So many local bakeries, so little time. If chocolate chip cookies give you life (they do mine), then you should make time for the newest kid on the (Chicago) block—Levain Bakery.
Levain isn’t new. This bakery—world famous—is from NYC’s Upper West Side (74th and Amsterdam, if you please).
And pleased you will be. By one of the chonkiest cookies I’ve ever laid eyes on. Behold the signature two-chip.

Tipping the scale at almost 1/2 pound each (OMG), this is one badass cookie. And as I learned firsthand, a small bite goes a long way. The two-chip has two times the amount of chocolate chips per cookie.
Levain’s Chicago spot—840 W. Randolph, smack dab in Restaurant Row—is easiest to access on foot or by bike/bus. Open 8a-10p, 7 days a week.