It all began in the Autumn of 2005. Paula and I had a vision of a new type of restaurant venue for Washington. Unfortunately it has now come to an end. We do know we succeeded on all counts; a profitable year each year open,wonderful meals served to thousands of appreciative customers, fun martini sampling parties, dozens of custom private events, thousands of dollars raised for charity and more new friends than I can count.

Then why, you might ask, is this the end? There are many business reasons and just as many personal ones. I won’t     blame it all on the economy but that didn’t help. Actually one of our biggest problems was the absence of a qualified, committed and experienced staff. We hired the best people available in the area and were pleased with many of them but the food service business tends to be a revolving door. We couldn’t find enough or keep the good ones. This leads to our own fatigue and at this time, we really need a break! So if you have not heard as of yet we closed our doors on July 25th. Paula has left the building!

We are keeping our e-mail open to anyone wishing to contact us. We also have your address with our e-mail club and if there are new developments in our future you can be sure you will be the first to know!

We can only thank all of you now for the appreciative compliments, your interest in our family and especially your patronage. There are many places to spend your dining dollars and we never took that point lightly. There may be more meals in our future but for now we have to say “good-bye”.

Choco L’Art will be open this Saturday on Independence Day. Washington is hosting the St.Louis Tax Tea Party at Rennick Riverfront Park. There will be thousands of visitors to our area and we want to show them Washington hospitality. On that day only, Choco L’Art will pay your sales tax as a symbol of our support for the event and the movement. When you enjoy a wonderful meal at our establishment you will receive a bill for the amount due with a note stating what the sales tax is, but… with that amount subtracted. We will follow all laws and pay all sales tax due our state for you as a thank you for visiting and as a celebration of our Independence Day. This is the greatest nation on the planet and we won’t forget it at Choco L’Art! Please come in and join us this holiday weekend. Reservations will be necessary for Saturday evening.

Choco L’Art proudly has been chosen as the site of the annual MDA Executive Lock-up. This years theme is “All That Jazz.” Leaders from around Franklin county will converge all day long to the restaurant. Participants will make calls encouraging friends to come, contribute and bail out the callers.
The restaurant will still be open for regular lunch hours as usual.

This week marks the beginning of Choco L’Arts fourth year in Washington. We had a vision of bringing a newer and fresher dining option to the Washington area. We feel we have succeeded due to our committment to the purpose and to the patronage and good taste of our food loving customers. We appreciate you and will never take serving you for granted. Thank you!
Paula & Ray Harvey

Girl Scout Troop #678 visited Choco L’Art yesterday. The goal and lesson was to ask if they see themselves as a styrofoam cup, a coffee cup or a china cup. They learned that God sees them as the most valuable China Cup and enjoyed dessert and tea in a formal setting at Choco L’Art. We enjoyed serving them and sharing in this valuable lesson while exposing them to fine dining versus “fast food.”

This is Fat Tuesday. For all of you who are choosing to delete quality Chocolate for your Lenten sacrifice, come in and clear out our dessert case today. We have four flavors of Cheesecakes, Chocolate Gateau Cake, Peanut Butter Pie and Super Fudge Mini-Cakes. Give it your best shot! Of course lunch at Choco L’Art always includes fresh made Quiche and home made hot soups. Fat Tuesday is only once a year, don’t miss it!

We at Choco L’Art want to thank all of our guests who gave us the opportunity to serve them on Friday and Saturday evening. The restaurant was full of “couples in love” sharing a four course meal in a romantic atmosphere. These guests included a group of sixteen riding the train in from St.Louis to share in the festivities. To anyone who may have missed the special menu look forward to more of these type of theme events in the coming months. Thank you again for your patronage. You will always be appreciated at Choco l’Art!