Pollen to Perfection Kekau Chocolatier steps up the taste game WORDS BY SUZI STEFFEN | PHOTOS BY TODD COOPER "Taste this," chocolatier Shane Tracey says. When a man who created the Habanero Tequila chocolate and the Quetzalcoatl caramel tells you to taste something, you do it, even when "this" means slivers shaved from a large, cloudy-plastic-wrapped block of Hawaiian chocolate. The candy, surprisingly un-sweet for a chocolate that's only 55 percent dark, melts and starts to release its flavors. "You taste the black licorice?" he asks. Shane Tracey Hey! It does taste like licorice! "I've got some great ideas for it," Tracey says, "I've got fennel pollen, Italian Piedmont honey … I think I can find a flavor profile that will match it." Since Tracey started Kekau Chocolatier in the fall of 2005, he has spent many an hour dreaming up flavor combinations. And Eugene benefits from his skilled palate — his handbuilt chocolates, truffles and caramels grace the shelves of Sweet Life, distracting many a sugar-seeker from the thick slices of cake and towards a tiny piece of intense flavor. Bite into his Hazelnut Crunch or Spiced Berry bonbons, and the essence of Oregon swims to the fore. A Vanilla Bean, with the beans infused into dark chocolate cream, takes the classic combo and presents it in what seems a Platonically pure state. Combining the best of the Rogue Valley Creamery with dark Sao Tome chocolate ("It's a forest variety," he explains), the Smoky Blue savory causes one of those Meg-Ryan-in-When Harry Met Sally moments — a glorious dopamine rush. The decade-long road that led to this point began in Tucson, Ariz., where Tracey started working with pastries. The journey continued to the World Pastry Forum of a few years ago, where he volunteered and ended up working as an assistant to master chocolatier Jean-Pierre Wybauw (whose books include Chocolates Without Borders, Small Chocolates — Great Experience). Wybauw showed his students how to work with the crystallization points of chocolate, stirring and then talking, stirring, talking, stirring — and an hour into the process, "something just clicked," Tracey says. "I started to understand chocolate at a whole new level — it fell into place." So a couple of years after moving to Eugene, Tracey put his understanding into practice with Kekau. But Tracey isn't content in the corner he rents from Sweet Life's huge kitchen. Yes, the bonbons practically beg to be bought from his website and from Metropol, Supreme Bean, Marché Provisions and Sweet Life. Sure, he's won awards like "Best Confection" in a national contest, and sure, the world of Internet chocoholics goes crazy every time Kekau steps into a chocolate festival, but Tracey wants to shake things up. Not that he'll abandon his bread and butter, or rather his Lemon Basil and Lavender Noire, but Tracey's dream has always been to serve his city something more than these bites of ambrosia. He can't say much — where will this be? Who's investing? When will it open? — but he and his wife plan to open a dessert and wine bar in the fall, with a larger production facility located somewhere in Eugene so he can ramp up the work. He'd like to get a liquor license because, he says, he's not a big fan of pairing straight chocolate with wine — but with whiskey or Scotch? That's another story. And although he recently began offering Kekau drinking chocolate, he plans to create special drinks tailored perfectly to his bonbons. Perhaps a bit of sambuca with that Hawaiian chocolate/fennel pollen blend? I promise to taste that. Kekau Chocolates can be ordered online at www.kekau.com; the company's phone number is 338-7684.   PARADISE CITY CAFE | KEKAU CHOCOLATES | LESSER KNOWN FOOD CARTS | THE DEVINE CUPCAKE KOBE BURGERS | THE FORTUNE COOKIE CHRONICLES | BRENDAN MAHANEY | CHOW SHORTS | WORD IS …