Food Guide: Halloween Candy

Candies from Mon Aimee Chocolat in the Strip District.

Costumes are ready, pillowcases emptied, and pumpkins carved. What’s missing from the picture? Halloween’s signature sugar rush.

Though almost everyone at TABLE has moved past the trick-or-treating years, there’s always room for a little nostalgia (and sugar) on Halloween. Pull out your pumpkin bucket and treat yourself to classic childhood favorites: sour gummies and plastic-wrapped chocolates. Or, thanks to local chocolate shops, go for something artisan. We won’t tell if you don’t share!

Foil-wrapped leaves from Mon Amiee. Photo courtesy of Mon Amiee Chocolat.

Mon Aimee Chocolat

Find chocolates for yourself and the kids at Mon Aimee Chocolat, the Strip District’s longstanding fine and specialty chocolate purveyor. For the little ones, grab a bag or two of the shop’s foil-wrapped chocolates – in fall shapes like leaves, footballs (Go Steelers!), and pumpkins – orange-and-yellow streaked chocolate pretzels, and sprinkle-covered nonpareils. Add a kick for yourself with Mon Amiee’s barrel-aged bourbon caramels or a bar of whiskey-infused dark chocolate.

Tabbara Artisan Chocolate

Lean into the treat portion of Halloween’s infamous saying by indulging in the fall-inspired truffles from Nancy Tabbara, third-generation chocolatier of Tabbara Artisan Chocolates. Each chocolate blends Tabbara’s sophistication with fun, autumn flavors, like the gingerbread-y, crunchy Speculoos, Turkish coffee, and Black Forest. The fall assortment is perfect to pair with a glass of wine or espresso while the kiddos are out gathering candy.

Sarris Candies

Halloween treats come in all shapes and sizes at Sarris Candies, Pittsburgh’s over 50-year-old candy store. Find their chocolate shaped into pumpkins and spooky ghosts, or have your kids break into their seasonal BashCake, hollow, cupcake-shaped chocolate filled with covered pretzels. Add a crafty touch to their Halloween haul with a pumpkin cheesecake truffle or gooey, chocolate-covered caramel. Throwing a party? Order one of their monster-themed cakes. Mummies have never tasted this good.

The buffet at Grandpa Joe’s. Photography courtesy of Grandpa Joe’s.

Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop
Nostalgia abounds at Grandpa Joe’s Candy Store, the Strip District store covered wall-to-wall in over 15,000 pounds of candy. Find everything from giant bags of sour gummies to caramel creams and candy buttons inside. The little ones will love Grandpa Joe’s; Halloween-themed gummy kabobs, featuring Franketstien’s face, jack o’ lanterns, and skulls. It’s worth the trip to the Strip to visit Grandpa Joe’s – their infamous $5 candy buffet is a perfect Saturday morning activity.