Back in March 2009, Portland Phoenix food writer Brian Duff told you about the wonders of Dean's Sweets. A couple months later, we declared the truffle-only Middle Street chocolatier's "The Best Totally-Legal, All-Ages Drug Dealer."

And now, 18 months later, the world has gotten around to noticing what we - and you, savvy Phoenix readers - have known all along.

Yes, we know. We're chocoholics and proud of it. And when you mix chocolate and alcohol, well, you are just about our favorite person on the planet.

And a steady (in fact, near-constant) competitor for the Our Favorite Person On The Planet award is Dean from Dean's Sweets. He and his wife Kristin are celebrating the one-year anniversary of their store (82 Middle Street, right between Rabelais and Pepperclub/Good Egg) by giving away truffles made with champagne fillings.

I got a call on Friday - which ended up in a fine conversation - from a person upset that we chose Dean's Sweets as an editors' pick in our The Best of Portland issue this week.

The caller in question thought there were other, better, chocolatiers in Portland. Since chocolate is such a deeply personal choice, I'm happy to admit others have differing opinions.

Our newish BFFs (and purveyors/dealers of our favorite food/drug) at Dean's Sweets just announced an amazing offer - FREE CHOCOLATE. We are not kidding; they are not kidding. This is not an April Fool's joke, nor any other sort of joke. (I never joke about chocolate. It's WAY too serious a topic.)

Dean's Sweets, which our reviewer Brian Duff absolutely loved, hand-makes small batches of chocolate truffles.