Restaurants News
Levain Bakery: Huge Cookies on Upper West Side
Arguably the most popular and mainstream baked good in the world is the cookie. Dating back to the 7th century, cookies were created out of the revolutionary and new found sugar trade. Over time, as cookie recipes were mastered, the baked treat was seen as an optimal snack for travel–and of course, as a delicious dessert as well.
While you can literally find thousands of great types and brands of cookies in supermarkets, bake sales, homes, and eateries around the city, could there really be a “best” cookie? For most cookie eaters, choosing just one cookie as the “best” would be impossible–maybe even along the lines of picking a favorite parent. But if there was one cookie to reign supreme, it would have to be the ones baked at Levain Bakery.
From the look of this modest step-down bakery on the Upper West Side, it appears to be just any old bakery you’d write-off and walk past on the street. But don’t judge a book by its cover–or a cookie by its store’s exterior. Levain Bakery sells the best cookies in New York City–that is, if you can even call them cookies. A proper name for their cookies would be “chocolate infused dough monsters.” Essentially, they are huge! Easily splittable between two people, Levain’s cookies are gargantuan, doughy, and filled with quality ingredients.
Although Levain’s loyal customers might argue about which of its cookies is the best (other choices include dark chocolate chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and dark chocolate peanut butter chip), the chocolate chip walnut most definitely takes the cake.
Even if you’re not a huge fan of nuts in your cookies, their chocolate chip walnut cookie is utter perfection. Unlike inferior cookies with itsy-bitsy chocolate chips, Levain Bakery uses hunks of chocolate in theirs. Sure, they call them “chips,” but considering the size of its chips, they’re more like Dinosaur-chips. Along with the combination of fresh, toasted walnuts, each bite of a Levain chocolate chip walnut cookie is pure heaven.
Also, the best part of Levain Bakery is that they always have freshly baked cookies waiting on a baking wire. It’s almost as if they’re eagerly awaiting your arrival with baited breath, but more importantly, with freshly oozing cookies. All you have to do is point to the cookie you want in the glass counter, and they’ll go fetch one that’s been cooling down to perfect devouring temperatures.
If for some reason you’re not a cookie person, Levain also has exquisite breads, including focaccia, ciabatta, and pizza, as well as other baked goods such as scones, bomboloncini, and plain brioche. Essentially, whether you dig sweets or not, this is a bakery no one should underestimate, and for that matter–miss.
Note: if you’re someone who needs milk with their cookies, do not fret–Levain Bakery has a fridge stocked with all different types of milk. So pick one out, and drink it with your cookie right inside Levain at their window bar or outside on a sidewalk bench.
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