Reaching back to my childhood/early adulthood, the best chocolate and related candies came from . . . Gimbel’s in downtown Pittsburgh. Gimbel’s was a 12-floor department store; the 13th floor was not accessible to customers, looked like it was perpetually under construction, but housed the sign shop my father managed, as well as the tailor’s shop and the candy-making operation, which were managed by two of my father’s closest friends. I spent lots of time there growing up, and enjoyed a behind the scenes tour of the candy department — which actually was owned by the Price company out of Kansas City but exclusively made the candy for Gimbel’s at the 13th floor location.
My favorite were the milk chocolate raisin clusters; even during my years at PSU, one of annual Birthday and Christmas gifts was a 2-pound box of the raisin clusters. My brothers favored the toasted coconut milk chocolate clusters, my grandfather the chocolate covered honeycomb, and still others the chocolate covered pineapple. God I miss all of that.