Sweet Freak scoop: Hot Chocolate Festival comes a day early

Just as I was reminding Alex that we're six days out to City Bakery's month-long Hot Chocolate Festival, I got a message from Maury: the festival not only starts a day early, but is staying open late to celebrate.

The 17th annual festival kicks off this Saturday, the 31st, at the normal opening hour of 7:30 a.m. But just in case you're too busy shopping sales, catching the Oscar nominations, taking in Marlene Dumas at Moma, or sleeping off Friday night's soirées, City Bakery will remain open until midnight in celebration of the festival. That’s 16 ½ hours of decadent hot cocoa, followed by a month of experimental flavors like banana peel, beer, ginger, caramel and, Maury's favorites, bourbon and vanilla bean.

What's more, they're introducing "Lights Out Hot Chocolate" this year. Every day at 3 o'clock, the mezzanine lights go off and the candles get lit creating not only a moody way to sip your cocoa, but also a sweet way to save energy. How do you like that, Mr. President?

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