Cherri’s Chocol’art
101 S. Kalaamazoo MallI know you’re tired of hearing this but man, what a year.
A year ago, J and I were celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We flew first class from Chicago, ate so much amazing food, drank cocktails out of pineapples at our resort’s swim up bar, and toured the historic forts of old San Juan.
This year, we took our kids, masked up, to downtown Kalamazoo for milkshakes and Taco Bob’s after a hike in Portage.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. It doesn’t matter where or how we celebrate as long as we celebrate another year together.
Our day started at AYSO soccer in the morning. Both kids are playing this year so we spent a couple of hours at the Drake Road AYSO fields. We picked up lunch from Kelvin and Company….and Jimmy Johns because the boy doesn’t like BBQ or Mac ‘n Cheese (yeah, I feel like I failed him). We then chilled at home before going for a hike at Bishop’s Bog Preserve in Portage.
We promised the kids if they were good on the hike, we’d go get the fancy milkshakes we’ve been seeing on Facebook.
The kids really wanted those milkshakes and the hike was short so we headed downtown.
Those fancy milkshakes we keep seeing are at Cherri’s Chocol’art right on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Kalamazoo Mall in downtown Kalamazoo. The super fancy chocolate shop is on the bottom floor of the Peregrine 100 building building right on the corner.
The entrance to the large chocolate shop is on the Kalmazoo Mall side of the building. There’s a small outdoor dining are set up outside and we had every intention of grabbing a table after we got our treats from the inside.
Cherri’s Chocol’art moved down the street not too long ago. They used to be in a shop closer to South Street. The move to this space in the Peregrine Building gives them a lot more room. It’s actually kind of surprising how big the place is.
Right inside the door are several chocolate displays. The more traditional things you’ll find in a chocolate shop are in a circular display case directly in front of the entrance. A cool feature you’ll see here is a display of chocolate molds used as decorations on the walls to the right.
A little further down are some more intricate chocolate creations. The “art” part of the name of the shop really pops out here. Right now, there are really intricate chocolate coffins with little skeletons inside among some other Halloween themed treats that look too good eat.
The far end of the shop is the coffee shop part of the bar. They have a menu of drinks including “drinking chocolate” if you’re looking for that really special hot chocolate this winter, Cherri’s is where you’ll find it.
All of the above looked insanely delicious and almost too hard to pass up…but we stopped in to Cherri’s for the milkshakes.
There’s an ice cream counter next to the coffee counter on the far end of hte shop. They do dipped ice cream and regular milkshakes but they also have a line of premium milkshakes. All of the ice cream from Cherri’s is from Lafayette Creamery in Texas Township.
We got three of the premium milkshakes. The kids each got their own but J and I split one. The cost for the three was just under $30. They’re expensive but they use premium ice cream and…as you’ll see if you keep reading, there’s a lot that goes in to these shakes.
J and I split the S’mores Shake. This can be made with either vanilla or chocolate ice cream. The shake is topped with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, graham crackers, and a huge toasted marshmallow. J really wanted the marshmallow which is fine with me. I was all about the chocolate and graham cracker rimmed cup and the rich, delicious vanilla shake.
B did the Spooky Wooky. The description says this shake is made with black ice cream but the strawberry sauce turned it red. It’s topped with whipped cream, candy eyeballs, a chocolate spider web, cotton candy, and a rim covered with Nerds. B grabbed the cotton candy right away then went for the chocolate spider web. He kept looking at the candy eyeballs before finally asking me if he could eat them. I said, “yeah, it’s candy” and he went right in with his fingers. B isn’t always great at finishing his ice cream but there was nothing left in the cup when he got done with this one.
L picked the Pumpkin Pie Shake. I really had no idea she liked pumpkin pie but she was really excited about this. The shake is made with pumpkin spiced ice cream, caramel sauce, graham crackers on the rim, whipped cream with a dash of pumpkin spice and a whole slice of pumpkin pie. This kid is smart. She drank around the slice of pumpkin pie until it sunk down in her shake. She then used her spoon to pick out pieces of the pie with the ice cream.
Cherri’s Chocol’art was such a perfect thing to celebrate our anniversary with the kids. The milkshakes were incredible. They’re pricey so it’s not an every weekend thing but we were treating the kids and ourselves.
SW Michigan Dining 