While thin, slightly chewy cookies with soft centers and crisped edges are, for many, the peak cookie experience, there are others who yearn for something thicker. Much thicker.
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Enter Levain Bakery, the New York City-based cookie purveyor that specializes in just that — voluptuous cookies that are crispy on the outside, gooey on the inside and weigh in at a hefty six ounces apiece.
In early September, Levain Bakery will open its first Orange County location, and its fourth in Southern California, at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.
“We have always felt that Levain brings people together, and our LA Bakeries have shown us that Southern California agrees,” commented co-founders Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald, in a joint release. “Levain in Newport Beach feels like the next natural step and can’t wait to open our doors at Fashion Island.”
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Weekes and McDonald founded Levain Bakery, named after the French word for leaven, in 1995 as a small bread shop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
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The bakery’s zaftig cookies came about, according to lore, somewhat unexpectedly. Weekes and McDonald, who were training for a triathlon at the time, started baking hefty six-ounce chocolate chip walnut cookies as a post-workout treat. The duo eventually began selling the cookies at the bakery, which soon turned into a hit.
Thirty years later, those behemoth cookies remain Levain’s calling card. The bakery has since expanded beyond the five boroughs, with locations in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Philadelphia and Beverly Hills. The Newport Beach outpost will bring Levain’s nationwide footprint to 20 bakeries.
In addition to its signature cookies, the Fashion Island location will offer breads, muffins and other pastries, as well as sandwiches. A full coffee bar will sling cappuccinos, lattes, matcha, cold-foam drinks and the bakery’s Cookie Milk Latte.
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Find it: Fashion Island, 315 Newport Center Drive, near Macy’s and Sushi Roku