Alan “Patric” McClure, owner of Patric Chocolate, is the kind of guy who blushes when you tell him, “My editor sent me here because you’re famous.”
We’re standing in the middle of Central Market’s busiest intersection – a place where people and grocery carts collide – and it takes him a couple minutes to recover from my forward introduction. When McClure gathers his thoughts, he launches into his insane foodie-ism and then does something completely unexpected: he starts modeling with his chocolate. Tyra would be proud.
Jump for some funny photos.
Before he launched his modeling career inside Central Market, Alan McClure was just a regular guy who was crazy about food. He decided to invest in some high-quality cocoa beans online and make his own chocolate from scratch. Sounds pretty normal, right? Actually, no; most chocolate doesn’t come straight from cocoa beans anymore, so McClure’s chocolate is special (and pricey at $7-$8 per bar). The ingredients are kept to a minimum because good chocolate doesn’t need much to bring out its flavors.
Take his Mocha OMG bar, for example. McClure only uses cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, and espresso beans to create a bar that is rich and buttery.
Photographer William Neal and I told McClure to stand in front of his chocolate so we could take a few photos. But then he got really into it… does anyone else foresee an America’s Next Top Chocolate-Maker?
Alan “Patric” McClure was here in Dallas as part of Central Market’s Chocolate Festival. The last vendor of the festival, Shawn Askinosie of Askinosie Chocolate, will be at the Southlake location from noon until 4 pm today.
