Levain Bakery

There are many places in NYC that are on the "best of" lists and have a lot of hype surrounding them, and too often they don't live up to high expectations.  Levain, however, is one of the places that will without a doubt not meet, but exceed even the highest expectations.

The bakery is nestled on the Upper West Side in a busy area that consists of Jacques Torres, Alice's Tea Cup, and Magnolia Bakery, to name a few, so there are many options to choose from.  But, anybody in their right mind would rush past all the other options without even looking back and head straight for Levain.  They sell a lot of freshly baked bread items, but are most known for their monstrous cookies.  The owners created these cookies when they were training for the Ironman and needed a calorie/energy bomb to counteract the grueling workouts, and they hit the jackpot with these cookies.

When you first see them in the display case, you are in disbelief at the size of the cookie.  They look like huge scones, but way better.  You have four options to choose from: Chocolate Chip Walnut, Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip and Oatmeal Raisin.  Each one of the cookies is about a pound in weight (I have read that they are 6oz, but they feel like a pound to me) so they are not for the faint of heart.  I have tried all flavors besides the Oatmeal Raisin, because even though I hear that the oatmeal raisin is amazing, I can't imagine making the trip there and not getting something with chocolate.  My favorite flavor, and the one I always order, is the Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, which is a chocolate lovers dream.  No matter what time of day you get there, the cookie is always served to you warm and fresh with the chips oozing.

After craving these cookies for weeks and dreaming about them, I finally made my trip to the bakery today and ordered the Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip.  Once it was handed to me, I split the cookie opened and was immediately overcome with the strong scent of chocolatey, buttery goodness.  Then, I looked down at the cookie and saw the oozing chocolate chips and the almost raw (in a good way) cookie center.

I took my first bite, and was in heaven.  The outside of the cookie has a nice crisp shell which works well with the soft gooey center and the melted chips.  I don't know how they get the chips to stay melted for so long, but it is just part of the magic of these cookies that can not be replicated anywhere else (in fact, I got my cookie about 5 hours ago and some of the chips are STILL melted).  You get a mouthful of chips in every bite, and the dark chocolate flavor is outstanding.  It is hard to put into words how amazing this cookie is (though I am clearly trying), but all I can say is that it is life changing.  While some could argue that it is more like a cross between a brownie and a cookie, I would take this over any other cookie any day.  While I had to limit myself to only eating half because I can't really rationalize eating an 8oz cookie, no matter how hard I worked out this morning, it was worth every last bite and calorie. 

 This isn't my first visit here, so I have gotten the chance to try their other flavors as well.  The chocolate chip walnut is also amazing and is more of the traditional chocolate chip cookie.  Even though they do get some grief occasionally for having walnuts instead of a traditional chocolate chip cookie, trust me you barely even taste them and it is SO worth it.  The dark chocolate peanut butter chip is also out of this world, and is a must for any peanut butter lover.  That being said, I will always stay true to my dark chocolate chip cookie and have to order that one every time I go.  

Lucky for me (health wise) I have to go out of my way to go to Levain, so I don't frequent here too often, which makes my occasional visits that much more special.  But, if you are in NYC visiting (even if just for a day) you MUST make the trip to Levain, even if it is out of your way.  Trust me, it will be worth it.  And, they also ship their cookies so you can get them no matter where you live!  Even though they won't be warm or oozing when they get to you, they will still be just as delicious.   

Clinton Street Baking Company

I have had a killer sweet tooth lately, and last night I got an overwhelming urge to have chocolate chip pancakes.  I even considered making a batch late last night, but seeing as it was 9:30pm I figured that was not the best option.  So, instead I spent the night thinking about chocolate chip pancakes and trying to figure out when I would be able to have them.  Since I finished my summer class last week, my Tuesdays and Thursdays are now free so I decided that I would take the plunge and have chocolate chip pancakes for lunch today.

