If you follow any NYC food-focused Instagram account, you've definitely scrolled by a picture of the softball-size cookies from Levain Bakery. If you're lucky, you've been to one of their two Upper West Side locations (shhh I want to keep the Harlem outpost a secret) or if you don't live near NYC, you may have tried to make them yourself. Up until recently, the chocolate chip walnut from Levain was my favorite cookie, hands down, but then I finally tried the cookies at Chip NYC. If you love Levain's style of cookies: craggy golden exteriors hiding a gooey, underbaked interior and packed with chocolate, you need to try Chip NYC in Astoria.
Chip NYC Keeps It Fresh
Levain and Chip both offer four flavors that they bake in small batches throughout the day so you are always guaranteed a fresh cookie. However, Chip rotates their offerings all the time, so you can be surprised with anything from typical flavors like chocolate chip, funfetti, chocolate peanut butter, and white chocolate macademia, to more inventive flavors such as oatmeal apple pie, butterscotch toffee, Nutella sea salt, and blueberry cheesecake. Of course, when I saw the fresh tray of s'mores cookies coming out of the oven, my decision was already made. My friends also went for the s'mores option. Soon enough we had boxes of hot cookies that I forced my friends to crack open right there for pictures. That's the price they must pay for me to drag them to cool bakeries
The Cookie That Made Us Want S'more
Now for the review: the s'mores cookie was PHENOMENAL. The cookie was so fresh out of the oven that it was falling apart as I tried to capture a picture. It had the perfect distribution of pockets of semisweet chocolate and gooey toasted marshmallows without being sickeningly sweet.
Like Levain, the cookie was golden and crispy on the outside and perfectly underbaked inside. The cookie was slightly smaller than Levain's, but also a little cheaper at $3.50 a pop. I had this cookie a month ago and I can't stop thinking about it.
Drinks and a Perk
I grabbed a butterscotch toffee cookie to go for my sister as well, and it was equally amazing, with buttery toffee notes (I ended up eating half of it, so I can confirm these cookies are still delicious a day later.) Chip also has a menu of espresso-based coffee drinks and offers milk and almond milk as well. Plus, if you buy five cookies, the sixth is free! The more cookies the better.
The Space
My only complaint is that the space is very small, as in it makes the original Levain location seem roomy. I did love the open kitchen layout, plus the place smells heavenly even from the outside. It's all wood: the walls, the display case, the tiny counter running along the window with a few stools for cramped seating. There was a $10 card minimum when I visited in January, so make sure you have cash if you're only buying a cookie or two as they're $3.50 each
Go Forth and Conquer
If you don't feel like hopping on an N, R, or Q train, you can hit Chip's stand at Gansevoort Market in Chelsea which just opened in December. The Astoria location is definitely worth the trip. It's right off 30th Ave, right by tons of great restaurants and shops. (I highly recommend brunch at The Shady Lady, SugarFreak, or Queens Comfort, the last two of which just moved to bigger locations on the same street.) What better way to cap off brunch than with a giant, fresh out of the oven cookie?