Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass

I love how so many places in New York City are named after the actual location - SoHo (South of Houston Street), TriBeCa (Triangle Below Canal Street), NoLita (North of Little Italy), etc. But DUMBO is not only my favorite name of the sort (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), but it's also one of my favorite places to visit. The in-laws were in town last week, so we spent an afternoon making the roundtrip to this charming Brooklyn neighborhood and of course ended up with some delicious treats along the way! Here's the tour:

Walk the Brooklyn Bridge.

Eat the best pizza in New York at Grimaldi's (the new location next door, but the same great pizza!)

Walk around Pier One. Ride Jane's Carousel (the girls adored it!!!) - the most joy that could possibly be packed into 3 minutes!

Make a stop at the French patisserie Almondine on Water Street. My father-in-law lived in France for two years, so he enjoyed the very French atmosphere of this picturesque little bakery (so picture-perfect that we had to veer around the newlyweds taking wedding photos on the front steps!).

Serious Eats dubbed Almondine the winner of the Brooklyn leg of the best chocolate chip cookie contest, therefore, I had no choice but to try it. The cookie was the same size as my apartment and absolutely delicious! Like a good New Yorker, it was crispy and soft at the same time, and it had an almost caramelized flavor (but not to the burnt-tasting extreme like City Bakery). I was wishing for a little more chocolate (don't let the picture fool you, there are more than 3 chocolate chips, but still not quite enough), but overall, a winner!

Since you can't go to a French bakery without indulging in fresh macarons, my mother-in-law picked out several of the colorful two-bite macarons to try (not realizing that the size in no way correlates with the price!). They were wonderful - dense yet perfectly fluffy, flavorful, and filled with delicious creams and jellies. I loved the pistachio, James preferred the black cherry, and Hannah enjoyed the chocolate. There were a dozen other pasteries that looked delicious as well, which gives us every excuse to come again!

Finally, ride the East River Ferry home.

It was a perfect day!

And the winner is...

There is no better place to start than with the very best. Despite trying countless chocolate chip cookies in the past year, one of the first cookies I tried in New York City remains my favorite. This cookie is large enough to feed a family for a day (or me and my daughter Hannah for an afternoon snack). It is soft and chewy in the middle with a crispy exterior. But it's the chocolate that makes the cookie. Giant discs of the best very dark chocolate are layered throughout the cookie so that every bite has the perfect balance of the sweet cookie and slightly bitter chocolate. It totally melts in your mouth (especially if you have them warm it up!). And the winner is...

Jacques Torres' Chocolate Chip Cookie!

I'm sure this doesn't come as a shock to many of you. Jacques Torres is a famous chocolatier, so it's no surprise that these celebrated chocolate chip cookies are very well known. And thanks to the New York Times, you can make them at home by going here. But beware, they are only as good as the chocolate that you use!

There are 5 locations: Upper West Side, Rockefeller Center, Chelsea Market, Hudson Street, and under the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn.

 One last tip: if you go to a location that serves ice cream (UWS and Brooklyn), go for an ice cream cookie sandwich. You get to choose two full-sized cookies and a scoop of ice cream for much cheaper than buying all three separately! And at least try a sample of the wicked ice cream...it's chocolate with ancho and chipotle chili peppers that give it a great kick.

And introducing Hannah, my sidekick (this picture is almost a year old...she knows better now than to smile for a picture and leave her cookie unprotected!). Notice that the cookie is roughly the size of her head!