The story of Chocolate Soup Pastry Café is a sweet dream, come-true, for Pastry Chef Lisa Ciraldo-Freese and Chef Michael Freese. The couple envisioned using their culinary talents to create an old-world style pastry café, serving unique, high-quality fare in their hometown. In 2006, Chocolate Soup Pastry Café opened its doors on Mount Werner Circle, facing the slopes of the Steamboat Springs Ski Resort.

After many requests from devoted patrons, in 2009 Chocolate Soup Pastry Cafe opened a second location in downtown Steamboat Springs. The idea and ultimate reality of their dream has allowed Lisa and Michael to use their combined talents to live and work in Steamboat Springs while raising their two children.

Growing up in an Italian family in Westchester County, New York, Lisa often experimented in the family kitchen. She took her love of baking from the kitchen to the classroom, graduating Summa Cum Laude in Baking and Pastry from Johnson and Wales University in Denver, Colorado. Lisa apprenticed at the Mueller Beck Bakery in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, where she perfected her art and learned some of the many recipes she creates at Chocolate Soup Pastry Café.

A naturally talented savory chef, Michael served in the United States Navy during Desert Storm as an air-rescue officer and moved to Colorado in 1998. He has more than 20 years of restaurant-industry experience, honing his skills as a sous chef and as an executive chef in exclusive New York as well as Colorado kitchens.

Chocolate Soup Pastry Café’s menu offers a signature Chocolate Soup hot drink, fresh-made artisan breads, soups, an assortment of European-inspired confectionery delights, and, of course, the famed Chocolate Soup Macaroon cookie. In response to customer-demand for the Macaroon, Lisa and Michael have embarked on a new adventure of bringing their unique and delicious pastries to a broader audience. Look for Chocolate Soup Macaroons, coming soon to a market near you.