Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Your mileage may vary on Pret. I went to the one on 42 and 5th today at 5:00. It was like a dried out biscuit. Very tough and hardly any chocolate. Truthfully, I'd rather eat dough from a tube.

I went on Friday with a friend ~ we had the Persimmon jasmine rice pudding [our verdict: delicious flavor & texture combo ] & the white miso semifreddo [our verdit: glad we tried it although we found it a tad to savory ] as well as a peanut butter cookie & a green tea chocolate cookie [verdict: we enjoyed the strong pb flavor nicely complemented by a sprinkling of sea salt on top; we found the green tea chocolate blah] ~ the best treat: watching Pichet Ong teaching his staff how to make & plate the deserts. It's a comfortable space even though it's subterranean and the staff is very welcoming even though they haven't quite got their sea legs.

Oh my god, I need to try this!

When you get to the downtown edition, the chocolate chip cookies from Jack's Stir Brew coffee are a must-try. I go to the location on Front Street by the Seaport. They are crisp on the edges, have a ton of chocolate, are slightly underbaked to ensure a gooey center, and have a deep, almost, caramel-like, burnt suger / brown butter bass note to them. I keep begging the staff to give me the recipe, but rumor has it that only Jack's aunt knows the recipe. She makes the batter, delivers it to the store, and the staff only bakes off the cookies to keep the recipe secret.

I am eating a Pret cookie right now and it is good but needs some more salt. I think the success of this cookie resides on the fact it is in a heated case (though that doesn't explain that it is still good when it cools down after being brought to the SE office). CURSES! What have they done to this cooooooooooookie to make it good. And this thing is 300 calories too. I wish they hadn't told me.

Mmmm... just had a Pret Cookie, lush chocolate and slightly soft dough. It is durned good. Just slightly sweet and a crisp "crust."

On to City Bakery!

omg. in a good way.

Not to be too harsh but I always thought City Bakery Chocolate Chip cookies tasted like stinky feet smell.

SO... against my better judgement...but following your lead.... I went over to Pret today. There must me some location specific magic happening because the cookie I got tasted no better than the toll house cookie rolls you buy at Gristedes and cook at home....right down to the slightly artificial preservative taste.

I'm still waiting for Jacques Torres to show up (Outer Borough I guess) and Le Pain Quotidien.

whoa this is a total scandal. i will have to try this pret cookie because i really can't believe that it would be particularly great.

zarela on 2nd avenue between 50th and 51st streets. It's a bit noisy downstairs at night (near the bar) but ask for a table upstairs near the window. cuisine is from oaxaca. amazing mole sauce. desserts to die for. great sangria and margaritas. sometimes zarela herself comes around and greets the guests.

Say it with Flour in Midtown East. Amazing!

Oh, PLEASE. Shopsin's, FTW.