North Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood is home to a new business combining two popular pleasures—chocolate and live music.
Cocoa Legato, a chocolate factory and café by day and music venue by night, opened its doors in late April. The brainchild of performing musician and ex-Theo Chocolate employee, Aaron Lindstrom, Cocoa Legato pairs small batch, bean to bar chocolate with local music, including jazz.
Lindstrom, who was born in Colombia and raised on Mercer Island, calls chocolate and music his “two great loves.” A musician since childhood, multi-instrumentalist Lindstrom has performed with his own soul-folk-rock band, Lindstrom and The Limit, since 2015. Simultaneously, he’s been honing his chocolate-making chops, first at an Oakland-based chocolate company TCHO, and then at Seattle-based Theo Chocolate from 2014 until 2023.
Lindstrom wore a variety of hats at Theo including designing a factory tour, managing a retail store, giving educational lectures on sustainability and chocolate, running the brand’s social media channels, and working as a chocolatier. But, it was the opportunity to help create a Pearl Jam-themed chocolate bar that sparked the idea for Cocoa Legato.
“Seeing the Pearl Jam fans react to their favorite local band mixed with their favorite local chocolate company, I was like...these two things work,” Lindstrom said.
Lindstrom left Theo in 2023 to start his own music venue and chocolate shop. The same year, Theo announced plans to merge with American Licorice Company and has since closed its factory and retail store, ending an era of locally-made chocolate in North Seattle.
To supply his new operation, Lindstrom began by testing beans from South American distributors. Eventually, he selected cacao from both Colombia and Peru for use in Cocoa Legato’s chocolate bars, as well as their house-made espresso drinks, pastries, and light bites.
Meanwhile, he built out the Cocoa Legato space, an old meal-prep kitchen off Greenwood Ave North that sat vacant for over a decade. He installed a wall to separate the café and from the chocolate factory, with a window that allows the factory’s chocolate waterfall and bean roaster to be visible from the venue side. He also incorporated building materials that promote a superior music listening experience, and added vibrant murals and eye-catching cacao bean music notes by the stage.
When it came to the venue set-up, Lindstrom drew on the help of his best friend since middle school, local trumpeter and Cornish College of the Arts faculty member Ray Larsen, who helped select audio equipment and design the stage to make Cocoa Legato sound its best.
“ I think he's a legend in the making. Aaron's going to be known all around this town...as somebody who's made a real cultural impact on Seattle,” Larsen said. “They’re doing something that doesn’t exist anywhere else.”
Until October, Cocoa Legato’s calendar is booked out with performances from artists of all genres, including a free “Jazz & Sweets” showcase featuring trombonist Audrey Stangland and guitarist Demarcus Baysmore on July 23, and a night of jazz from the Moe Weisner Trio and Sidney Hauser Quartet on August 9. As they book the venue, Lindstrom is focused on highlighting the artists he feels get frequently overlooked in local music, in particular queer and BIPOC musicians.
Along with live music, Lindstrom brings music into the experience of eating a Cocoa Legato chocolate bar. Beneath the bar on the inside of the wrapper, there’s a QR code. Follow it, and you land on a web page featuring a song from a musician chosen in complement to the chocolate bar’s flavor profile.
Cocoa Legato’s crunchy Cacao Nib Bar, for instance, pairs with a track by hard-driving rock band The Noble Manes, and the Sea Salt Bar pairs with the music of folk cellist Ollella, which makes Lindstrom think of Washington beaches. Lindstrom also decided to pair his band with the ultra-smooth Espresso Bar, but he says he’s less likely to book the seven-piece group to perform.
“ We do steer towards quieter music...just because of the size of the space,” he said.
Looking forward, Cocoa Legato will host more regular events, including an open mic and chocolate education nights with factory tours. Lindstrom’s also about to launch their online store, and plans to eventually start wholesaling chocolate with local businesses. He also “daydreams” about creating opportunities for artists to record live albums and videos in the space.
Cocoa Legato is already drawing notice, but Lindstrom is the first to say that starting a chocolate factory/music venue is a risky endeavor. Cocoa prices are skyrocketing as a result of supply chain issues and the Trump administration’s tariffs. As costs rise and consumer habits have changed in Seattle post-pandemic, many local music venues have shuttered. Still, Lindstrom sees “opportunity, not an omen.”
“ Seattle is my home. It's also sad watching musicians get pushed out of the city [and] watching companies like Amazon and Microsoft push the heart out and the soul out of the city,” said Lindstrom. “I want to be able to help Seattle keep its artistic heart.”
