Levain Bakery is a crown jewel of the Upper West Side. A local, homegrown favorite and tourist destination, there’s always been some pixie dust in the air at the bakery’s original location on 74th Street. While this store is currently closed due to the pandemic, people come from near and far to munch on Levain’s famous cookie mounds and delectable baked goods during normal times.
The line stretches down the street at Levain Bakery’s original location (currently closed) at 167 West 74th Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues
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I feel the same way about Patsy’s Pizza: sure, the UWS offshoot is great but it’s not in the same league as their 1933 coal oven classic in East Harlem.
This also reminds me of Shake Shack’s expansion. The more Shake Shack’s that opened, the shorter the lines got at the original. I do love me some convenient Shake Shack, but now I’m re-evaluating using Levain as a leave-behind-treat at client meetings, or my accompaniment to dinner parties and family events. What was once tough to find, highly sought after and beloved is teetering towards Chef Gusteau’s Frozen Food line from the movie Ratatouille. In both cases, once the original owners had new representation, frozen options were added to the brand’s portfolio. Levain Bakery has also been expanding with new storefront locations, its newest in Georgetown, DC.
With Levain Bakery cookies now available in stores, I decided to do a taste test.
The other day, I walked into the Columbus Circle Whole Foods at 12:24pm. In just 7 minutes, I was through checkout with a box of Levain’s classic Chocolate Chip Walnut in tow.
Then I made my way to the 1 train, uptown towards Levain Bakery at 351 Amsterdam Ave.
In five minutes I was out with a warm Chocolate Chip Walnut cookie from the baking tray. Thanksgiving came early this year as this cookie had all the trimmings of the original Levain: crunchy on the outside, gooey on the inside; walnuts and chocolate in virtually every bite. The consistency is what makes this a delicacy.
From the bakery
I lucked out too. This location can be hit or miss when it comes to getting a nice warm cookie. Your best chance for that will always be at the original location at 167 West 74th Streets (between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues). I’m told their Harlem location virtually never, if ever, has warm cookies available (feel free to leave a comment if your experience has been different).
Back at home base, I looked at the box of Levain cookie dough and caught something glaring: these frozen cookies are considerably smaller than what you’d find at the bakery.
Levain Bakery cookie dimensions on the left. Frozen Levain cookie dimensions on the right.
The good news is that this is a quick cookie to bake, so the convenience factor is off the charts. Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake for 5-7 minutes, per the box. I’ve been running time trials for the optimal baking time; my oven is delivering the best results at the 8+ minute mark.
From Whole Foods
Bottom line: Both Levain Bakery and the frozen box option turned out excellent. Crunchy outside, gooey inside. The grocery option guarantees you can enjoy it hot off the line if that’s your thing – but the ratio, being a smaller cookie, doesn’t have the chocolate or walnut consistency like classic bakery cookies. The walnuts come up short with less room to graze. Perhaps they should consider adding a couple more if the machines at the factory can handle it.
Levain’s ‘Two Chip’ cookie might be a better frozen option; I’ll try that next.
My first experience with Levain was at the Harlem location, around five years ago, and the cookies were fresh and hot out of the oven. However, we may have just been lucky with our timing — there was no line and we only ordered their chocolate chip walnut cookies. Since then we’ve always gone to the UWS stores.
This was a great article idea. I’ve been wondering how the frozen cookies stack up. The small size really is an appealing point, since just those are already 240+ calories. I also agree that the cookies have kind of lost their specialness—both with the expansion and these frozen varieties. Still absolutely delicious.
whoa, this dude seamlessly spun Taylor Swift into a cookie review. That was awesome. Appreciate the research here.
::takes hat off::
I’ve definitely had warm cookies from the Harlem location as well. Obviously I have no idea how common they are, but they exist.
Thanks Jeff. Appreciate the feedback.
Yes, I have have lots of warm cookies from the Harlem store, although it’s not in my interest to point that out because now the lines may get longer!
Thanks for 411, Amy. Hope you’re well out there.
You can always ask for a warm cookie / fresh from the oven cookie. Even the bakery tells you to do this – they often even say so on their IG feed.