My excellent taste

I went into Levain this morning, as I do every morning, to buy the whole-wheat-raisin roll that will be my late-morning snack. (Note to self: the late-morning snack could be the reason you find it impossible to lose weight.) The man next to me was waiting for the whole-wheat-raisin bread to come out of the oven. The owner told us a little story about how not too long ago, Frank Bruni, the New York Times restaurant critic, called to ask whether the whole wheat rolls were their best sellers. She told him, no, in fact the chocolate chip cookies were.

Anyone who knows Levain will not be surprised to learn that. Their cookies are the size of a Volkswagen, have god knows how many calories, should be eaten over several days, but in fact, are so irresistible in their dense, barely cooked chocolate wonderfulness that they are instead eaten -- by me, at any rate -- in one long session involving several glasses of milk.

Bruni, however, was amazed. He could not believe that the rolls weren't their best-selling item. Since I eat them every day, I obviously agree with him that they are delicious. I guess Bruni does a restaurant report on WQXR, and that week, he devoted it entirely to Levain's whole-wheat-raisin rolls. The owner said that for a few days afterward there was a noticeable uptick in older customers (presumably QXR's demographic) asking for the rolls.

Bruni, according to Levain's owner, lives up the street from the tiny bakery, which means around the corner from me. Of course, neither of us know what he looks like. He could have been the man standing next to me wondering about the bread for all either of us knows.