Critic's Notebook: For Valentine's Day, here's the beef; chocolate recipes from the bald man; more

Assuming you can still reserve a table for Valentine's Day, you might head this year to Le Cirque, Corton, Craft, Daniel, Gotham Bar & Grill, Patroon (written up in Wedensday's Times), or Picholine. Or you might instead plan a romantic dinner for two at home that revolves around a buttery, well-marbled slab of the same top-quality, dry-aged beef those restaurant use in their kitchens.

The source is DeBragga and Spitler (826-D Washington Street, 212-924-1311), which has been providing meats to New York's high-end restaurants for close to a century. For Valentine's Day this year, DeBragga is offering several variations on frenched on-the-bone rib steaks. Each steak is 28 ounces, which comfortably feeds two, and the cost—while admittedly not cheap—is a fraction of the price you'd pay at one of the aforementioned restaurants. There are three options in all:

• Two hand-selected chops of Certified Angus beef for $75;
• Two prime rib chops or naturally raised rib chops for $110;
• And, if you’re really feeling expansive, a single rib chop of 50-day, dry-aged American Wagyu beef for $100.

If you plan to order online, you'll need to place your order by midnight on Wednesday, February 10th in order to have your steaks delivered via next-day service. Orders received by the 11th, will incur a Saturday delivery charge.

Chocolate Recipes from the Bald Man

Betty Crocker never existed either, and her cookbook has sold something like a bajillion copies, so why not Max Brenner? A.k.a., the bald man, Max Brenner is the fictitious chocolatier concocted in 1996 by two Israelis, Max Fichtman and Oded Brenner. The pair hit the ground running in New York shortly after the turn of the millennium, setting up shop in the East Village. The shop/cafe was an overnight sensation, prompting the pair to move to more spacious digs in Union Square.

Now with retail outlets in five countries, Brenner (the real one, that is—Fichtman sold out his interests in 2001) needed a new challenge. The result was his first book, Chocolate: A Love Story: 65 Chocolate Dessert Recipes from Max Brenner’s Private Collection (Little Brown). The author of record is Max Brenner, with illustrations by Yonatan Factor. 

The book makes a great Valentine's gift, and certainly one with more longevity than a gift of actual Brenner chocolates. Teach a man to chocolate, and all that. On the other hand, I don't think you'd get any complaints if you gave your Valentine a box of the bald man's delectable bonbons, available starting at $11.50 for five pieces online or at one of Brenner's retail locations. Max Brenner's New York store is at 841 Broadway, bet 13th and 14th Sts, 212-388-0030.

Speaking of Chocolate. . .

You'll certainly want some wine to go with your steak and chocolate. Or—novel twist—how about your wine inside your chocolate? Impossible, you say? Nothing is impossible. Just ask Michael Affatato, a former New York ad man, who had what he terms a "wine epiphany" in Napa in 1990. The following year found him in Bordeaux, where he has remained ever since, dividing his time between running a B & B out of Chateau La Gatte, the 17th century wine-producing property he bought, looking after the winery, and operating Appellation Sensations, a  wine-based gourmet foods business.

Which brings us back to the topic of wine-filled chocolates. Appellation Sensations does two variations on this theme. Their all-natural dark chocolates (shown here) are 72 percent cacao and filled with red Bordeaux estate wine. The white chocolates, which are 100 percent pure cacao, are filled with rosé Bordeaux estate wine.

In order to have your chocolates in time for Valentine's Day, you will need to order from The Village Cheese Shop, an American distributor located in Mattituck, New York. You can reach the store at 631-298-8556 or by email: info@thevillagecheeseshop.com. Unfortunately, for now, the shop carries only the dark chocolates. You can buy the white chocolates directly from Michael at Appellation Sensations (michael.affatato@orange.fr), although you won't have them in time for Valentine's Day.

•  Buy Chocolate: A Love Story: 65 Chocolate Dessert Recipes from Max Brenner’s Private Collection through Amazon ($21.89) or Barnes & Nobles ($25.64).