Levain Bakery…a little bakery with a big presence (Modern Baking)

Check out the new article about Levain Bakery in Modern Baking.

Levain Bakery…a little bakery with a big presence

Oct 1, 2009 12:00 PM, by Katherine Martin, chief editor

With the good fortune of being written up in numerous travel guidebooks and being showcased several times on the Food Network, this 500-sq.-ft. bakery is a go-to destination for thousands visiting New York City.

 

In time for his final week as The New York Times’ restaurant critic, Frank Bruni releases Born Round, an unlikely memoir about making peace with food.By Gabriella Gershenson

 By Gabriella Gershenson

In time for his final week as The New York Times’ restaurant critic, Frank Bruni releases Born Round, an unlikely memoir about making peace with food.

 

“In the book, you write about a good source of tartines near your place on the Upper West Side. Were you talking about Levain Bakery?
Yes, I live in Levain Bakery.

Their cookies to me are like kryptonite.
They’re horrible. I mean they’re great! But they’re cookie dough! I mean, that cookie is half cookie and half dough! I love peanut butter cookies, too. I wish Levain did a straightforward peanut butter cookie because they could probably do an amazing peanut butter cookie.

I bet if you asked them they would.
I would never do that.”

http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/restaurants-bars/77622/frank-bruni-revealed

The Cookie Maker

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/nyregion/16qbiteli.html

Quick Bite | Wainscott

Published: August 14, 2009

“Never have 12 cookies weighed so much,” said Michael Hirtenstein of Manhattan and Bridgehampton, lifting his purchase from the counter at Levain Bakery in Wainscott on a recent afternoon.

Levain’s signature cookies ($4) are indeed impressive in their heft and lumpy handmade charm. Each weighs six ounces and is nearly half as thick as it is wide. They come in four flavors: chocolate chip walnut, dark chocolate chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and dark chocolate peanut butter chip.

“There’s kind of an art to scaling it perfectly,” said Connie McDonald, the co-owner with Pam Weekes of the 10-year-old bakery in Wainscott and its 14-year-old sister bakery on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The cookie’s thickness allows the center to be soft with melted semi-sweet chocolate chunks and chewy with raisins or nuts, while the outside remains crisp and firm. Substantial and satisfying, the chocolate chip walnut cookie is practically a meal in itself.

Levain produces fine artisanal breads (a crusty ciabatta is $4.50, a whole wheat walnut raisin is $6.75), bomboloncini (baked jelly doughnuts, $2 each), and flat pizza breads in flavors like caramelized onion with Parmesan or artichoke Gruyère ($7.50 each). Espresso ($1.50) and cappuccino ($2.75 small, $3.75 large) are also available. There is no table service, but there are benches to sit on.

Rustic fruit tarts are a specialty only at the East End location. A combination of strawberries, blueberries and peaches is framed in a light pie crust ($25 for a six-inch). The sweet tarts are seasonal pleasures, just like Levain’s Wainscott bakery. It closes for the year in late September. (Levain Bakery in Manhattan is open year-round.)

Levain Bakery, Wainscott Village Shopping Center, 354 Montauk Highway, Wainscott; (631) 537-8570. levainbakery.com. Open daily July through Labor Day, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Open weekends April through June, and from Labor Day until the last weekend of September (call for hours). SUSAN M. NOVICK

LX-TV – What Kristin Chenoweth can’t live without!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1745089117?bctid=25840971001

TimeOut New York

Time Out New York / Issue 709 : Apr 30–May 6, 2009

The city’s best strolls

 

The Jesus walk

WJW? Kick it on the Upper West Side, where you can break bread, view biblical art and even walk on water.By Cristina Velocci

 

5 Amazing as they are, skip the half-pound cookies that Levain Bakery (167 W 74th St between Amsterdam and Columbus Aves; 212-874-6080, levainbakery.com) is known for; you’re here to break bread. The intoxicating smell of artisanal handmade loaves baking in the oven will make you an easy convert. Choose from olive-herb ($6.50) or seeded semolina ($6.50), sourdough boule ($5.25), ciabatta ($4.50) and whole-wheat raisin ($6.75), and don’t forget to share—it’s not like this is your last supper.

New York Post – Sunday – Pulse

MY NEW YORK

KRISTIN CHENOWETH

2.) Levain Bakery, 167 W. 74th St.,

at Amsterdam Avenue

“My favorite place to get a treat — their chocolate chip cookies are the best I’ve ever had, anywhere. They’re like little pies, and when they come out of the oven and they’re warm, it’s amazing.”

Yelp – 100 Best Check List NYC

MetroSports New York Best of ’08

BEST PLACE FOR POST-LONG RIDE GUILT-FREE COOKIES
LEVAIN BAKERY
The ladies of the Levain Bakery have been famous in the triathlon community not only because of their great, giant 6-ounce chocolate chip walnut cookies (yes, that’s just shy of weighing half of a pound), but because they also took down the great Bobby Flay in a Throwdown on the Food Network last year. Flay, who put forth a limp, greasy cookie in the competition held at Cadence Cycling and Endurance Center in Tribeca, doesn’t know anything about what a cyclist wants after a long day on the bike battling the elements. The ladies at Levain, both Ironman triathletes, met at a pool and were inspired by their athletic pursuits to quit their jobs and start a bakery. The rest is delicious history. Levainbakery.com.

1000 Thing to Do in New York – Time Out NY – August 2008

# 899: Bite into a chocolate chip walnut cookie at Levain Bakery.

Sugar Rush: Levain Bakery’s Baguette with Butter and Jam – Serious Eats – July 11, 2008

Certain classic combinations never get old. Consider the Levain Bakery baguette with butter and jam. Levain cuts off a third of the thin, tubular, just-crusty-enough sourdough baguette and fills it with seedless Polaner raspberry jam and soft, sweet butter. “Polaner!” You outraged locavores must be scoffing. Shouldn’t the Levain folks be using some Hudson Valley jam made in a ninety-year-old’s farm kitchen?!

One bite of this glorious sandwich and you realize it’s plenty deliciouso, just the way it is. No need to change a thing, as far as I’m concerned.