I Tried 10 Bakeries To Determine Who Has The Best Chocolate Babka In NYC

New York City is home to "orange" slice pizza and some of the best bagels sandwiches, deli sandwiches, and babkas. A babka is a sweet bread that consists of key ingredients like yeast, butter, eggs, flour, and milk, and hails from Eastern Europe. The term itself is derived from the Yiddish and Polish words for grandmother. 

Babkas can take many shapes and forms. The baked goods are often filled and dusted with all kinds of ingredients, including fruits and chocolate. There is a Polish-style Easter babka that somewhat resembles a bundt cake, and another one from Ukraine that comes in a tall, tube shape. The one that is most commonly enjoyed comes from the Jewish tradition, where the dough is laid flat, filled with chocolate or other fillings, rolled up, and baked as a loaf.

New York City is overloaded with many chocolate babka options. While I would love the pleasure of chowing down on every single babka that the five boroughs have to offer, I singled out 10 bakeries that serve the best. Then, I pitted them against one another and decided which one was best. I looked for three key elements when determining this ranking: its balance of chocolate and dough, softness/freshness, and its ability to make me reach for another slice.

Since 1914, Russ & Daughters has been a purveyor of smoked fish and other fine appetizing foods, all starting from its flagship store, located at 179 East Houston Street. While sweets and treats have also been available to purchase, it doesn't appear that the chain got into the babka game until at least 2008. A year later, the fourth generation of the family took over the business, with Niki Russ Federman and cousin Josh Russ Tupper at the helm. They have helped to further solidify the brand's reputation with additional locations, including one in Brooklyn's Navy Yard, that houses its bakery.

With such a storied name, Russ & Daughters' babka comes with high expectations. Prepackaged slices are available for purchase, which is a rare option on this list. But I opted to purchase the full loaf. This one had a rectangular shape similar to those sold at Michaeli Bakery, Breads Bakery, and Yardsale Cafe. They all have that uniform babka look, where mounds of puffy bread have their crevasses filled with chocolate.

As I approached the loaf with a knife, I could tell by touch that it wasn't the freshest, as the exterior texture was rough. While I liked the taste of the chocolate, which seemed to be laced with a nudge of caramel, there was barely any chocolate within. What I was left with was a lot of dough. And unfortunately, that dough was dry, so it was not that enjoyable to nosh on. I love you, Russ & Daughters, but I may just stick to the lox next time.

The moment I walked into Yardsale Cafe at 620 5th Avenue in Brooklyn, I was sold on the concept. There was coffees and baked goods at the counter, with paper ephemera, antiques, and a lot of old-school trading cards for purchase. A little bit of everything for everybody. Shawn Peled is the person behind this spot, which opened in September 2020.

My focus when visiting was on its Nutella babka, which is based on a recipe two decades in the making. They are made in limited quantities, so it's recommended that you call to reserve one in advance.

Yardsale Cafe's babka is super-chocolatey and rich, almost to the point that it became uncomfortably sweet. There were some other notes detected within, from hazelnut to even a hint of cinnamon, but none of this flavoring could enhance the aspect that spoke to me the least: the crumb. 

The dough was unlike the other babkas I tried; it had the texture of a croissant, and was more flaky than it was soft. With this more crispy shell, it was a chore to cut slices of it. Overall, it is still a very edible babka, it just didn't leave a lasting impression. But I will certainly be coming back to buy more wax packs.

Adir Michaeli knows a thing or two about baking. He honed his craft under pastry chef Roni Fredy Mordechai at Lehamim Bakery in Tel Aviv, then moved to the United States to help open Breads Bakery in 2013. There, he helped to define Breads' signature babka. Then, in 2019, he broke out on his own, to found Michaeli's Bakery at 115A Division Street. The business now also has a second shop located at 401 East 90th Street.

Michaeli's babka had a very browned, oven-baked sheen to it. The chocolate paste also filled every valley of the loaf's mountainous exterior, give it a contoured look. But once you reach the inside of this babka, it's mainly an all-bread affair with not much chocolate in sight. It almost looked like the outside was overcompensating for what little existed within.

Since the top is swimming with chocolate, it's hard not to get a taste of it with every bite. The chocolate is very good, and it hovers between the lands of semisweet and dark. Its texture is akin to a buttery frosting. The one aspect that keeps this babka from being a repeat buy is its ho-hum interior. It's just too much dough. Not sure if more chocolate on the inside is the answer, as it would perhaps be overkill when taken in conjunction with that fab top layer.

In Williamsburg, locals and tourists alike flock to Oneg Bakery. However, just a block away at 159 Lee Avenue is another bakery that has been holding its own since 1959: Sander's Bakery. The bakery is still in the family's hands, now under its fourth generation of stewardship. The babkas here are sold pre-packaged by the pound, at the reasonable cost of $9.99 each.

