By Debbie Michelle Jennings
The Blue Ox café and bakery in Westwood, California, has added a new culinary delight to its offerings: artisan chocolates. The store introduced its selection of the old-fashioned chocolates at a tasting party in October that included a meet-and-greet with candy makers Gerald and Beatrice Reed. The duo from California’s central coast were in town to teach the Blue Ox staff how to create these specially formulated chocolates.
The Reeds have been cooking up and promoting fine chocolates since 2007, when they opened Gerald’s Olde Tyme Chocolates in Pismo Beach. Gerald has been the one in the kitchen while Beatrice, known as Bea, has overseen the public relations and retail side of the business. But Gerald’s experience as a chocolatier began four decades earlier. In 1969, Gerald trained under a British candy maker, Albert Tandy, in Los Angeles. Tandy was using recipes—called “formulas” in the chocolate-making business—created by his English ancestors three generations earlier. Gerald had tried his hand at a few different types of businesses before this apprenticeship. “I was looking for something else to do,” he said. “When I trained with Mr. Tandy, I found my world.” Gerald purchased the formulas for Tandy’s chocolates and later made and sold them at his Pismo Beach store. “We always got great reviews,” he said. “There’s not any on the market like these, period.” In addition to serving the public, the store sold its chocolates wholesale to wineries in the central coast area.
“We don’t use artificial anything,” Gerald said. The award-winning chocolates
are prepared the traditional way of using butter, whipped cream, and high-quality chocolate, and by a hand-dipping process rather than being machine coated. “We’ve had people from Europe say the chocolate reminded them of chocolate they had as a child,” Bea said.
After the Reeds closed their Pismo Beach store in 2018, they began exploring options of what to do with their chocolate formulas. Gerald said he wanted someone he could trust with these special recipes. Cecilia Allin, the owner of Blue Ox, came to mind because she worked with the Reeds several years ago after having managed a Marie Callender restaurant. “She’s a professional all the way,” Gerald said. “She’s a quick learner. I would call her a world-class baker.”
After training the Blue Ox staff this past fall and celebrating Gerald’s 90th birthday in November, the Reeds said their level of investment at the Westwood Café & Bakery going forward will be minimal. They said they may come back in the spring to provide more mentoring or help.
The assortment of chocolates available at the Blue Ox varies because flavors are seasonal. The types of chocolate include cream caramels, toffees, fudge, truffles, and nut brittles. The store is located at 313 Birch Street in Westwood. It is open from 8 am to 4 pm daily.
