There’s a joke in the entertainment industry about someone who rockets to our consciousness. In an interview they chuckle ruefully that in reality they have been honing their craft for twenty years.
I thought about that standing to read a framed NYT article in Levain bakery. Levain is definitely having their moment. But they started in the Upper West Side in New York 31 years ago. I was standing at an outlet in Bethesda, MD. This stop in the DC area kept me from having to drive much farther hunting these cookies in LA. Levain is all the buzz now, and I had to rendezvous with it somewhere. Why all the fuss about a chocolate chip cookie? These aren’t just chocolate chip cookies. They are exceptional chocolate chips cookies.
I went in to try these rounded lumps of cookie, clusters of walnuts and chocolate chips, in either the traditional blondie base or dark chocolate. Honestly, it’s hard to tell what is what if an assortment is in front of you, but who cares? Every bite is extraordinary, and all contain a lot of chocolate in every bite.
Levain first turned up on my radar a few months ago, and I don’t even remember how. But I’m glad I found some other options before I seriously considered returning to NYC to try them. I was unaware of their presence until the last time I left L.A., and I realized they were here after my summer trip to DC. This time it was the first outing I had after touching down.
We found Levain in the shopping maze that is downtown Bethesda. It has so changed since we lived there after Katrina. The cornerstone Barnes & Noble has been replaced by a clothing store, and Levain is a few doors from the Mexican restaurant that was so much a part our our life there. It too has changed, and is barely recognizable from the renovation.
Levain is a cerulean blue color as a signature, and of course a neon-lighted outline of a chocolate chip cookie hangs in the window. Inside is a smallish space where you stand to order cookies. If you want to sit and eat any cookies you will have to do that out front where there are comfortable Adirondack chairs and a little cart. I didn’t check the cart for cookies…I assume they use that for outings and promotions. The cookies inside are clustered closely in a small case across from a wall full of reviews and media articles. There is a small shelf there without stools, but it does have cute merchandise for purchase.
The cookies are enormous and for $73 you can get a cerulean blue signature tin full of the assortment. For a brief second I considered that and realized immediately that in a few years it would be another thing to get rid of. But I still got an assortment in a bag for $40. Eight cookies for $40? Yes, and it was worth it. These are in fact extraordinary cookies.
The signature chocolate chip cookie with walnuts is indeed sensational. The size of this cookie is impressive.
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From the beginning of the operation in 1995 people were wondering about the fact that these cookies were not flattened as most “normal” chocolate chip cookies are. That was part of their charm, and they have never explained the secret.
All of the cookies have this lump characteristic. They are so large multiple people can nibble on them. We fed a table full of people nibbling on the box. All afternoon.
There were two signature original chocolate chip walnut cookies, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies.
Each of these were better than the last. The general vote went for the original chocolate chip and walnut. I preferred the one with the peanut butter chips, but that’s just because I’m crazy about the peanut butter/chocolate combination. Here’s hoping they’ll add a peanut butter cookie with chocolate chips to the repertoire.
I noticed a Cacio e Pepe scone while I was ordering, so I got one of those too. I thought that was an interesting idea, though not surprising. Cacio e Pepe is everywhere. The pasta version of crispy Brussels sprouts on menus.
The scone tasted exactly like Cacio e Pepe, which is to say it was delicious as well.
There is not much else in the offing here, but there doesn’t need to be. Levain proves that just a single thing, done really, really well, is enough.