taste Test: The Best Babka in New York City
Green's chocolate babka.
Some people don't understand babka. Is it a bread? Dessert? The sweet, swirly loaf, which has roots in Eastern Europe, is somewhere in between. Think of it as a cousin of coffee cake, if that helps. When are you supposed to eat it? The better question is when can't you eat babka? Something about the chocolate or cinnamon (we'll get to that) woven into the brioche-meets-cake loaf just hits the spot.
There are two traditional flavors: chocolate and cinnamon. Elaine Benes famously called cinnamon "the lesser babka" on an episode of Seinfeld, and Serious Eaters seem to agree. But since we were pretty split on our flavor loyalties at SEHQ, we included both in this tasting.
We traveled all over the city—to markets, delis, bakeries, and even the largest babka bakery in the country located in Brooklyn—and it's time to declare the winners. Serious babka porn, after the jump.
The Best Traditional Babka
Green's chocolate babka.
When forming a master list of the competing babkas (would the plural be babkae?) it became clear that most roads led back to one bakery in Williamsburg. Green's supplies the majority of the babka you see at markets and delis across the city, not to mention the country (including California, Texas, and beyond). Though some places get rid of their packaging, faking it as their own in-house creation, odds are it's from Green's.
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