Lee Sims Chocolates • 1949

Four generations of the Sousane family have run this McGinley Square chocolatier since 1940, still hand-packing pyramids of caramels and nonpareils from their original red-and-white striped storefront. Customers who once watched Valerie Vlahakis's father demonstrate the famous enrober machine in back now return as adults, chasing the memory of that thick, sweet air that greets you on Bergen Avenue. The handmade milk chocolate here tastes different from anything mass-produced, and regulars swear by the caramel boxes their mothers gave them every Valentine's Day.