Cookies of 113th and Broadway Nature

Despite my undying love for Westside cookies, I figure it is only right to give other Upper West Side cookies a fair chance too. Starting in Morningside Heights, I began my search tonight for the closest competitor, or victor, over Westside. Nussbaum & Wu, the bakery perhaps known best for its bagels on the corner of 113th Street and Broadway seemed the logical place to start. Let's just say, Nussbaum should probably stick to bagels... Their M&M cookie was hard, dry and bland. Good for a cracker, not a cookie. Strike one.

I then ventured across the street to Milano Market, a small deli/grocery store, and noticed stacks of cookies on the counter. Obviously, I had to try. I chose a Vanilla Caramel Cookie (see below). To Milano's great credit, not only was the cookie very aesthetically pleasing (props for decorative icing), but it was delicious. The large baked good (about 3.5 inches or so in diameter!) made a deliciously satisfying "chewy" noise when I broke off a piece. Before you call me crazy for this description, just picture the soft, moist sound you might produce from breaking a cookie in half. Still think I'm crazy? Well, I suppose that's ok, because the most important part of the cookie isn't the sound it makes anyway. The cookie itself was a little overly sweet--which I attribute to the massive amounts of icing on the surgace--but on the whole, had a very satisfying buttery taste. Status? As delicious as the cookie was, the taste was still slightly reminiscent of artificial flavoring. It lacked a little of the home-baked character, which I have yet to be able to describe well. You know it when you taste it? Also, I just have to put out there, I'm always suspicious of cookies that are perfectly round (something to do with the theory that home-baked cookies have endearing imperfections and are not all identical. Like snowflakes!) However, until I can be more articulate (story of my life...), I'm going to applaud the Milano Cookie and give it a solid 7. Definitely worth trying. But Westside still takes the cake. Or, rather,  cookie...