> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://thechocolatelife.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Are these Twelve “The Only Chocolate Bars Worth Buying?” | #PSC 197 - URL: https://thechocolatelife.com/are-these-twelve-the-only-chocolate-bars-worth-buying-psc-197/ - Published: 2026-04-20T18:33:23.000Z - Updated: 2026-05-01T22:49:24.000Z - Description: Episode 197 of #PodSaveChocolate explores a very recent listicle post (April 17th, 2026) on the NY Times in which they claim there are only TWELVE bars under $25 worth purchasing. Which twelve bars are they, and how did the editor arrive at this startling conclusion? - Author: Clay Gordon - Tags: PodSaveChocolate, Live Stream 🗓️ Episode 197 streamed on Tuesday, April 21st, 2026\. Click a link below to view the archived episode. This ****YOUTUBE** link is shareable. 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[Watch this episode on Facebook ](https://www.facebook.com/share/18WekUYWzK/) --- ## **Episode 197 Overview** In this post in the ***How To Be Cultured*** section of the paper of record (The New York Times), we learn that “We asked 43 culinary professionals to tell us their favorite brands available in the United States. Below, their top nominations under $25, from least to most votes.” In this episode of PodSaveChocolate we’ll examine the claims and how they final list of twelve was arrived at. But first, let’s take a look at the background of the author (at the NY Times). ![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2026/04/mackenzieOster_NYTLinkedIn.jpeg) The author’s background at the NY Times (from their LinkedIn bio). [NYTimes link](https://www.nytimes.com/by/mackenzie-oster?ref=thechocolatelife.com). > What I couldn’t find (in LinkedIn or anywhere) is that the author has any subject matter expertise in the area of food or chocolate, and there’s nothing in her bio that suggests she has any specific background in maths, statistics, or survey study design. EVERYONE has to start somewhere, and someone at the NYTimes greenlit this article, which involved reaching out to more at least 43 people (there might have been some who did not respond). > > There’s no indication of how the contributors were selected, what they were asked (specifically), or if one of the two chocolate makers mentioned was prohibited from voting for their own bar. The selection criteria as I do understand them: 1. Under $25. 2. Must be available in the United States. 3. At least **two** of the 43 contributors must have nominated it. 4. Each nomination must be “a favorite *brand*” of the contributor. 5. The interviews were “edited and condensed.” 6. **Assumption:** The contributors were not picking from a list. **Evaluation Process** The page, as it is organized, is a mix of different underlying presentation (HTML coding) formats. So, first, I needed to figure out which data had to be extracted, how to extract it, and then get the data into a form (or forms) that that made comparison and analysis possible [The Only Chocolate Bars Worth BuyingWe asked 43 experts to tell us their favorite brands available in the United States. Here, their top nominations under $25.![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/icon/ios-ipad-144x144-28865b72953380a40aa43318108876cb.png)The New York TimesMackenzie Oster![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/thumbnail/17tmag-promoimages-slide-2AQJ-facebookJumbo.jpg)](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/04/17/t-magazine/best-chocolate-bars.html?unlocked%5Farticle%5Fcode=1.blA.nGQc.e4flXzWcpyre&smid=nytcore-ios-share&ref=thechocolatelife.com) Really? Only twelve? And ***these** twelve? I was forced to approach extracting the data from the page in steps: 1. I copied and pasted the list of contributors into an LLM chat pane and asked the LLM to parse it. (Pro tip: tell the LLM parser to key in on the semi-colons as the delimiter.) 2. Once I had a parsed list (below), I asked the LLM a) to figure out the company affiliation of the contributor and where (city, state, country) the company was located, and b) find a URL for the company, of if independent, for the contributor (not shown). Those tasks turned out to be difficult, and I had to manually hunted down the affiliation for about 1/3 of the list using a combination of search techniques. 3. I used an LLM skill (/web-scraper skill --llm-extract) to extract the data from the twelve bar recommendations in two steps, describing exactly was I was looking for each time. (Pro tip: stepwise refinement makes things go faster and reduces the likelihood that the LLM will return erroneous results – they do make mistakes, often very stupid ones, but sometimes very subtle ones.) The first step grabbed the company name, country, number of votes, and price, generating a table. The second step grabbed the comment (if there was one) and the name of the contributor, adding it to the table. 