(This post is excerpted from Scene Dining Editor Doug Trattner’s weekly CLE Bites newsletter. Want more stories like this directly in your inbox every Saturday morning? Subscribe here.)
If you want to be the hero of Halloween this year, hand out some handmade confections from Candy Dish (14234 Madison Ave.) in Lakewood. Maybe some rainbow-hued Flying Saucers, discs of Belgian milk chocolate capped with colorful sprinkles. Or perhaps the classic bittersweet pairing of candied orange and dark chocolate starring sweet and sticky candied orange peel.
The hedonistic shop, which opened this past summer, is run by Amanda and Joshua Montague. To confectionery fans, those names are pretty much royalty in Cleveland. For a decade the husband-and-wife duo ran Lilly Handmade Chocolates in Tremont, a craft candy shop that turned out miniature works of art that were as beautiful as they were delicious.
But they were also pricey and exclusive, putting them in the category of special-occasion treat or upscale gift.
This go-around, the Montagues are aiming for treats that are a little less precious.
“We’re doing something a little bit different,” says Amanda. “We eliminated the truffles, which is kind of what we were known for. We want this to be a little more everybody-friendly, not just adult-oriented. Lilly was very much a grown-up space.”
Adjusted for inflation, Lilly’s bite-size truffles went for around $35 a dozen. Candy Dish, by contrast, is loaded with sweets ranging from $1 to $10 and up. But those $10 treats are large enough to share, like an extra-large candy bar but made with real butter, imported dark chocolate and housemade nougat.
“I wanted to have price points from one dollar to plus-plus-plus so that anybody who walks in here can buy something,” Amanda adds. “It’s not about glory; it’s about feeding people and making a life for ourselves.”
Amanda and Joshua met in a restaurant kitchen. They are both classically trained chefs who worked in the savory, not sweet, world of culinary. But they applied their skills to confections and made a huge splash when they launched Lilly in 2008.
“These are just a vessel for flavor,” Joshua says of the colorful creations.
The selection ranges from classics like housemade buckeyes with peanut butter, white chocolate and Belgian milk chocolate on up to impressive OMG bars that come in a variety of flavors.
“We call them OMG bars because when you take a bite you’re going to go, ‘oh my god!’” says Amanda. “These take our old ideas of truffles to the next level.”
The Peanut Butter Chew OMG bar layers peanut butter nougat with honey roasted peanut caramel, milk chocolate and dark chocolate. A previous version called the Strawberry Pretzel Salad OMG featured strawberry pâte de fruit, white chocolate, pretzels and vanilla marshmallow. (“Fairy dust is the secret ingredient,” confesses Amanda with respect to the marshmallows.)
Nut lovers should look to the Moon Rocks Star Cluster, praline pecans and salted cashews covered in Belgian dark chocolate and topped with mini vanilla bean marshmallows.
In addition to their own creations, Candy Dish stocks a wide assortment of candy produced by “purveyors of deliciousness from all across the universe,” Amanda says. She describes the Tom Bumble bars from Portland as a Butterfinger that went to college. Other treats hail from Chicago, Dominican Republic, Philippines, Copenhagen, Italy and beyond.
The shop also sells some vintage décor items, a result of the Montagues’ passion for thrifting. Amanda also sells all of the above – vintage items and Candy Dish confections – during weekly live-stream auctions on whatnot and NikNax, where Amanda is a bit of a celebrity.
“It’s more than just me selling,” she explains. “It’s an experience.”
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