Joseph Schmidt Confections is a sweet little shop in the Castro with a top shelf reputation that has been a hometown treasure for nearly twenty years. Just off Sanchez on 16th Street, this humble storefront has an L-shaped counter that takes up most of the store and in the Christmas season it's stacked sky high with cellophaned and ribboned boots, stars, dreidels, trees, Santa's, elves and canes. All specially molded for giving or gobbling. A life-size white chocolate kitty with marbled dark streaks is dwarfed by a two foot tall Chocolate Santa, $50 and $175 respectively. Mew, mew, mew and ho, ho, ho.

- Excerpt from SF Station review by Victoria Joyce