Junior’s Cheesecake, The Real NY Cheesecake
Public Domain Picture via Wikipedia
Ask any cabbie to take you to the “best cheesecake restaurant in town” and s/he will take you to Junior’s Deli and Restaurant on Flatbush and DeKalb. Guaranteed.
This is Brooklyn soul food at it’s best. Even before Junior’s, Harry Rosen, was serving the Brooklyn public good food. In 1950, he started Junior’s, which he named for his two sons. His world-famous cheesecake recipe was a family original. Now there are three restaurants: Brooklyn, Grand Central Station, and Times Square. The one I remember fondly is the one in Brooklyn (there was only one Junior’s back then, I think), a frequent haunt for politicians and journalists, theater goers and baseball enthusiasts. Even today, you will periodically see politicians on the national scene taking advantage of a photo-op with a slice of Junior’s Cheesecake.
In the 50s, I remember going with my mom and being overwhelmed and charmed at the same time by it’s size, color (a lot of orange) and noise. One summer when she worked at a pharmacuitical company in Redhook, I would go to work with her on Fridays to help with payroll. We’d go to lunch at Junior’s, which was near the company’s bank. In those days, payroll was in cash. (Something almost unimaginable now.) After lunch, we’d go to the bank, withdraw the money for payroll and, with a security escort, we’d take our stuffed tummies back to work and fill each employee’s little manila payroll envelope with their pay for the week.
I loved everything at Junior’s, from the waiters who spoke proper Brooklynese, to the pickles on the table, to the sandwiches, and especially Junior’s Cheesecake. These days, you can order them on-line.
http://www.juniorscheesecake.com/juniors_cheesecake/Juniors_Cheesecake_Home/About_Us.php
For those with Celiac Disease or wheat and gluten sensitivity, please see my gluten-free NY Cheesecake recipe a la Junior’s, see the December 25, 2008 posting here:
http://musingbymoonlight.wordpress.com/
See post for November 25, 2008 on Musing by Moonlight, my recipe for:
Gluten-free Streusel-topped Pumpkin Cheesecake
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