In a city not hurting for bakeries, it sometimes takes a gimmick to get noticed (see Crumbs' enormous cupcakes or Magnolia's old-fashioned vibe - though don't get me wrong, I ain't mad at those joints either). However, Levain Bakery doesn't offer tricks so much as unique options, and those options are damn good. Ok, so they have cookies the size of softballs, but I promise there is more to this place than that.
In 1994, while Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald were training for an Ironman triathlon, they determined a good way to curb their constant hunger was with gigantic cookies. The women opened Levain on the Upper West Side in 1995 and have been selling six-ounce mounds of awesome ever since. The cookie exteriors are crispy, while the interiors are soft, and when eaten straight from the oven, they are a pleasantly gooey mess. The four varieties include walnut chocolate chip, dark chocolate chocolate chip, dark chocolate peanut butter chip, and oatmeal raisin. They cost $4 each at last check, and all were buttery enough to grease through the bag in which they were sold.
Maybe cookies aren't your style though (weirdo), so there are other reasons to swing by. The bomboloncini (not to be confused with the Gipsy Kings' breakout hit Bamboleo) are certainly worth a trip. They are essentially jelly donuts but are baked instead of fried and filled with tangy raspberry jam instead of miscellaneous red gel. Dusted with powdered sugar, the bomboloncini are a stellar combination of sweet, sour, and delicious.
Other baked selections include scones, olive herb semolina, ciabatta, cinnamon brioche, Valrhona stuffed sourdough, pizza-esque breads topped with the likes of artichoke and gruyere, blueberry muffins, and sour cream coffee cake. Levain cinnamon buns (served only in the morning) have been featured on Oprah, and former NYTimes restaurant critic, Frank Bruni, has waxed poetic on their baguettes with butter and jam (also typically a morning treat). The aforementioned cookies have been featured on various television programs and even won a Throwdown on the Food Network against Bobby Flay. Bottom line, you won't be disappointed - unless you order coffee, and they sell you lukewarm swill, which happened to me once, as these things sometimes do.
Levain Bakery is located on West 74th Street off the corner of Amsterdam Avenue. It is a tiny space down a few steps from the sidewalk, and there is little room in which to maneuver before hitting the display case. The ultimate goal is to reach this case to place your order, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. Behind the counter, you see the bakery in motion, as trays of cookies and other goodies are pulled from the oven before thine eyes. You may choose to revel in the appetizing aromas by eating on a stool by the counter below the window, but odds are you'll want to get the hell out of every other customer's way and eat elsewhere in peace. There's a bench outside if you can't wait long to find that peace...and by "find that peace" I mean "eat your cookie."
Stop by Levain for lunch when you have a hankering for something savory (hi, chive and goatcheese sourdough pizza), or swing through when you need to bring something sweet to a party (four cookies can probably sate eight to twelve people), but be sure to go early before they sell out of particular crowd-pleasers (bomboloncini, I'm looking at you). It must be noted Levain's goods are not cheap, but at least you get some pretty sizable, freshly baked bang for your buck (leftovers are donated every evening to charities). There is a second Levain location in Harlem and a third out in East Hampton, though the Hamptons outlet is only open seasonally (usually from July through Labor Day). Here, they sell rustic fruit tarts not available in the city, but I guess everyone's gotta have a gimmick.
Levain Bakery - 167 West 74th Street, between Amsterdam & Columbus Avenues
Levain Bakery - 2167 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, at West 117th Street
Levain Bakery (East Hampton) - 354 Montauk Highway, Wainscott, New York
In 1994, while Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald were training for an Ironman triathlon, they determined a good way to curb their constant hunger was with gigantic cookies. The women opened Levain on the Upper West Side in 1995 and have been selling six-ounce mounds of awesome ever since. The cookie exteriors are crispy, while the interiors are soft, and when eaten straight from the oven, they are a pleasantly gooey mess. The four varieties include walnut chocolate chip, dark chocolate chocolate chip, dark chocolate peanut butter chip, and oatmeal raisin. They cost $4 each at last check, and all were buttery enough to grease through the bag in which they were sold.
Maybe cookies aren't your style though (weirdo), so there are other reasons to swing by. The bomboloncini (not to be confused with the Gipsy Kings' breakout hit Bamboleo) are certainly worth a trip. They are essentially jelly donuts but are baked instead of fried and filled with tangy raspberry jam instead of miscellaneous red gel. Dusted with powdered sugar, the bomboloncini are a stellar combination of sweet, sour, and delicious.
Other baked selections include scones, olive herb semolina, ciabatta, cinnamon brioche, Valrhona stuffed sourdough, pizza-esque breads topped with the likes of artichoke and gruyere, blueberry muffins, and sour cream coffee cake. Levain cinnamon buns (served only in the morning) have been featured on Oprah, and former NYTimes restaurant critic, Frank Bruni, has waxed poetic on their baguettes with butter and jam (also typically a morning treat). The aforementioned cookies have been featured on various television programs and even won a Throwdown on the Food Network against Bobby Flay. Bottom line, you won't be disappointed - unless you order coffee, and they sell you lukewarm swill, which happened to me once, as these things sometimes do.
Levain Bakery is located on West 74th Street off the corner of Amsterdam Avenue. It is a tiny space down a few steps from the sidewalk, and there is little room in which to maneuver before hitting the display case. The ultimate goal is to reach this case to place your order, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. Behind the counter, you see the bakery in motion, as trays of cookies and other goodies are pulled from the oven before thine eyes. You may choose to revel in the appetizing aromas by eating on a stool by the counter below the window, but odds are you'll want to get the hell out of every other customer's way and eat elsewhere in peace. There's a bench outside if you can't wait long to find that peace...and by "find that peace" I mean "eat your cookie."
Stop by Levain for lunch when you have a hankering for something savory (hi, chive and goatcheese sourdough pizza), or swing through when you need to bring something sweet to a party (four cookies can probably sate eight to twelve people), but be sure to go early before they sell out of particular crowd-pleasers (bomboloncini, I'm looking at you). It must be noted Levain's goods are not cheap, but at least you get some pretty sizable, freshly baked bang for your buck (leftovers are donated every evening to charities). There is a second Levain location in Harlem and a third out in East Hampton, though the Hamptons outlet is only open seasonally (usually from July through Labor Day). Here, they sell rustic fruit tarts not available in the city, but I guess everyone's gotta have a gimmick.
Levain Bakery - 167 West 74th Street, between Amsterdam & Columbus Avenues
Levain Bakery - 2167 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, at West 117th Street
Levain Bakery (East Hampton) - 354 Montauk Highway, Wainscott, New York
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