Art Bars Back at Gourmet Fusion!

Gourmet Fusion is happy to report that delicious Art Bars are once again gracing our shelves in Solana Beach just in time for Valentine's Day.

Ithaca Fine Chocolates, the makers of Art Bars, are the first US chocolate company to offer Fair Trade Certified chocolates. Art Bars are creamy Swiss chocolate that are certified organic, Fair Trade Certified, and feature an art reproduction on a collectible card inside the wrapper. 10% of profits on each bar go support art education.

They come in five different chocolate bars, and all ingredients are certified organic, soy-free and vegan!

Dark Chocolate: cocoa liquor, unrefined whole cane sugar, cocoa butter. Cocoa 58% min.

Extra Dark 70% Chocolate: cocoa liquor, unrefined whole cane sugar, cocoa butter. Cocoa 70% min.

Dark Chocolate with Coconut: cocoa liquor, unrefined whole cane sugar, coconut flakes, cocoa butter. Cocoa 58% min.

Dark Chocolate with Quinoa Crisp: cocoa liquor, unrefined cane sugar, cocoa butter, raw cane sugar, quinoa rice crisps. Cocoa 61% min.

Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs (bits of roasted cocoa beans): cocoa liquor, unrefined cane sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa nibs, raw cane sugar. Cocoa 70% min.

With their new, elegant and contemporary packaging, they make a great gift, or why not treat yourself to one while you shop?

Art Bars can be found at Gourmet Fusion, inside Leaping Lotus, 240 S. Cedros, Solana Beach, California.

Photos at Leaping Lotus Spring Gala

What a great evening everyone had at the Leaping Lotus Spring Gala on March 20th in Solana Beach. The crowd gathered to shop and enjoy the festivities.



Live music, plenty of wonderful food and wine, and great raffle prizes were some of the attractions - not to mention the Fashion Show - complete with dogs dressed for every occasion courtesy of Muttropolis, also in Cedros Design District, Solana Beach.



We were busy at Gourmet Fusion serving a selection of food from the store. People stopped by to try Spanish chocolate, English chocolate, our organic Art Bars, and English Biscuits.

For those who wanted something more savory, we had a selection of Spanish pickles and olives served with cheese and crackers, and wine.


Everyone had a great time, and some lucky person even went home with the Gourmet Fusion gift basket filled with chocolates, cookies, tea, i-Pot, cups and an Easter bunny.

Don't miss the next event!

Leaping Lotus Spring Gala

If you have not visited Gourmet Fusion's store on the second floor of the Leaping Lotus at Solana Beach, Thursday 20th March would be a great day to do so. Leaping Lotus is holding a special Spring Gala from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. with music and refreshments throughout the store. You will be able to take advantage of special sales, raffle drawings, and see an amazing fashion show.

If you are not familiar with Leaping Lotus, it is a wonderful place to browse and shop, especially if you are looking for an unusual gift for someone special.

Over 100 merchants are housed in the Leaping Lotus store at 240 South Cedros in Solana Beach's beautiful Design District, selling anything from the latest fashions to handcrafted items for your home, and unique, original artwork.

Of course, the fun thing about Leaping Lotus is that no two stores are alike, so you can browse through the Gourmet Fusion store, looking at our Spanish hand painted ceramics, specialty foods such as Gazpacho, Paprika and Rosemary Olive Oil, then move on to another store and find yourself browsing through Italian Leather belts, then move on to Syrian tables.

So if you live in the Solana Beach area, join in the fun on Thursday evening, and head over to the Leaping Lotus, you may even be the lucky winner of the Gourmet Fusion gift basket!

Art Bars

The Gourmet Fusion store, selling both kitchen and food items, has always sold eco-friendly products for the home such as Mobi Bags, natural bamboo products by Bamboo 54 and Shiraleah, and Fair Trade products by Zen-Zen Home, and we are planning to expand our lines of natural and organic foods in the store throughout 2008.

When I attended the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Diego last January, I was interested to learn that organic and natural food products now account for 15% of all specialty foods sold in stores. It is encouraging to know that food producers are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits that natural and organic products can have for both consumers and producers.

One such company whose products Gourmet Fusion carry, is Ithaca Fine Chocolates. This Fair Trade company produces great tasting Swiss chocolate, in a variety of flavors, and all ingredients used in the making of the chocolate are certified organic. Not only is the chocolate is out of this world, you get an art reproduction inside each bar, and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this chocolate are donated to art education programs. Now how cool is that?