Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle (MI)

ALMOST TOO PRETTY TO EAT

Masterpiece Sweets gains national praise, including a nod from The White House, Oprah
MARY BETH ALMOND C & G Staff Writer
Published: November 17, 2010

BIRMINGHAM - Encased behind barriers and bulletproof glass inside the Louvre in Paris, Leonardo Da Vinci's worldrenowned "Mona Lisa" is practically impossible to get your hands on. But at Lido Gallery in Birmingham, art lovers can get so close to the famous grinning brunette they'll be salivating- literally. Call her crazy, but Lido Gallery owner Diane DeCillis encourages patrons to nibble on many other famous paintings inside her store, such as Claude Monet's "Water Lilies," Vincent van Gough's "The Starry Night," and Edgar Degas'"The Dance Class," which she claims are all equally delicious.

At first glance they may look just like works of art, but the famous paintings in DeCillis'Masterpiece Sweets collection are actually 5-by-7-inch chocolate bars fused with full-color edible artwork. Each 6 oz. bar is adorned with a keepsake postcard elegantly presented in a real wood frame, and includes a biography of the artist along with information about the painting.

Many have told DeCillis her chocolate bars are almost too pretty to eat, but she said she hasn't heard any regrets. Her chef husband, Lou, helped her arrive at the final recipe.

"I went home and experimented in my kitchen, night after night, to see if I could pull it off. I never thought, as I was sitting at the dining room table melting chocolate, that it would become so popular," DeCillis, of West Bloomfield, said. Chocoholics from all over the country are now ordering her bars, which have gained national recognition after making "The O List"

in O:The Oprah Magazine this October and garnering attention from the White House gift shop, which plans to sell three custom editions of the bars. Masterpiece Sweets has also created custom chocolate art bars for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, the Milwaukee Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York,

to name a few, as well as local anniversary and birthday parties and weddings, upon request.

Formerly The Print Gallery in Southfield, Lido Gallery opened shop at 33535 Woodward Ave. in Birmingham in August. The shop also offers museum gifts, home accessories, novelties, original vintage posters and prints, custom framing and more. Fine art exhibits, art history lectures, and poetry and fiction readings by authors from around the country are frequently held at the store.

"When you are dealing with us, you're really dealing with artists and designers. We have a perspective that some of those people at big box stores just aren't going to have, and we have an extreme passion for what we do," said Kelly McGuire, a designer at the store.

For more information on Lido Gallery, 33535 Woodward Ave., call (248) 792-6246 or visit www.everythingart.com.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Beth Almond at mal mond@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1060.

Caption:Lido Gallery recently created three limited edition Masterpiece Sweets chocolate bars for the White House gift shop, including this one depicting the Jefferson Memorial. Photo provided.

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