Berger Goodness

Baltimore is not known as a food capital. Its culinary offerings fail to rank with those of Paris, Rome, and London. However, there is one delight unique to Charm City (Baltimore), the Berger. The Berger, for those unaware, is a cookie, though calling it such is like referring to Monet as a painter, or Moby Dick a book. The term defines it, but fails to fully explain the sheer brilliance of the item. A Berger (for it is indeed worthy of the capital letter) has a cake-like, vanilla bottom, somewhat more moist then a Pepridge Farm cookie and somewhat tastier. However, it is the top of the Berger that invokes the eater's fervor. It is a deep, full-bodied chocolate crème, a quarter of an inch thick at times, and as rich as a Valrhona dark chocolate truffle or a Napolean Brandy. This crème, rich to the point of decadence, embraces the cake-esque bottom like chocolate octopus enveloping its prey.

Baltimoreans who no longer live in Riot City (Baltimore again) ask locals to send them boxes of the local delicacy. Locals devour them by the box. One friend of mine only eats the top bit, while another dunks them in milk. I bring them as thank-you presents when I visit out-of-town relatives, and credit them with having been asked back by said relatives. One can find them all over the City That Reads (still Baltimore) in Giant and Royal Farm. People have informed me they can be acquired in DC, though being a Baltimorean and 10 minutes from a Berger supply, I have never attempted to verify this. However, if one finds oneself in the Greatest City in the World (can you believe this is actually a nickname for Baltimore? Strange but true) the best Berger, indeed the Berger tour de force, can be found in Lexington Market. There freshly-made Bergers can be purchased by the pound. And as you sit outside the market, trying to ignore the crack dealers and phone dealers (Lexington Market is not in the best area), you will bite down on a Berger, your upper teeth penetrating the fresh, soft succulent chocolate and your lower teeth penetrating the cake-like cookie, you will being to feel all the benefits of pure hedonism. Then you will go back in and buy several more pounds.

Berger Cookies | http://www.bergercookies.com/