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It is hard to deny the cleverness of the machines on the production line: a potbellied roaster tumbling cacao beans, a scrolling conveyer belt longer than a football field that gently cools new-minted bars. Not surprisingly, the scent of hot cocoa was intoxicating.

Theo Chocolate, 3400 Phinney Avenue North; (206) 632-5100; theochocolate.com. Prices: from $1.25 for a peanut-butter buddy to $70.40 for a 32-piece box of confections.

BAKERY NOUVEAU

William Leaman, the chef and owner at Bakery Nouveau, led a team to victory at the 2005 Coup du Monde de la Boulangerie, and high on a shelf in his Valrhona-brown shop sits the enormous shiny trophy.

It seems that the polymath Mr. Leaman has never stopped competing, at least with himself, and the selection at Bakery Nouveau borders on overwhelming. There are thick slices of pizza (more like cheese-topped focaccia, but a favorite of my cheese-loving 5-year-old son); macarons in neon shades of pink, lilac and azure; and ham sandwiches on wee house-made baguettes.

Mr. Leaman and his crew also make other pastries: the bakery is celebrated for its twice-baked almond croissant, wildly sweet and craggy with baked almond cream, almond slivers and a blizzard of confectioners’ sugar (a cup of strong coffee is its appropriate partner).

But one gets the impression that Mr. Leaman’s greatest creative pleasures aren’t these casual treats, but the geometric cakes and mousse confections that shimmer in the refrigerated case.

These are stealthy desserts: the chocolate praline, for instance, smuggles crispy shards of feuilletine wafers inside its tawny mousse; wedges of chocolate cake in an armor of thin tiles of chocolate gleam darkly like Darth Vader, while golden cylinders of Phoenix cake hide pear mousse and pecan dacquoise beneath a caramel glaze.

Bakery Nouveau, 4737 California Avenue SW; (206) 923-0534; bakerynouveau.com. Prices: from $1.50 for a macaroon to $5.50 for a slice of Phoenix.

FULL TILT ICE CREAM

You might find more exquisite fare scooped from the roving Parfait Ice Cream truck — check Twitter for its latest location (twitter.com/ParfaitIceCream), and if you catch it, order the garden-fresh mint stracciatella — but Full Tilt delivers a funky atmosphere that keeps you hanging around long after that salted caramel ice cream has been slurped.

In White Center, the ethnic hodge-podge of a neighborhood in an unincorporated area just south of Seattle, Justin Cline and his wife, Ann Magyar, have established an unofficial community center that dishes out a powerful combination of ice cream, vintage arcade games and occasional live music. (There’s also Belgian Tripel ale from the brewery around the corner.)

Mr. Cline is a tinkerer inspired by the ethnic grocery stores around him: there’s cinnamon-scented Mexican chocolate or ube, which is infused with the purple-red Filipino yam and tastes mildly of butterscotch. (There’s also a tub of vanilla littered with sprinkles and bashed-up store-bought birthday cake — a punk gesture that is not quite as tasty as it is funny.)

On a recent visit, I was a little disappointed that Mr. Cline was not yet making his Mexican-style popsicles in flavors like mango-chili and sweet tea. I soothed myself with a bowl of toasted coconut ice cream.

And then, while my son played Blasteroids in the back, a youth soccer team, with parents in tow, joyfully overtook the shop, with someone plunking down a box of trophies on a nearby table. Politically, sweets might be a loaded issue, but it’s hard to deny their neighborly power.

Full Tilt Ice Cream, 9629 16th Avenue SW (and two other locations); (206) 767-4811; fulltilticecream.com. Prices: from $2.75 to $3.50.

 NY Times, May 16, 2010

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