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Gothamist loves tri-color cookies
By
Jacob Dobkin
Published Jun 9, 2003
Modified Mar 6, 2008
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By
Jacob Dobkin
Published Jun 9, 2003
Modified Mar 6, 2008
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If there is someone in New York who knows more about tri-color cookies than Gothamist, we have yet to meet them. As part of our ongoing public service mission, we have decided to sample the tri-color cookies at every bakery in Manhattan and report on our findings. Why tri-color cookies? Who knows? These ideas just get into our head, and then there is no going back. This project started when we discussed our readership and decided that none of you are fat enough.
We've decided to use the following criteria to judge the tri-color cookies:
1. Design- a good tri-color cookie is never too thick or too thin.
2. Ingredients- a good tri-color cookie is built from semi-sweet chocolate, raspberry preserves, apricot preserves, and almond paste based dough. Quality ingredients are a must.
3. Moistness- like all good things in life, tri-color cookies must be moist, but not too moist.
4. Taste- the ingredients must come together in harmony, but each element must still retain its distinct flavor.
5. Cost- a half pound of tri-color cookies should cost about $5.00- more than that is a ripoff.

Today, Gothamist began the project by sampling the tri-color cookies at Rocco's and Bruno Bakery on Bleecker Street (Rocco's are on the right in the image above). The results were mixed. Rocco's cookies were a little bit dry, and the dough lacked a distinct almond taste. They were also cut slightly large, which, when combined with the dryness, was not very pleasing. Bruno Bakery did a little better. Their cookies were cut to the appropriate size, and were definitely moist- but not moist enough. Bruno's cookies were also ridiculously overpriced- $8.50 for a half pound. Their taste was superior to the cookies at Rocco's- but neither cookie really blew us away. Final scores, on a scale of 5 cookies:
Rocco's: 

Bruno Bakery: 


[Jen]: The ones from Citarella that Gothamist gets for brunch (accompanying the fantastic apple strudel) seem to be a hit. Granted, we don't know if Citarella makes them or outsources them, and they weren't head-to-head with Rocco's or Bruno's...
Citarella: at least 

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food
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manhattan
new york
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Jacob Dobkin
Jake Dobkin co-founded Gothamist with Jen Chung. In 2019, Jake released Ask a Native New Yorker, a book based on his Gothamist advice column.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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