Levain is a legend in NYC. I don’t know a person who doesn’t like it and that’s for good reason. Levain does one thing and one thing fantastically: cookies.
Levain makes four types of cookies, and only four types:
(2) chocolate chip walnut
(3) oatmeal raisin
(4) dark chocolate peanut butter chip
I cannot recommend one particular cookie as I think it depends entirely on your preference. I, personally, can only eat the dark chocolate chocolate chip cookie (as I don’t like nuts, peanut butter, or raisins), but I would recommend buying and eating every single cookie you don’t generally have an aversion to. If you can eat the flavor, you will love the cookie at Levain. If you are debating, however, I would suggest you go with one of the chocolate cookies and probably not the oatmeal raisin (which is excellent, but not as out of this world as the others). The thick gooeyness of these cookies lends itself best to chocolate.
If you’re going to go (and going is really not optional), you should try to go at as random a time as possible. Maybe like 4:30 pm on a Wednesday or 9 am on a Monday. Otherwise, you will wait, and wait, and wait. Do not make the mistake of going on a weekend afternoon, especially if the weather is warm (or really, even if it’s not). People will line up outside for an hour just to have one of these cookies.
And the place is TINY, so there is no real seating or waiting inside. The line will be entirely outside and it will be long.
So what makes this cookie the best? Well even more than the delicious taste, it’s really the texture. Levain seems to always attain the perfect balance of super soft gooey inside with a harder, crispier edge. While I’d prefer my cookie 100% gooey and soft, I know most people love the crispy edge. If you break it in half, the inside is the slightest bit underdone and the chocolate chips are melty.
When you get the cookie, it’s warm. And please do eat it right away – like on the spot. Buy it, stop, and just shove it in your mouth. It is bliss. It’s also huge, which adds to the bliss. It is one of the two biggest cookies in NYC and despite the size, you must finish it. Your spirit will thank you.
I will just add one thing. It took me about 2 years to go to this place after having heard the rave reviews and the first time I went, I was served a burnt cookie. I was so disappointed and I, of course, would’ve said something immediately, but I had already left. While I do not think it is ok to have even 1 burnt cookie when you specialize in and serve exclusively cookies, I will say it hasn’t happened since and when I mentioned the burnt cookie episode on a subsequent visit, the owner who happened to overhear immediately gave me a free (not burnt) cookie. Nice gesture.
