His and Hers

Valentine’s Day gifts for the love of your life.

By Carol Tisch

What to do? Valentine’s Day is coming, and you have no idea what to give your lover. The retail therapist proffers a simple solution: Consider the yin and yang of potential gifts, and remember that men are from Mars and women from Venus.

That’s why we’re advising every woman within driving distance to check out Big Daddy’s Fiery Foods in Gulf Gate. This is Everyman’s hog heaven—literally and figuratively—an ode to BBQ sauce and the barbecue wing (particularly feuding factions from Buffalo and Brant, N.Y.). There are wing sauce fixings so you can make your own from scratch, and walls full of bottled versions to satisfy every aficionado’s taste. But the ultimate macho gift is hot sauce: 500 different brands, and varying degrees of heat from mild to nuclear. The store is the brainchild of owner Chuck Rizzo, Jr., a Buffalo native and wing/hot sauce expert.

Chuck Rizzo Jr. of Big Daddy's Fiery Foods has macho gift packs with kick.

Chuck‘s Valentine Gift baskets are guaranteed to raise the Scoville rating of your relationship. [In case you don’t know from the Scoville Heat Unit, it’s a standardized method of measuring the heat in a pepper.] The gift baskets include barbeque or wing sauce gift packs, each $24.95, and a Bloody Mary Wake Up pack ($39.99). Throw in a turkey fryer ($84.95) and light his fire.

Our Venus gift list trends to tastes a tad more subtle. We love the heart-shaped dark chocolate gift boxes Divinia Jeanne’s Chocolate Heaven has concocted. There’s a small (about 4-inch) heart, $10.00, that you can fill with a couple of truffles ($1.43 each) or (if you really want to score) fill it with a truffle and a diamond engagement ring. There’s a larger, 18-ounce hand-painted box that holds 20 truffles ($80).

Deni S. Dreazen, co-owner of Divinia Jeanne’s Chocolate Heaven, with a chocolate heart gift box.

For all the loves of your life, there’s a beautifully wrapped “Nuts About You” dark chocolate bark with walnuts, pistachios and almonds ($8.95 each) at Chocolate, Nuts & More that comes with heart-shaped tag). And at Sirard’s in Southside Village, the special treat is a large box of chocolate and a dozen long stemmed roses for $65. Order early, cautions Carol Sirard: “Last year the line was out the door.”

Daddy’s Fiery Foods, 6555 Gateway Ave., (941) 922-8357

Divinia Jeanne’s Chocolate Heaven, 1490 Blvd of the Arts, (941) 366-5888.

Chocolate Nuts & More, 2114 Gulf Gate Dr, Sarasota, FL (941) 925-1111

Sirard’s Chocolate House, 1816 Hillview St., (941) 954-7600

Posted: 1/31/2008 2:31:16 PM | 0 comments