Culture Espresso boasts some truly exceptional coffee, and as an added bonus, they also bake some quite amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies. The cozy cafe on 38th Street has limited seating, but I was fortunate to be able to grab a seat at the long table in the center of the cafe.
Culture’s Chocolate Chip Cookie was voted North America’s best Chocolate Chip Cookie in a major Cookie-off, competing against heavyweights like Levain. As you might recall from my previous post, Levain’s Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie is my all-time favorite cookie, but Culture’s Chocolate Chip Cookie is also truly wonderful, especially for those of you, who prefer traditional, slightly-more-flat-than-Levain’s cookies.
The coffee at Culture Club is in a league of its own, surpassing what you’ll get a Levain’s, so when considering the total score (cookie points + coffee points), Culture Espresso is a slightly better choice, at least in my opinion. To put it another way; if I craved only cookies and were equidistant to Levain or Culture, my choice would be Levain. However, if I were after both excellent coffee and excellent cookies, Culture would be my pick.