Description: Since 1995, the Upper West Side of New York City has been graced by the constant fragrance of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Levain Bakery is a small little bakery on West 74th Street which is now known the world wide for some of the best baked goods in the nation.
A friend had told us about this place and said that we had to go there during our last visit to the city. We took a long, leisurely stroll through central park from the east side in order to burn some calories beforehand. When we were on 74th Street, we barely noticed the small bakery. Partially for the fact that it sits in a basement-like space where the main window is only barely above street level...and partially because of the crowd of people standing around the entrance.
There were several groups of people standing outside or sitting on neighboring stoops just eating their sweet cookies from inside, and others formed the moderate line which descended down the very narrow staircase into the bakery. There's nothing too special about the interior, as it's just a huge kitchen bakery, with a front counter, few barstools, and a very narrow counter to sit at. We waited in line and picked from the 4 types of cookies they have on the menu: chocolate + chocolate chips, oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip + walnuts, chocolate + peanut butter chips. There is also an iced coffee that I saw many people ordering.
We luckily found two barstools to rest on, as we dove into the 2 cookies that we bought...still warm, and the perfect state in between dough and fully baked. They were the size of a large fist and it took us until late evening the next day to finish them.
The entire time we were there, the line never stopped, and we could see (and taste) why this place is so well loved. The walls are covered with award magazine articles, and the people are very friendly. Definitely a must-visit for cookie lovers!
• www.levainbakery.com
• 167 West 74th Street
• (212) 874-6080
• Open Mon-Sat 8am-7pm, Sun 9am-7pm
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