The New : Messy, Expensive, But Oh So Trendy

Track those dark brown puddles of chocolate down any Valley sidewalk and odds are you’ll run into someone messily devouring a Dove Bar.

“You mean the soap?” asked the manager of one local supermarket, who obviously hadn’t yet received his shipment.

No, we mean the two-to-a-box slabs of high-fat vanilla, chocolate or coffee ice cream, hand-dipped in a thick coating of chocolate that are selling like hotcakes at Valley stores from Van Nuys to Woodland Hills.

Dove lovers are paying about $2.50 a shot for these gourmet versions of Eskimo Pies, which until recently sold only at Dove Candies in Chicago.

The payoff is the sloppiest eating experience since eating an order of Tommy’s chili fries. But would a truly trendy person be caught with chocolate dribbling from his chin?

“The mess is part of the fun,” harrumphs one Valley Dove Bar devote. “Just put it in a bowl and get a spoon.”

Then get on a treadmill.