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Sunday, 9:55pmHell’s Kitchen
“You should really make this a FooDetour!” Amanda said as we gobbled up the last bits of manchego from our cheese plate at Kashkaval“.
“Right, but we devoured the cheese and the eggplant, artichoke, grape leaf and tziziki spread before I could take any pictures, so it won’t make it on the blog”. I told her as we prepared for the chocolate fondue to arrive at the table.
Monday, 6:40pm
Lower East Side
“I mean this is a real missed opportunity Michael. Did you see how many different mac and cheese combos there are here? You could do a whole week’s worth of updates based on the toppings alone.” Amanda protested on the last forkful of veggie-filled elbow macaroni with low-fat cheddar at S'mac on 12th St and 1st Ave.
Amanda - “Are you sure this was whole wheat pasta?”
Me – “Yes, I ordered whole wheat. Not the plain.”
Upon reading this post, she’ll find out it was actually plain pasta. Oops…
Tuesday, 1:17pm
Upper West Side
Me - “How many times do you think you can go back to the toppings bar? I am aiming for three today.” I said to Kelly as my falafal sandwich began to tip over at Maoz USA.
Kelly - “I mean it’s all-you-can-stuff-in-your-pita, so stuff away! You know, you should really be blogging about this…”
Amanda - “Yeah, I’ve been saying that all week!”
Ryan – “Wait, you have a blog???”
Tuesday, 1:49pm
Further Up the Upper West Side
Ryan – “You need something sweet at the end of the meal.”
Me – “Music to my ears.”
Kelly – “Yea but those cookies are HUGE. Not gonna lie, I’ll have a bite. And by bite I mean a few bites”
Amanda – “I mean…I can’t, I already had my craisin allotment for the day. There is no way.”
Kelly – “Michael, you NEED to blog this one.”
Camera in hand I was ready to go this time. No excuses…we were going to get some pictures before we went to town on the food.Tucked away down a steep flight of stairs on 74th and Amsterdam is Levain Bakery. Between the Oatmeal Raisin Scones, French Baguettes and Hot Cross Buns, it’s nearly impossible to resist ordering one of everything. But once I set my eyes on the mounds of cookies nestled to the left of the display case, I knew what we had to order.
There are four varieties of cookies for sale: Oatmeal Raisin, Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip Walnut and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip (which Kelly insisted was the best and is what we ordered).
Pictures do not do this thing justice. At a little over an inch high and 2 inches in diameter this cookie is the size of a hockey puck. (And at $4 a cookie, a hockey puck would probably cost less!)Kelly – “Michael, you should take it out of the bag. Feel how heavy it is.”
Me – “Whoa!”
Amanda – “Let me see! Whoa, WHOA!”
If that cookie had a handle, it could replace the 4-pound weights at Barry’s Bootcamp.
Now I know what you are thinking. Big deep brown mound filled with chunks of a light brown substance. Not exactly the most picture friendly cookie on the planet. Kelly – “They are the best when they are a little bit warm.”
Me – “Not helping the visual image here Kelly.”
To me, the sign of a great cookie is the doughiness factor. I remember as a kid, given the choice between a Chips Ahoy and an Entenmann's Soft Bake Chocolate Chip, I'd go for the Soft Bake every time. How did those cookies stay so moist for so long???
Rest assured, the Levain cookie is of the soft and chewy variety. Once you split the crusty outside in half, inside you find a mound of dense, partially-baked chocolatey goodness. Couple that consistency with chunks of peanut butter chips generously peppered throughout and you have once pretty perfect puck-shaped pile of...cookie!
Kelly – “Come on Amanda, you have to try a little bit.”
Amanda – “No, I can’t. That is like TEN extra minutes on the elliptical.”
Ryan – “What’s ten minutes?”
Amanda – “Oprah is a repeat today, ten minutes is a lifetime!”
As the trays of ready-to-baked treats called to me on the way out, I couldn’t help but notice the Time Out New York article right near the front door.
100 Things to Eat & Drink in New York!
Me – “Hey you know what I’m thinking…we could start up a whole new blog and do a NYC vers….”
Amanda – “Don’t even think about it, you still have 82 to go in LA!”
Right, we’ll get back to the LA edition next week. In the meantime, I’ll go register 100platesNYComingSoon.com!
Levain Bakery
167 West 74 St.
New York, NY 10023
If there's one ultimate truth in this world, it's that I LOVE COOKIES. Levain Bakery is exactly what I picture cookie heaven to be like. When I had my first cookie from there, I fell in love. No other cookie compares. Seriously.
ReplyDeleteAnyone reading Hundgen's post that hasn't tasted one needs to fix that immediately.