The story behind the bakery that became a New York institution.

Levain Bakery grew from the friendship of Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald, a swimming pool, and their common love of baking. They baked bread for New York City restaurants before welcoming customers to a small shop on West 74th Street. The French word for leavened bread provided the inspiration for the Levain Bakery name.

In 1995, loaves, baguettes, and rolls were all prepared by hand. While training for triathlons, Pam and Connie made an extra-large chocolate chip walnut cookie for energy. It was a fast favorite from the first batch and developed into a New York icon.

The bakery is still guided by the same thought thirty years later: work with quality ingredients, take care in every bake, and share generous cookies and gifts that add joy to the day.

Press reviews

“Among local cookie mavens, they’re considered as much a New York culinary icon as a Katz’s hot dog or a Di Fara slice. Tourists bucket-list them. New Yorkers line up for them.”
"Levain Bakery's cookies are the stuff of legend."
“There’s a reason we’ve called its chocolate chip-walnut cookie one of the best chocolate chip cookies in America.”
"Weighing in at slightly less than half a pound, Levain's could-be-meals cookies are big, but you'll still wish you had just one more bite after you've finished."

The Levain Way

Levain is the cookie to celebrate, to commemorate, to comfort, to console. Decadently crispy on the outside and gooey in the middle, its gooeyness cuts right to a cookie lover’s core. Flaky, moist and savory, it rises to the occasion. The smell. The smile. The sweetness. The OMG moment of biting into a Levain cookie. You never forget your first — and you’ll always want another.

Levain is love. It’s quality. It’s craft.

Every cookie, loaf, scone and muffin is made by loving hands, with the best ingredients, and a lot of heart. Given time to chill, to rise, to proof, to set, every Levain pastry is a magical amalgam of flavors and textures to light up your senses and bring you joy.

Keen On Community

We’ve always been incredibly grateful for the support of the communities we’re a part of, and we strive to reciprocate that support in ways big and small. On opening day, our new bakeries donate all proceeds to a local charity organization, and at the end of every day thereafter, we donate all unsold baked goods. It brings us great pride to think of all the people who’ve been treated to a fresh cookie, a delicious bread roll, or a flavorful muffin in the midst of a challenging day.

Years in the Baking

From a small bread shop on West 74th Street to a cookie known around the world, Levain has kept baking with the same generous spirit since 1995.