USA / California / San Francisco / The gold standard / 2012 / Miette / Just a few doors down from Reliquary is Miette, San Francisco's sweetest pastry and candy shop. The options here are endless, from handmade salted caramels to red velvet cupcakes produced with organic flour and dairy. My favorite little morsel, however is the Caffarel Gianduia hazelnut chocolate candy from Torino Italy. With their gilded wrapper and dense, melt in your mouth texture, they are not to be missed. Miette is one of the only shops on the West coast to carry this rapturous confection, the recipe to which hasn't changed much since they were originally formulated in 1852. The chocolates are shaped like little old lady handbags and are an absolutely sublime two bite morsel (or throw the whole thing down the hatch!) © Leela Cyd Ross / Anzenberger