Is Má Pêche Serving New York’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookies?
My name is Brownie and I have…a cookie problem. I can trace this cookie issue back to childhood. You see, my mom wouldn’t let me have an EasyBake Oven (“it’s just a light bulb, Brownie“). So I turned to real ovens and a cookie baking/eating fiend was born. Remember, this is the same woman who wouldn’t let me eat cart food as a child, so clearly I have a problem with authority. When I read that New York Magazine called the Chocolate Chip Cookies at Má Pêche (aka Momofuku Midtown) the best in the city, I knew that I had to check it out. For science and the good of the ML community, of course.
While Christina Tosi’s chocolate chip cookies have received much attention, I couldn’t find any reference to how much they’d set me back online so I was in for some sticker shock when I got to Má Pêche and discovered cookies and milk listed on the menu for $10. Ouch. I like cookies, but I also like cash. In my wallet.
It’s worth noting that the chocolate chip cookies are not the same as the peanut butter cookie that you can add to your Má Pêche Midtown Lunch Special for $1.85. The waitress let me know that $10 buys you four large, baked to order chocolate chip cookies and two glasses of cold milk. So when you break down the cost it’s less than $2.50 a cookie, but still that’s a hefty investment for a dessert or snack if you’re going solo, even for a cookie fiend like me. But…I was there and committed to the task at hand and I had my husband in tow to help with the cookie clean up action.
Since the cookies are baked on demand you need to budget 10-20 minutes from when you order for your cookies to be ready. The cookies themselves are sizable and perfectly soft and chewy inside. You can tell that Má Pêche doesn’t skimp on the fancy butter or chocolate, though I wouldn‘t have minded if they used bigger chocolate chips to up the chocolatey goo factor. The only things that would make this a better cookies and milk experience would be if they frosted the glasses to make the milk icy and cold.
Best cookie in New York? Maybe. I’m still partial to the chocolate chippers I bake at home and as much as I love cookies, I can’t claim the intense breath of experience of the Serious Eaters who recently embarked on their own cookie takedown. If you like your cookies hot, buttery, and chewy these will not disappoint. And there’s something special and kind of novel about having the cookies baked especially for you.
Given the amount of cookies you get not to mention the price tag, it’s worthwhile to go in on this with a friend. Next time you have a tough day at work, Blondie, I know where I’m taking you!
Má Pêche (15 west 56th street, btw 5 +6th)
Related:
Your First Look at Ma Peche’s “Midtown Lunch” Specials
Posted by Brownie at 3:00 pm, March 15th, 2010 under Momofuku, Sweets.
14 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
14 Comments
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I think you meant Hamilton…
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Thanks…the sarcasm of the comment was meant to be delivered in the tone of someone who is thoroughly numismatically (and mathematically) challenged.
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I apologize then.
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yea, why would i get this when i can get a half gallon of milk for $2 and a pillsbury cookie dough roll for $4??
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Do you consider said half gallon of milk and unbaked cookie roll to be a Midtown lunch, Steve?
And if so, how frequently does your lunch consist of these two items?
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not enough, Fred, not enough
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What do YOU think is a good Midtown lunch, Fred, considering that you haven’t been there for, what now, the last ten years or so, Babe?
Maybe you would like to share YOUR thoughts with us.
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$10 for 4 cookies and milk? Can that really ‘sound’ like such a great deal?
Eat a Levain’s cookie and you will be fine!!
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I’ve never been to Levain’s. Unfortunately I’m allergic to nuts so I can’t have their classic chocolate chip cookie because it has walnuts. Sigh. :(
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Ah man. Poor Brownie. Wish you could indulge. ;(
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They look great. But they don’t look Levain great.
And eating two of those monsters would probably make
even a big pig like me totally sick. I do have to say, though, that their peanut butter cookie was really nice. The perfect size and full of yumminess. -
you can get 3 compost cookies for $5 at the milk bar. shouldn’t they employ similar pricing?
the cookies look shaped. like rolled into balls and then flattened. (just a random observation that doesn’t really add any value to the conversation.)
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I’m no Momo apologist, before I arrived at Ma Peche I had no idea the cookies were 4 for $10–interesting that NY Mag feature didn’t mention the price tag or that you can’t buy them individually. I’ll be the first to agree that’s steep for a lunchtime dessert. That said, the chocolate chip cookies at Mrs. Fields are $1.79 and at Pret they are $1.95, so their per cookie price isn’t that far off from other midtown warm cookie purveyors. It’s kind of hard to tell in the pics, but the cookies are a good size–I’d estimate them to be thicker and slightly bigger than Pret or Mrs. Fields. Even for a ravenous preggo like me, 2 of the Ma Peche cookies were more than enough, so if you go in on this with a friend it will end up running you around $5 per person–still not the greatest deal of all time, but not terrible.
If my office allowed me midday access to an oven, hell, even a toaster oven, I’d make chocolate chip cookies for all ya’ll.
A measly Jackson for FOUR cookies (avec fancy butter)…and TWO glasses of milk for FREE!! This should go in the latest deals section.