When you want pancakes in the city, you must go to Clinton Street Baking Company.  I went there for the first time three years ago after reading about them incessantly online.  Since pancakes are my favorite food, I had made it my mission to find the best pancakes, and kept seeing Clinton Street's blueberry pancakes pop up.  I have never ordered blueberry pancakes because I don't like the tart flavor in my pancakes, so at first I was a little skeptical.  They also have banana walnut and chocolate chip offerings, so I decided that I would go and try out one of those options.  The first time that I went I chose to go for dinner because I had read about the crazy long waits, and the only pancakes offered at the time were blueberry.  Since I had traveled all the way to the lower east side, I put my doubts aside and try the blueberry.  They were so delicious and fluffy, that I chose to order the blueberry pancakes every time I went back, instead of my usual chocolate chip or banana.  I even went here for my birthday dinner just to have the pancakes.  While they are expensive for a stack of pancakes, they are SO worth it.  With the exception of Thomas' Diner that I previously posted about (I have hometown loyalty to them) these are the BEST pancakes I have ever had.

Anyway, to get back on point, I knew that a visit to Clinton Street was the perfect way to satisfy my chocolate chip pancake craving.  I even made sure to work out for an extra half hour this morning so that I could fully enjoy the pancakes without feeling the guilt.  When I arrived at 1130 (on a Tuesday morning) there was a 35 minute wait for one person!  While it is pretty small inside, it still goes to show you how good everything is here, because there are not many places that have that long of a wait on a weekday, and the location is pretty off the beaten path.

After waiting for about a half hour and dreaming of the pancakes, I finally got seated.  I looked at the menu simply to see what else they had for future reference, but there is no way I could ever come here and not get the pancakes.  I sat close to the kitchen, and I probably saw more than 10 stacks of blueberry pancakes leave the kitchen before I even ordered.  While it is clearly the most popular dish and what they are famous for, they also supposedly have great eggs, biscuits, and actual lunch/dinner foods like fried chicken, in case you are going with someone who is not a huge pancake lover.  I ordered pretty quickly, and after about 15 minutes my pancakes finally arrived.

Not only were there chocolate chips in the pancakes, but there was a huge pile of chocolate chunks on top of them!  You really can't get much better than that.  After I took my first bite, I was in pure bliss.  The pancake on its own is amazing, and the chocolate just makes it that much better.  All the pancakes here come with not maple syrup, but maple butter, which is basically a maple syrup/butter hybrid.  While it is very good, it is very rich so I never really use too much of it, especially since the pancakes themselves are pretty rich.  I would probably rather have maple syrup, but the maple butter is one of their signatures. 

The best part of the pancakes is the mountain of chocolate chunks in the middle that get all melty from the heat of the pancake. It is so delicious and sweet, and puts every other chocolate chip pancake to shame.  The chocolate chips were pretty concentrated in the center, so even though the outsides of the pancake were delicious, it was a bit disappointing that the chocolate wasn't more evenly distributed.  

Since they are so sweet and decadent, I was only able to get through about 1 1/2.  I, of course, was very strategic about it and ate the top pancake (the best one) and the center of the second most chocolatey one, leaving over the outsides and the third pancake.  I could not let the pancakes go to waste, so I took the rest to go.  I left feeling stuffed, yet happy that I satisfied my chocolate chip pancake craving. 

In NYC, if you want a great stack of pancakes, you really must come to Clinton Street.  There is a reason that they are on the top of every "Best of" list and have a 2 hour wait on the weekends.  The pancakes are the stars in my eyes and are the best I ever had, but they also have a ton of other delicious breakfast offerings to appeal to everyone.  They also sell baked goods that you can take home, like cakes, cookies, muffins and scones.  I have had the banana chocolate chip muffin in the past and it is delicious, but I of course could not get one today since I made basically the same thing for breakfast!  They also have "Pancake Month" in February where they feature a different specialty pancake every few days.  I didn't get a chance to go this year, but when I went two years ago they had coconut pancakes with passion fruit syrup.  Needless to say, they were heavenly.  

If my rave review of the pancakes isn't enough, just go on Yelp and read all of the reviews and look through the 1,000 pictures, and I'm sure you will be convinced to pay them a visit!