State Street’s getting a sweet new shop just in time for stocking season.
Soft launching on Saturday, December 20, the longest continually operating chocolatier in America — Italian immigrant Domenico Ghirardelli opened his first store in Stockton in 1849 and opened his iconic confectionary shop in San Francisco in 1852 — takes up residence at 509 State Street, most recently the home of Pascucci Restaurant and previously the home of Cadiz.
Ghirardelli’s Santa Barbara Chocolate & Ice Cream Shop offers an impressive assortment of their familiar chocolate squares in more than 100 flavors ranging from milk and dark chocolate to peppermint bark, dark chocolate sea salt caramel, white chocolate sugar cookie, and a whole new line of the trendy Dubai-style chocolates with pistachio filling and crispy toasted kataifi, among others. The store also features a decadent array of ice cream sundaes, hot cocoas, and other sweet treats such as brownies, cookies, and chocolate-dipped strawberries.
I had a Caramel Quake Shake at the Santa Monica oceanfront shop recently and it was indeed delicious.
“We couldn’t be more delighted to open our new storefront along the sunny, scenic State Street in Santa Barbara,” said Lacey Zane, Vice President of Restaurant & Retail at Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, in a statement. “We’re excited to plant roots in this beautiful community, creating a place to gather with friends and family over an ice cream sundae or enjoy a sweet treat while on vacation. With Ghirardelli’s rich history in California, this beautiful location on Santa Barbara’s State Street is the perfect place for us to expand our vision of Making Life a Bite Better for our guests, and we can’t wait to welcome them here soon.”
Along with Saturday’s soft opening, the company is having an official Grand Opening Celebration and ribbon cutting a month later on January 22, from 3-5 p.m., with the ceremony beginning at 3:15 p.m. The first 100 guests in line will receive a free Ghirardelli World-Famous Hot Fudge Sundae to mark the occasion.
Ghirardelli Chocolate & Ice Cream Shop, 509 State St., open daily from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. See ghirardelli.com/stores/santa-barbara.
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