Dandy! Candy stores multipy

Halloween is still three weeks away, but already this month Atlanta has gotten treats in the form of two very different sweets stores —- Greene’s Fine Foods in downtown Decatur and Cacao on the edge of Inman Park.

Inside, read about a third new sweet spot, the Chocolaterie at Avenues Forsyth in Cumming, and other candy store favorites suggested by AJC dining critic Meridith Ford Goldman and bloggers on her Table Talk blog, Page E2.

‘YOU’RE GREETED BY SOMEONE AND SERVED’

Self-service can make printing an airline boarding pass or checking out groceries a snap. But it can take the pleasure out of a trip to the candy store.

“Most candy stores are in a mall these days,” says Farrell Nixdorf. “The candy is in those bins, and the kids just help themselves. We wanted to get back to the old-fashioned candy store where you’re greeted by someone and served.”

Nixdorf, working for brothers Tommy and Phil Greene, has opened Greene’s Fine Foods in downtown Decatur —- a candy shop so old-fashioned that it could make teenage mall rats nostalgic for a simpler time.

Set in the stolid, 1935 marble building that was the Decatur post office (and more recently Wordsmith Books), Greene’s is a cheery, shiny space where the glass counter groans with the kinds of chocolates, nuts and jelled fruit slices you might get in a gift box from Harry & David or Laura Foster. No wonder: The Greene brothers come from an Augusta family that has been in the candy-and-nut mail-order business for 25 years.

Nixdorf prepares fudge and tempers chocolate by the front entrance, where he passes out samples. “Kind of gives it a Willy Wonka feeling,” he says. When not spreading a batch of peanut butter fudge, he helps the Greenes with their construction business, which occupies the other half of the building.

“With the economy the way it is, we thought it would be a good time to diversify,” Nixdorf says of this unusual business marriage.

GREENE’S FINE FOODS

> 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays; noon- 6 p.m. Sundays. 141 East Trinity Place, Decatur. 404-378-2001.

THERE’S MAGIC AFOOT AT TINY CHOCOLATE BOUTIQUE

Cacao hides in plain sight at the end of a garden path, up a short flight of silver-painted steps and behind a glass door. Kristen Hard’s tiny chocolate boutique seems like the kind of place where you might find a fairy hiding behind a shelf. But if there’s any magic afoot, it’s in Hard’s fantastic truffles that range in flavor from honey and ginseng to rosemary and cardamom.

Hard’s line of holistic, eco-friendly candies —- called K Chocolat —- have already earned her a local following. But now that she has opened this boutique next to her production kitchen, she will venture into a line of “bean to bar” creations, starting with estate-grown Ecuadorian cacao beans and processing them into chocolate candy with the addition of sugar and cocoa butter only.

Speaking of her 3,000-square-foot kitchen, she has rechristened it the “laboratoire du chocolat” and opens it as a gallery space on Thursday to Sunday nights.

In addition to chocolate, Hard prepares mini cupcakes and chocolate ice cream, the latter made with Sparkman’s Cream Valley cream and milk from Moultrie.

“I have a love affair with chocolate,” Hard says. “I can’t get enough.”

CACAO

10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednes-days; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays. 312 C N. Highland Ave., Atlanta. 404-221-2626.

SWEET STOPS ACROSS THE METRO AREA

Candy is hot —- almost as hot as cupcakes. Other sweet spots in the metro area to try:

> At the Chocolaterie, in the Avenue Forsyth in Cumming, the truffles and chocolates are handmade, plus there are chocolate shots and other imports. I haven’t been able to check it out yet, but I am intrigued. (410 Peachtree Parkway, Cumming; 678-513-2700)

> Maison Robert has long been a favorite in the area (the original shop opened in 1977) —- the amazing chocolates here are hand-formed and hand-dipped by chef Robert Reeb, a third-generation French patissier-confiseur. Easter and Christmas are musts. (3708 N. Peachtree Road, Atlanta; 770-454-6442)

> Chocolate Pink Cafe always has a few fine chocolates on hand in addition to the incredibly dainty pastries at this Midtown marvel. (905 Juniper St., Unit 108; 404-745-9292)

> Teuscher, the world-renowned Swiss chocolatier, has a shop in Morningside/Virginia-Highland. Try the Champagne truffles made with Dom Perignon. (1393 N. Highland Ave.; 404-885-1010).

—- Meridith Ford Goldman

Readers on Meridith Ford Goldman’s Table Talk blog (ajc.com/tabletalk) also suggest:

> Try Lulu Blue in Virginia-Highland (1002 Virginia Ave.; 404-897-3816).

> QuikTrip, by far. Where else can you find the breadth of choices? Forget all that froufrou stuff, man! (Many metro locations, www.quiktrip.com.)