From the first cut, I could tell what I was getting into. What I saw was thick swirls of chocolate and dough, which gave me the impression that the baker had put a lot of care into this. Another impressive aspect was the babka's size, as it stretched almost 4 inches wide. The top of the babka was more simplistic than all the others I encountered, where this rounded crust could pass for a normal loaf of bread.

The knife cut easily through this babka, producing super smooth slices each time. That also seemed to me like a good indication of its freshness. While the inside of this babka screamed chocolate insanity, the taste was actually more restrained. Overall, it's an unfussy babka that plays more like a chocolate breakfast Danish than an indulgent dessert. In terms of our ranking, it's kind of middle of the road, but a dependable one that won't likely find any detractors.

There are many New York City bakeries that have been producing babkas for decades. One that continues to elevate the babka's profile is Breads Bakery. This bakery is headquartered just east of Union Square, at 18 East 16th Street, and has since expanded to five other locations. This chain's logo is even a drawing of a braided babka. 

It got started in 2013, when Gadi Peleg imported the talents and recipes of Uri Scheft, who was the head baker at Lehamim Bakery in Tel Aviv. "Lehamim," not so coincidentally, is the Hebrew word for "breads." Naturally, Breads Bakery is great at making bread, and it's actually my go-to spot for my weekly challah. Beyond its everyday chocolate babka, it has also made collaborative special flavored ones with the likes of Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Martha Stewart, and Phil Rosenthal.

The babkas you'll find at Breads Bakery physically resemble the ones sold from Russ & Daughters, Yardsale Cafe, and Michaeli Bakery, as they are all very browned, braided loaves. Taste-wise, Breads is similar to Michaeli's, where there's an abundance of chocolate on the outside. 

Here, the chocolate is less dense, sweeter, and more well-balanced, thanks to the Nutella. There's also plenty more chocolate to be found within the babka's stiffer walls. Breads Bakery prepares the dough like it would for its challah, but to me, the consistency was less like that of the Shabbat bread and was closer to doughnut territory. All in all, Breads makes a great chocolate babka. However, I actually prefer the other, more playful monthly ones that have been released, like the Cheesecake Babka or Red Bean Good Fortune ones.

I had identified Mia's Bakery in Cobble Hill as a spot to buy a babka from, but when I arrived, I noticed that the ones for sale were housed in a tray with the name Lilly's on it. Turns out, Lilly's Baking Company is the one supplying the goods at bakeries like Mia's, in addition to grocery chains like Costco. Lilly's Baking Company traces its roots to 1943 Brooklyn, and today all the baking is done in the Bronx, with the mission to "Make Authentic Brooklyn baked goods America's everyday favorites."

When I first set eyes on Lilly's babka, I had a feeling it would be special. I had seen so many with a chocolate frosting spread across its braided top, but here, the adornment was a healthy array of chocolate chip morsels. Taking a look at its open cut side, there was a lovely symmetry to the alternating layers of dough and chocolate, which appeared on a wavy tilt. It almost looked like one of those deep-space NASA photos of a wondrous galaxy.

The loaf appears very soft, when was proven to be true when I easily cut through it with a knife. Perhaps when Michael Jackson penned "Smooth Criminal," he was writing about Lilly's babka. Beyond its pretty looks, it has the taste to back it up. The layers are plentiful and packed with flavor. Lilly's mission is accomplished; it has represented the tastes and traditions of Brooklyn well.

Orwashers has been providing fresh breads to Upper Eastsiders since 1916, thanks to the immigrant Hungarian family who started it. In 2008, the company was sold to Keith Cohen, who carried on the artisan traditions and expanded its footprint and offerings, including sweet treats. Babkas didn't even grace the menu until sometime around 2017, with sticky bun ones. Today, there are four locations, and the bakery makes the rounds at farmers' markets.

Even as a relative newcomer, Orwashers' chocolate babka acts like it's totally old school, labeled with the words "Bubbe's Chocolate Babka." Bubbe is an endearing Yiddish term for a grandmother, and it's not the kind of word you'd attach to something that's just OK. The babka itself is a sight to behold. The top looks like several land formations smashed together. Beyond the crust and the chocolate, there's a white residue that truly catches the eye. It's streusel crumb topping, more dusty than crumble, but it adds to the fun and yum.

This babka is another smooth loaf, to the touch, the cut, and when shoved in one's mouth. It has a very doughy, fresh taste and plenty of chocolate to go around (with a bonus thick layer nestled at the very bottom of the loaf). If you're looking for a well-balanced babka, where dough and chocolate play nicely together, this is perhaps the one to buy. The inside doesn't have the most attractive layering, no swirls to marvel at, but that's the least of the babka's problems.

