NYC Lunch - Luke's Lobster; Levian Bakery

What a wonderful food day!  We went into the city to grab some good food on a beautiful Friday afternoon.  We headed up to the Upper West Side to get a taste of Maine at Luke's Lobster on Amsterdam and then something sweet at Levian Bakery on W74th.  Our taste buds were definitely pleased!

Luke's Lobster
We decided to split the Taste of Maine - which included 2 crab claws, half lobster roll, half shrimp roll, half crab roll and a bag of chips.

Dulce:
The first thing I ate was the crab claws.  While crab claws are one of my fave appetizers, these were pretty standard.  Nice and meaty, but nothing really to them.  That was about the last "standard" taste I had all lunch!


PB:
I agree and disagree with Dulce on this one.  Yes, the claws were meaty but I think they were above standard.  They were moist and full of flavor. Truly the perfect start to what wold turn out to be a extraordinary lunch experience.

Dulce:
All of the half rolls were on a buttery soft split top roll that was clearly placed on a griddle prior to serving.  Nice buttery crunch on the outside hinted at that.  Then each filling was lightly tossed in mayo, lemon juice and spices.  The shrimp roll was so delicious with whole baby shrimp.  Next up was the crab roll.  Large chucks of crab claw meat.

PB:
These rolls really were great.  Just enough butter on the roll, a perfect blend of spices and (based on Dulce's recommendation) the rolls got better with each one we had.  The shrimp was great, the crab was delicious but they both fell to a distant 2nd, compared to the final roll of the meal.

Dulce:
But nothing...NOTHING...compared to the lobster roll.  One bite and you can just hear the ocean and feel the salty New England breeze blowing!  AMAZING is the only way I can think to describe the HUGE succulent, sweet, buttery pieces of lobster paired with a unique blend of spices that would make Old Bay green with envy.  My overall scale....undoubtably a 10!  I'm ready for more!

PB:
Ditto!  Amazing and a perfect 10!


Levian Bakery

After hearing so much about these big and chewy cookies from Oprah to visitors of the Hester Street Fair and everyone in between, we had to get our hands on one while we were in the area after the fabulous lunch at Luke's.  They only offer 4 different flavors....and that's all they need.  We decided to stick with the original Chocolate Chip Walnut.

Dulce:
The look of the cookie was so massive I was almost frightened by the size!  But when we split it open I could already feel my mouth watering!  THE BEST COOKIE EVER!  The whole cookie was so soft it just melted in your mouth.  The large walnuts cut the sweetness of the dough and chocolate with such perfect balance.  Scale is a 10.  Can't wait to try the other flavors!

PB:
I hate to do this but I totally agree with Dulce 100%.  This was by far the best cookie I've ever eaten.  A perfect blend of size, flavor, texture, flavor, color, flavor, sweetness and oh, did I mention, flavor?  All we could do was to look at each other and say . . .  WOW!  Yes, a definite 10 and my only question was, when are we going back for more?