As I always told my mom, there is a different compartment in my stomach for dessert, meaning that there is always room for something sweet at the end of the meal. In my opinion, dessert is not really an option, but rather a necessity. But for me, Levain Bakery In New York City is especially essential to my diet. Cookies are a typical dessert because they are universally known as a tasty delight. However, the monstrous cookies from Levain are far from ordinary. Levain has a couple of different types of cookies. These choices span from oatmeal raisin to dark chocolate chocolate chip and they even have dark chocolate peanut butter chip. Although all these choices are excellent, my all-time favorite Levain cookie is the chocolate chip walnut. I was reminded of these orgasmic treats over thanksgiving when I decided to pay Levain a visit. When I step foot into the bakery I prepared myself to fall into the sweet coma I have so dearly missed. Straight out of the oven, my chocolate chip walnut cookie was oozing melted chocolate chips and out popped the crunchy walnuts, which created an amazing texture. As I bite into this heavenly delight, the moist insides fall into my watering mouth. The hard exterior of the cookie is merely the shell for the soft and fluffy insides. This almost two inch cookie usually takes me a while to finish, and over the years I have realized that it is almost impossible successfully complete a Levain cookie without a glass of ice-cold milk. My one complaint about these divine cookies is that they are extremely pricy, $4.00 is more then I would like to spend on a cookie, however, they are probably double the size of the average cookie.
Prior to coming to school in August I knew there would be ABSOLUTLY no substitute to Levain. But being a huge dessert fan, I knew it would be my ultimate challenge to find something I could eat at the end of each meal. Surprisingly, this alternative to Levain came to me in my first meal at the DUC. After I was done with my less than satisfying meal I took a lap around the DUC to hopefully find some halfway decent dessert. Much to my surprise, the one area that the DUC is not too shabby at DUC is the dessert part. I had my choice of chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, cupcakes with whip cream, vanilla cake with chocolate frostings, cherry tarts, peach cobbler, and brownies. I decided to stay away from the cookies because I did not want to start my dessert experience at Emory with a disappointment. So I took the lead from one of my friends and opted for the vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. This piece of moist cake did not have overpoweringly sweet butter cream chocolate frosting, which is what I would have expected from cafeteria cake. But rather, it contained the perfect ratio of chocolate frosting to cake and even had a bit of a crunch from a few sprinkles that were fluttered on top. I was able to end my meal with just the right amount of sugar I needed, thankfully!
Photo 1 From: Levain Bakery
It looks like that cookie might be worth the $4. Excellent post, as ever. I have enjoyed the inevitably anti-climactic comparison between NYC food and what you can find on Emory campus. And, I have to say, you have mastered the difficult narrative trick of transitioning from one time and place to another. Well done.
ReplyDelete