11/18/2009
enlarge
Photo by Jeff Pouland
enlarge
Photo by Jeff Poulandfrom the Kennebec Journal
FAIRPOINT PLAN TARGETS DEBT
Wind project off Mass. meets strong resistance
Three bills seek tougher rules for petitioners
New rules for special education debated
Happy apples
AUGUSTA: Cuts to French curriculum run into opposition
HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL: Hall-Dale drops MVC title game to Mountain Valley
HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY NOTEBOOK: Different stakes in Gardiner-Winslow rivalry
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
'At the time ... he was psychotic'
Man answers door, is attacked with Mace and then robbed
FairPoint reorganization plan aims to slash company's debt
Concerns over special-education changes aired
FAIRFIELD: Clinton man, 21, arrested on rape, assault charges
Stun gun, arrest of suspect end high-speed, 2-town chase
HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY NOTEBOOK: Gardiner, Winslow take to ice again
GIRLS BASKETBALL: Skowhegan wins KVAC A title game
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
Again and again.
Hewey, a sales representative on the road for radio station 92 Moose and a resident of Manchester, said she loves the new Maynard's Chocolates shop in the Hathaway Creative Center on Water Street.
But, she said, it's the blueberry bark that keeps her coming back for more.
"I'm a customer there, and I think they have a really niche little product there -- it's kind of like a chocolate a day keeps the doctor away," Hewey said. "I love dark chocolate. I have a passion for dark chocolate, but I love the ones with the blueberries in it -- it's like the old-fashioned tree bark. I call it blueberry bliss."
Wanda and Charles Theobald opened Maynard's Chocolates in the former C.F. Hathaway shirt factory on Nov. 11 after months of planning, the couple said. A grand opening ceremony is set for Dec. 5.
The store, with homemade and hand-dipped chocolates galore, is named for Wanda's late father, Maynard, a hard-working man who died at age 55 in 1973, she said. It is among the first retail outlets to open in the former factory, which closed in 2002 and has undergone extensive renovations to offer retail, living and office spaces. Developers have estimated the total cost of the project at $35 million.
The Theobalds, who live in Winslow, where Charles is an on-call fire captain, got married two years ago.
Charles, 56, originally from Long Island, N.Y., came to Maine 19 years ago and worked for Mid-State Machine and Kennebec Tool and Die. Wanda, 47, is from the Ellsworth area and works as a billing specialist for a local doctor.
Recently they joined forces with chocolatier Jeff Young, Wanda's brother.
"This actually was a dream of Wanda's for a long time, to have her own chocolate factory, chocolate store, and I really caught on to the idea," Charles said. "We wanted this to be so that everybody can watch the chocolate being processed, watch all the truffles being dipped and made, educate people on how it's being done -- not the modern way, not with enrovers and machines or conveyor belts.
"The chocolate we're using is pure chocolate; nothing is added to it. By hand-dipping it, it takes a lot longer, but you're getting perfect chocolate."
And everything is visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows on the main floor of the Hathaway Creative Center. Melting pots temper the raw chocolate quietly and smoothly right next to the window -- one for dark chocolate, the other for milk chocolate.
Visitors are invited to a drop a cookie into the warm vat for a tasty treat.
"There's no machine doing anything -- everything is being done by hand," Charles said.
Inside the shop are displays of maple penuche, mint chocolate and vanilla fudge, chunks of chocolate varieties, specialty gift boxes, novelty-brand candies from the 1950s and '60s, along with homemade ice cream and low-fat gelato, or Italian ice cream.
"All the gelato and the ice cream is made right here," Charles said. "We make our own fudges, make our own brittle, all our own barks, clusters; everything with milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, it's all hand-dipped right here."
Wanda Theobald said her brother has been in the business for many years, and is the inspiration behind Maynard's Chocolate. All the cooking is done in copper kettles right there in the store kitchen.
"Jeff created, or invented, lobster ice cream," she said. "He worked in Bar Harbor for about 25 years at Ben & Bill's Chocolate Emporium -- he really put them on the map with the lobster ice cream. His work is just tremendous."
Lobster ice cream will be available at the store in the near future, she said, but miniature chocolate turkeys are available now as place setters, just in time for Thanksgiving.
The shop is open Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Doug Harlow -- 474-9534,
ext. 342
dharlow@centralmaine.com
Reader comments
Click here to view or add reader comments