Bill
Dean & Deluca is one of our favorite dessert places, so this is the first of several reviews. While the store/cafe has several great and divine desserts, not everything is up to that standard.
Dean & Deluca has been missing its divine triple chocolate brownie for months. It has recently been reincarnated as a cookie.
The basic concept mixes two darker chocolates with large chunks of white chocolate. The brownie's intensely deep dark and white chocolate flavors and fantastic texture contrasts are largely lost in the cookie version. The relatively flavorless crunchy edge, which the brownie completely avoids, extends way too far into the center. This leaves precious little of the cookie to enjoy the great flavor and texture mix. That center is also much thinner than the brownie version. This cookie deserves our good rating.
3276 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20007-3624
(202) 342-2500
Google map & reviews (3.89/5.00)
Yelp (3.5/5)
TripAdvisor (5/5; #3 shopping place in DC)
Josh
If you are in the market for a well made cookie, and happen to be traveling through DC on a train or by metro, take a second and stop at Larry's Cookies in the Union Station food court.
The Chocolate Chunk Cookie has both the mass and volume needed to satisfy one's sweeter cravings. It deserves our great rating. Other options include oatmeal raisin, butter pecan, double chocolate, crispy chocolate, Heath, and white chocolate. A very simple yet delectable dessert!
Union Station Food Court
(202) 289-7586
Other locations include:
1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20004 (Reagan Building)
(202) 682-0080
1100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW # 114, Washington, DC 20004 (Old Post Office)
(202) 682-1018
1633 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20009
(202) 234-2690
1100 S Hayes St. Arlington, VA 22202
(703) 415-2066
Bill
Watershed gave the NoMa area its only table-service restaurant when it opened on April 22nd. Chef Todd Gray is known for Equinox near the White House, and Watershed is his big bet on NoMa's potential. For gourmet desserts, it's the only game in town right now.
Watershed normally serves these three cookies with a glass of local milk. I ordered it with a scoop of ice cream instead. The ice cream was smooth and better than average. The cookies were all you can ask of cookies. They were warm and soft with thin crispy layers spotting the tops and edges. Two kinds of chocolate chunks play off of each other within the cookies. The chunks are generously proportioned, and melt into the cookies to grace their inner layers with delightful gooeyness and flavor.
Watershed's cookies deserve our great rating. However, my group found the entrees merely average. That's particularly disappointing given the pricing.
Hilton Garden Inn
1225 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002
(202) 534-1350
Google map
Capital Spice
One Vanilla Bean
Open Table
Josh
As much as I tried I was unable to pass up grabbing a sugar cookie for the road during my visit to Potbelly. An old friend of mine used to have his mom make us sugar cookies when we'd hang out at his house, and somehow, despite the fact that she always used store bought supplies, they were excellent. Her ability to maintain moisture and softness was "God given."
While these Potbelly sugar cookies lacked the warmth of fresh baked cookies, they still possessed the necessary moisture. Pre-packaged, I am not positive they are actually made by Potbelly, but I am assured they can be bought there on any given day. In addition to the sugar cookie option, they also had a few other choices that looked equally delectable. Grab one if you have a chance.
128 Boardwalk Place, Gaithersburg, MD 20878
(301) 963-4055
Google Map & Reviews
Yelp (3.5/5)
Bill
This cookie is Firehook’s most unique, and it earns significant points for the concept. The presidential sweet cookie is made with chocolate chips, coconut, sun-dried cherries, rolled oats, espresso powder, pecan pieces, and vanilla. No, really. It works, and when it is good, it is divine. The wild hodgepodge of textures and flavors provides a fantastic, unique experience. Unfortunately, there is a consistency risk with the presidential sweet cookie, but lower than with the chocolate espresso cookie. It still ranks as one of our favorites and gets our divine rating.
1909 Q St NW, Washington, DC 20009
(202) 588-9296
Google map & reviews
Washington Post (Editors' Pick)
Yelp (3/5)
Yahoo! (3.5/5)
Bill
When Firehook’s chocolate espresso cookie reaches its potential, it is almost one of our favorites. Its primary flavor elements are chocolate chips, espresso powder, and vanilla. That’s a great mix, but the final product is even better than the sum of its parts. The cookie looks like a chocolate version of molten rock: gooey rivers of chocolatey awesomeness run between mounds of soft cookie goodness with thin, flaky caps. It’s not quite a favorite because the walnut pieces, although small and few, break up the flow of the more flavorful elements, and there’s a consistency risk.
The consistency risk is that this cookie is sometimes hard and dry. When that happens, it would be a bad cookie at a grocery store, and something a specialty bakery like Firehook should be embarrassed to serve. That’s the version of the cookie I found in this review. This cookie could approach the divine rating, but with the consistency risk, the best it deserves is great.
1909 Q St NW, Washington, DC 20009
(202) 588-9296
Google map & reviews
Washington Post (Editors' Pick)
Yelp (3/5)
Yahoo! (3.5/5)
