Easter chocolate? Yeah, he’s got that

Published 10:00 am Saturday, April 3, 2004

If it’s Easter, it must be time for chocolate at Langley’s Swiss bakery.

Walk into the tiny PS Suisse Confiserie and Patisserie tucked into the back of Langley Village and meet this year’s Easter lineup. There are the traditional chocolate bunnies of all sizes. Mottled ducks made with a mix of dark, white, and milk chocolates. Marzipan bunnies on a chocolate half-shell. And eggs stuffed with chocolate candies of all types.

All of it is made of imported European chocolate and hand-crafted by Peter Boden, the on-again off-again proprietor who has developed a loyal following on the island, despite the fact his shop is closed several months each year.

“Word of mouth let’s everyone know he’s here,” said Ann Tasseff, of Langley. Tasseff says she watches for signs in the bakery window to tell her when Boden will return from his other job at sea.

“He’s such an artist, that’s the thing,” Tasseff said. “The art flows through him when he starts cooking. Some people are artists on canvas and he’s an artist with pastries and chocolates.”

Boden has owned a popular restaurant in Vail, Colorado, and now serves during the warmer months as a contract chef aboard private yachts. His bakery includes fine European-style pastries, but it is the chocolate creations made especially for the holidays that get him excited. That’s where his roots are.

At the age of 20, Boden began a three-year apprenticeship with a master confectioner in Switzerland, leading to a lifetime of sweet preparation in the kitchen. Forty-four years later, after having served the world’s rich and famous, he now creates treats for the tourists and residents of South Whidbey.

Boden’s Colorado restaurant was popular with the in-crowd who frequented the slopes of Vail. He keeps a scrap book of his favorite creations, including a cake made for one of his favorite customers, President Gerald Ford.

Boden has a framed thank you from the former president on his wall. His scrap book includes praise from actors Kirk Douglas, John Travolta, Robert Wagner, and Natalie Wood; as well as football legends Dan Reeves, Ahmad Rashad, and, oh yeah, that O.J. Simpson guy. Tennis great Jimmy Connors, model Cheryl Ladd, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, and comedian Joan Rivers are among the many familiar names.

All chefs can make great meals and desserts. But, the hand-crafted chocolates helps set Boden apart from others, he said.

“That’s where the good tips are.”

The two most important tools in the chocolate trade, he said, are the little pinky finger and a knife. With his pinky, Boden judges temperature and consistency. With the knife, he tests how well the chocolate sets. The chocolates are temperature sensitive. Signs throughout the shop warn customers that too much handling can cause the soft chocolate to melt in their hands.

Boden said he doesn’t offer chocolates during the summer months because it gets too warm in his bakery.

“Monday, when it was so warm (mid-70s), I started to get pretty worried,” Boden said.

And he’s too picky about appearance to put his chocolates in the refrigerator. The humidity results in some gray speckling of the chocolate, he said, with the intonation that implies such a thing would be intolerable.

Boden started the Easter season with 120 pounds of European chocolate. He’s transformed that into 185 bunnies and 165 egg shells, as well as miscellaneous ducks, shoes, and chocolate candy fillers.

“We don’t do any shortcuts,” Boden said. “That’s why for some people the prices are a bit high.”

Prices range from $3.95 for a marzipan chicken with a chocolate background to $28.95 for his largest egg, filled with about one pound of chocolates.

That’s not enough to discourage Tasseff.

“He’s such a perfectionist,” she said. “I don’t let any holiday go by where I don’t stock up.”