I assumed famed New York grocer Zabar's made its own babka. But it doesn't. Neither does Katz's Delicatessen or Kossar's Bagels & Bialys, which instead get theirs from Green's Bakery. Green's babkas are readily available at the aforementioned NYC locations, and can also be purchased on Amazon. However, I wanted to go right to the source, meaning its factory located at 65 Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn. In what looks like a truck dock with no real signage, I waded inside and convinced a worker to sell me a loaf. Shortly after, I left with one of Green's Bakery babkas in hand.

If you placed Green's chocolate babka on a table next to Orwashers, you'd think the two were brothers from the same mother. Green's were slightly wider, at 4 inches, but it too was punctuated by a stark cream colored, dry streusel crumb topping. This one tasted super fresh, doughy, and oozed with chocolate.

What separated this one from Orwashers, though, was the added texture of the streusel that made more of an impact with each bite. It added a lively crunch to the chocolate, nicely juxtaposing the velvety nature of the chocolate. Also, the more I worked on this one, the more it started to taste a bit like banana bread, but with no bananas in sight. This is a sure fire winner, which was popular with all the taste testers, with many of them even asking for extra slices to take home.

One of the best babkas is served in the confines of Coffee Redefined, at 1409 Avenue M, in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn. This kosher bakery was founded by Yaakov and Penina Fischer in 2017, and I only learned of its greatness through my awesome sister-in-law a couple of years ago. For some, it's a trek to get here, and the availability of the babka isn't always at the ready, as it's solely made leading up to Shabbat. However, one can find similar bites in the babka muffins it regularly makes, or take a stab at the spot's babka brittle.

Well, some things are worth the time, journey, and effort, and what an eater is rewarded with is perhaps one of the most decadent babkas your mouth will ever encounter. Babkas are all about the toppings, and when it comes to chocolate, this one is literally a chocolate lover's dream. Coffee Redefined uses rich Belgian chocolate and stuffs it endlessly within its buttery dough. When you look at this mammoth babka, it literally just looks like a blob of chocolate, with some streusel topping to break up the dark brown. It looks messy, and I can confirm it is too. Plan ahead and have many napkins and glasses of milk at the ready.

While the dough has a commendable softness to it, this thing is all about the chocolate. It was also so rich, dense, and gooey that it was almost like a fudge brownie. Coffee Redefined has redefined what a babka can be. The question is: how much chocolate is too much chocolate? For some, this may be way too much, but for me it was just delicious.

Williamsburg has seen a lot of changes in the 21st century, but some things remain tried and true. Take Oneg Heimishe Bakery, for example, which has been rolling in the dough since the 1980s, when two Hungarian Holocaust survivors opened up shop on 188 Lee Avenue (During July and August, the bakery operates upstate at 4 Waverly Avenue in Monticello, New York). 

Duck inside its small store, and you're surrounded by baked goodness from wall to wall. Then, through an open door, you can witness its babkas being made. By the register, the store's proprietor will help you select a chocolate babka chunk. Each is sold by weight, at $15 per pound. But be careful, as objects may appear smaller than they actually are. Any piece is essentially gigantic, measuring 5 inches wide and over 4 inches tall.

Size does matter, but there's so much more to Oneg's chocolate babka. It literally checks all the boxes of what makes a great babka: it's soft and chewy, it's has the perfect balance of chocolate and dough, the chocolate is neither too sweet nor too bitter, and the breading has just the right amount of crunch to it. Plain and simple: no other chocolate babka was better than this one (although Coffee Redefined came super close). At the time of writing, Oneg Bakery is closed, but the business says the closure is only temporary.

The first step in this ranking was identifying which bakeries to include. Some were picked from personal past experiences, while others were recommended from friends, family, and online research of various review and social media websites (including Google and Yelp). 

Once the final list of ten bakeries was set, I personally went to buy a loaf from each one. The babkas were purchased in four different shopping trips, as the bakeries were spread out across Manhattan and the far reaches of Brooklyn. The babkas were taste-tested over several sessions, all with the help of a crew of trusted eaters who love the loaf dessert. The age range of the participants ranged from 6 to 77. This task was taken seriously, and tackling that much chocolatey bread turned out to be more arduous than one could have imagined.

I noted everyone's most and least favorites, but ultimately, this chew and review ranking is a summation of my own personal tastes and opinions. I also took into consideration my previous experiences with babkas, but gave each one a fresh and fair shake for comparison. The ultimate criteria considered for this ranking were flavor, presentation, size, smell, freshness, longevity, balance, value, availability, chocolate, and ultimately, which one I'm ready to start and end my day with.