Here’s the Dish: Levain Bakery’s Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie

By Ava Stryker-Robbins

Cookies hold a special place in many people’s hearts. They are the sweet treats that children grin at before devouring and begging for another, and their gooeyness can be an immense comfort to anyone going through a rough time. They are delicious and loved.

While there are many types of cookies, I happen to have a soft spot (pun intended) for chocolate. And Levain’s Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie is heavenly. With each bite, the various textures of the cookie blend with the flavor of the semi-sweet chocolate chips to create an almost-magical experience. And the rich taste of the dark french cacao and the density of the cookie only enhance each bite. The cookies are six ounces, perfect for sharing.

Levain’s cookies are “simple, classic and timeless,” according to an emailed message from Levain’s owners Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald. “We think the sensorial experience is unique,” Weekes and McDonald wrote. Levain cookies are not solely soft or crispy, they are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. “We both think texture is important in food.” The recipe for the cookies Levain serves has not changed since they opened in 1995, though they are always experimenting with and adding new cookies to the menu.

Weekes grew up loving sweets and eating her mother’s baked goods. In fact, one of the cookies Levain serves — the Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookie — was inspired by her mother’s cookies, which she ate after school when she was young. McDonald, however, did not eat many sweets as a child, so when she started baking, “it was a delightful indulgence…[that] opened up my mind and my palate to enormous possibilities in the kitchen.” McDonald attended cooking school where she fell in love with bread baking, which was the initial inspiration for Levain. Before opening Levain, Weekes worked in fashion and McDonald worked in banking.

Weekes and McDonald became friends after meeting at a swimming pool on the Upper East Side. While training for the Ironman triathlon — a race that consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run — the two of them spent a lot of time thinking about and dreaming of starting their own business, though they initially did not think it would be a bakery or that they would open one together. After their long workouts, they would bake cookies as a post-training treat. “After long runs and bike rides, you’re hungrier than you can imagine. The cookies became the perfect treat and satisfied all the senses,” Weekes and McDonald wrote.

Levain has become a very special place on the Upper West Side and all over the world. “People have wonderful memories of being in the bakeries, they make friends in line, they visit with friends, we’ve even had proposals take place at our 74th Street storefront. It’s special. We feel so lucky to be a part of these sweet memories.”

Levain is continuing to expand, with a new shop opening on 18th Street.

Levain’s Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie costs $5.

The Dish: Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie
The Restaurant: Levain Bakery (Upper West Side locations include 167 West 74th Street on Amsterdam and 351 Amsterdam Avenue between 76th and 77th Streets).

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