This Huge Black-And-White Muffin Can Only Be Found At One NJ Deli

HOBOKEN, NJ — Few desserts are as beloved — and as linked with the New York area — as the traditional black-and-white cookie. Some favor prefer the cakey variety with soft icing, while purists prefer the flatter type with slightly hard fondant that cracks when touched. In a 1998 ode to the pastry in the New York Times, William Grimes wrote, “The New Yorkiest bit of food in television's New Yorkiest series [Seinfeld] was the oversize black-and-white cookie, a New York standby that is sold in bakeries and delis all over the city.” Grimes quoted a baker as saying the treat started in Manhattan around 100 years ago, while other articles, such as "The Real History of Black and White Cookies" in Vice, say the “half moon” cookie may have started further upstate in Utica.

The Vice story says contrasting colors were popular in desserts around the end of the 18th Century.

But nothing is ever left alone in New York. In fact, patrons of the newest deli across the river from Manhattan – Pastrami House on Washington Street Hoboken, which opened in December – have noticed a different version of the black-and-white at the counter and on the shelves.

It’s a giant black-and-white muffin.

Owner Anthony Cirillo refers to it as a pound cake, and it may well weigh a pound. The shop does sell oversized black-and-white cookies as well.

“On weekends they fly off the shelves,” Cirillo said, adding they sell around three dozen of the pound cake/muffins and three dozen more black-and-white cookies each week at the newly opened Hoboken shop. They are also sold at the restaurant's other three locations in Aberdeen, Berkeley Heights and Lincroft, which opened in 2019. (Rocker Steve Van Zandt stopped by the Lincroft store for a sandwich this past November.)

Cirillo said the black-and-white pound cakes are baked just for Pastrami House deli.

To what does he credit the popularity of this sort of cookie?

"They're delicious," he said, without elaborating further.

Or maybe it's that they have just the right ratio of frosting to cookie. Or perhaps they're for the indecisive who can't choose between vanilla and chocolate.

Or maybe they're a symbol? President Obama noted the ebony and ivory working in harmony at a Florida deli in 2008 and declared them "Unity Cookies."

You might want to decide for yourself. The muffin-slash-pound cake is $4.95 at Pastrami House. The Kosher-style (but not actually Kosher) deli also offers sandwiches, soup, Dr. Brown's sodas, cheesecake, and other traditional Manhattan deli food. (Check out their menu among the photos here.)

And if Pastrami House is sold out of black-and-whites, this author recommends hunting around North Jersey's convenience stores for the delectable wrapped Daisy Bakery "Black & White Supreme" from Clifton. They're delicious, and they stay tasty even after freezing.

You can bet this comes from research. Lots and lots of research.