breads, approaches and bread shapes to come up with the right texture to soak up the butter it would be cooked in and the dressing it would be served atop.  You might think all this for just some croutons?  The croutons added a richness and layer of flavor that an average Caesar Salad is often lacking because croutons are often just thrown on top with no care or consideration for the role they were meant to play in such a simple salad.  These buttery, baked treats bejeweling this simple Caesar Salad became the basis for so many other creations coming out of my kitchen – baguettes sliced, toasted and topped with tapenade, served with melted goat cheese and drizzled honey, sprinkled with olive oil and flaked sea salt – delicious!