Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery seems to have been teleported into the Time Warner Center from another, less chrome-plated universe, someplace where Columbus Circle looks more like Wysteria Lane than the northern tip of Hell’s Kitchen. The patrons, too, seem to be recruited right out of central casting: there’s the wealthy middle-aged Spanish tourist with his red canvas trousers, the investment banker and her Marc Jacobs ensemble, and of course a few toddlers in super-ergonomic strollers. No surprise then that a seat at either the retail counter (where we ate this past weekend) or in the adjacent café offers a perfect perch for a little (white) people watching. Oh, and the food’s not so shabby either.

Urged to visit by our friend Salli, we stopped at the bakery counter with the intention of purchasing only a TKO cookie or two, but when we came within sight of the sandwiches, we revised our plans to include lunch. I opted for the very appealing tuna nicoise sandwich, which consisted of very white tuna, minced onions, and an olive tapenade, all served on a rustic country bread that looked and tasted nearly identical to a chewy ciabatta. As I ate, I noticed an unusual taste in the nicoise, something peppery and just a little bitter that I guessed and later confirmed to be cumin and cayenne. The addition of these spices to the sandwich gave it exactly the extra dimension of flavor it needed. At $9.25, this was absolutely a pricey sandwich, but if I worked anywhere near Bouchon Bakery, I suspect I’d end up spending a good chunk of my paycheck on these.

HungryMan’s Vegetable Jardiniere sandwich (also $9.25) was nearly as good, served on two thick slices of toasted multigrain bread that was unlike any loaf bread I’ve eaten. It somehow managed to retain its crisp right angles on the outside, while molding on the inside to the curvature of the layers of fillings. Amazing. Our favorite of these fillings was the roasted eggplant, with the perfumey pesto coming in a close second place. We both had hoped for a little more of the gruyere cheese, but even without it, the sandwich was delicious.

Then there are the cookies, our very reason for percolating up the escalators to the 3rd floor. We chose one of the aforementioned TKO cookies, as well as a Nutter Butter cookie (both $2.75) and dutifully split them. First, we sampled the Nutter Butter, which in its factory-made incarnation is one of my personal favorite prefab snacks. But Keller’s version makes me think now that I’ll never be able to eat another one, tree elves or no. At Bouchon Bakery, the dessert is soft and hearty, with visible oat flecks and a magnificent aroma of brown sugar and yes, peanuts. The TKO cookie, on the other hand, is a refined little treat composed of two rich and short cocoa wafers that bookend dollops of sweetened whipped cream. We absolutely adored the very mild but recognizable saltiness of the chocolate discs, not only because it made the wafers a pleasure to eat on their own, but because it reinforced and amplified the buttery sweetness of the cream filling. This is my vote for cookie of the year.

Eating in the café costs $3-4 dollars more per item, on average, and given the fact that you’ll be eating in a mall either way you slice it, we recommend grabbing a table at the retail counter, if you can find one. There’s also a pair of hidden high-backed stone seats nearby that look like a sculpture overlooking the main atrium. Just be quick about claiming a spot to eat when the opportunity arises–otherwise, that woman with the Sephora bag will beat you to it.

Bouchon Bakery, 10 Columbus Circle, 3rd floor, 212-823-9366