The new menu at the new HotChocolate

Segal’s new all-American chocolate cake with milk chocolate frosting and a shot of frothed milk

Photo: Erica Gannett

Newly-crowned James Beard Award winner Mindy Segal (and her restaurant HotChocolate) has been on the lips of the food world this week (not that we're complaining—hell, we started it), and it's all been in anticipation of this: The new menu at the new HotChocolate, which is available, oh, right about now.

As we detailed in a recent profile of Segal, the new menu is a simpler, pared-down version of what HotChocolate has been doing for the past seven years. It takes what have been HotChocolate's bestsellers—the burger, the mac-and-cheese—and runs in that direction. There are "jars" (smoked white fish rillette), and "bowls" (mussels, soup), and lots of salads and lots of sandwiches. (Segal says that the specials, which aren't on this menu as they're, you know, specials, will satisfy any cravings for protein-heavy entrees.) 

Of course, HotChocolate is all about the desserts, and here, too, things have been simplified. The pastry menu now includes just one cake (the All American Chocolate Cake, pictured above), one pie, one custard, a couple of signatures, cookies and a "study" (right now the study—a series of dishes exploring a single ingredient—is on rhubarb). 

Overall the menu reads more casual, and more cafe-like. See for yourself, after the jump.

HotChocolate 5.12 Menu