4. Once I had the two lists complete I queried each with a series of prompts. For example, for the Contributor Analysis table, I asked the LLM to generate a count of the number of times the phrase “chocolate maker” (and “chef” NOT “pastry” or “restaurateur”) appeared in the description, and a calculate a percentage of the overall total. Note: I have to check if the LLM included the column names in the total (44 rows instead of 43 rows when calculating the percentages. > What can we learn from analyzing the data on the page? # Contributor List | Name | Description | Affiliation | | ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------ | | Dominique Ansel | the pastry chef and bakery owner | Dominique Ansel Bakery | | Ligia Barros | the executive pastry chef | Rosewood Hotels & Resorts | | Youssef Boudarine | the pastry chef and bakery owner | J'adore Pastry | | Erik Bruner-Yang | the chef and restaurateur | Foreign National LLC | | Jami Callao | the corporate pastry chef | Respect Hospitality | | Nicola Collie | the chef and baker | The Chapel | | Aleksandra Crapanzano | the cookbook author | Independent | | Jaime Craten | the pastry chef | Westside Tavern | | **Heloise Fischbach**§ | the chef | Ecriture | | Monica Glass | the chef and cafe owner | Verveine Café and Bakery | | Valerie Gordon | the chef and chocolatier | Valerie Confections | | Aran Goyoaga | the cookbook author | Cannelle et Vanille | | Ioana Hercberg | the chef and restaurateur | La Cantine | | **Telly Justice**§ | the chef and restaurateur | HAGS | | **Sana Javeri Kadri**§ | the spice company founder | Diaspora Co. | | Elizabeth Koury | the pastry chef and bakery owner | Loser's Eating House | | E.J. Lagasse | the chef and restaurateur | Emeril's Restaurant Group | | Eunji Lee | the chef and bakery owner | Lysée | | Justine MacNeil | the pastry chef and restaurateur | Fiore | | **Tyler Malek**§ | the ice cream shop co-owner and cookbook author | Salt & Straw | | Todd Masonis | the entrepreneur and chocolate maker | Dandelion Chocolate | | Kate McAleer | the entrepreneur and chocolate maker | Bixby Chocolate | | Kimberly McIntosh | the baker | Milkfish Bakeshop | | Lucía Merino Casablanca | the pastry chef and bakery co-owner | Lucia Patisserie | | Camari Mick | the pastry chef | Raf's | | Natasha Pickowicz | the pastry chef and cookbook author | Flora Bar, Café Altro Paradiso | | **Claire Ptak**§ | the baker and cookbook author | Violet Cakes | | Woldy Reyes | the chef and cookbook author | Woldy Kusina | | Matthew Ryle | the chef | Maison François | | Sonoko Sakai | the cookbook author and cooking teacher | — | | Sarah Sanneh | the pastry chef and bakery owner | Pies 'n' Thighs | | Caroline Schiff | the pastry chef | Gage & Tollner | | Fjölla Sheholli | the restaurateur | Honey Badger | | Rachel Sherriff | the pastry chef | Marcus DC | | Estevan Silva | the pastry chef | Quince alum | | Nancy Silverton | the chef and restaurateur | Mozza Restaurant Group | | Orlando Soto | the pastry chef | Le Bernardin alum | | Lauren Tran | the pastry chef and bakery owner | Bánh by Lauren | | **Shilpa Uskokovic**§ | the bakery co-owner | Hani's Bakery | | Melissa Weller | the baker and cookbook author | Bub's Bakery | | Christina Wood | the pastry chef and bakery owner | Temple Pastry | | **Bronwen Wyatt**§ | the baker | Bayou Saint Cake alum | | Sasha Zabar | the ice cream shop owner | Glace | | | **§ contributed a comment** | | # Contributor Analysis | Parameter | Count | Percentage | | ----------------------------------------------- | ----- | ---------- | | Location (New York) | 19 | 43.2% | | Location (Not US; 3 UK - 2 London, 1 Hong Kong) | 4 | 9.1% | | Chocolate maker | 2 | 4.5% | | Chocolatier | 1 | 2.3% | | Pastry chef | 17 | 38.6% | | Bakers and bakery owner | 7 | 15.9% | | Chef (not pastry) | 12 | 27.3% | | Author | 8 | 18.2% | | Restaurateur | 7 | 15.9% | > What can we learn about the “chocolate appreciation level” of the contributors from the following list? # The NYTimes’ list of “The Only Chocolate Bars Worth Buying” | Name | Country | Price | Votes | Comment | Commentor | | -------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ----- | ----- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------- | | **Amedei** Toscano Black 70 | Italy | $9 | 2 | | | | **Compartés** Wild Cherry | U.S. | $10 | 2 | | | | **Fruition Chocolate Works** Spring Salted Dark Milk 56% | U.S. | $12 | 2 | | | | **Hu** Simple Dark | U.S. | $7 | 2 | | | | **La Maison du Chocolat** Saint-Honoré | France | $22 | 2 | You get two different types of chocolate layered — milk and caramelized white — finished with crunchy pecan. | Heloise Fischbach | | **Soma** Cacao Fruit Pulp | Canada | $15 | 2 | They have the most clever flavors, like ginger milk pudding and cacao fruit pulp. | Bronwen Wyatt | | **Raaka** Pink Sea Salt | U.S. | $7 | 3 | | | | **Tcho** Dark & Salty | U.S. | $6 | 3 | The beans are harvested at peak ripeness. | Tyler Malek | | **Cadbury** Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut | U.K. | $4 | 5 | A perfect ratio of raisins and nuts. | Claire Ptak | | **Dandelion Chocolate** Costa Emeraldas | U.S. | $15 | 7 | Rich, creamy and made with some of the best cacao beans. | Sana Javeri Kadri | | **Tony's Chocolonely** 70% dark | Netherlands | $6 | 9 | Pure, bitter and a little sweet. | Telly Justice | | **Valrhona** Manjari | France | $10 | 10 | Smooth, with balanced acidity. | Shilpa Uskokovic | # Vote Distribution | Votes | Count | Percentage | | ----- | ----- | ---------- | | 2 | 6 | 50.0% | | 3 | 2 | 16.7% | | 5 | 1 | 8.3% | | 7 | 1 | 8.3% | | 9 | 1 | 8.3% | | 10 | 1 | 8.3% | --- ### **In Conclusion** 1. **Why** did I spend my time examining this post? 2. What was the quality of the data on the page? 3. What was the point of this exercise on the part of the NY Times? What does this tell us about their editorial intent and process? 4. Does this advance the appreciation and advancement of chocolate? 5. In the final analysis, **is the headline *clickbait***? Are these twelve bars the only ones that are *actually* worth buying? --- ### **Future Episodes** 💡 None scheduled at the time of publication --- ### **Episode Hashtags and Social Media Links** #NYTimes #listicle #cocoa #cacao #cacau #chocolate #chocolat #craftchocolate #PodSaveChoc #PSC #LaVidaCocoa #TheChocolateLife --- ### **#PodSaveChocolate and #TheChocolateLifeLIVE Archives** **To read an archived post** and find the links to watch archived episodes, click on one of the bookmark cards below. 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