CHEESECAKE REVIEW: Junior’s

My search for the best cheesecake in New York continues….

I could have chosen many NY-centric dishes for my next food journey, but I quickly decided on the classic cheesecake. And it’s not because I wanted to put on some weight for the summer. No, it’s really because I had never been to Junior’s and if I didn’t go soon, I might never have the chance.

News broke earlier this year that the downtown Brooklyn building that houses the 64-year old institution has been sold. That means in the coming months, Junior’s will close (or move elsewhere) and some high-end clothing store or fast food chain will probably take its place.

The brand, of course, will not be going away. We still have a Times Square (and Grand Central) location and frozen cheesecakes are available in supermarkets. But I knew I had to go to the original Junior’s in Brooklyn and eat the cake there. It’s like Nathan’s hot dogs – something about the air in Coney Island makes them taste better than at a suburban shopping mall.

So cheesecake it is. And it didn’t take me long on the journey to visit the most famous (and perhaps oldest) place to sell it in the city. Junior’s really is the center of downtown Brooklyn with bustling activity happening in every direction around it.

It’s a bit quieter inside (at least when I went at an off-hour), but it feels like a piece of history. Much like walking into Katz’s or Ess-a-Bagel, you could see that this place is classic New York with lots of history. It opened in 1950 by Harry Rosen and it’s still owned by the Rosen family. Not much has changed since the early days of serving classic Jewish delicatessen food. But now people come mainly for the cheesecake.

In fact, I didn’t even look at the savory menu. Although if I didn’t care about my artery health, I would have started out with their corned beef/pastrami sandwich for review. Yet I went straight to the cheesecakes and ordered the No. 1 Original.

It came out in a matter of seconds and looked as good as the glass displays up front. A very thin browned top crowns the dense, cream cheese based middle. My expectations were high, but unfortunately were not quite met.

First off, that browned top didn’t add any textural component. In fact, the entire cake was soft, including the bottom layer, which was a spongey cake rather than a crisp crust. So there was no change in texture, which was a disappointment.

I also found the middle and top cheese wall to be too dense. Areas of it were like a brick and felt like it had been recently frozen. It got a bit smoother towards the bottom, but it was mostly just dense. Some people might like that in their NY cheesecake, but I prefer a little breathing room in my gutbombs.

As for the flavor, it was a decent balance between sweet and tart (perhaps a little too close to the sweet side). But the density reminded me of eating a block of frozen cream cheese. And if I’m going to eat that, I’m going to spread it on a bagel.

Many would consider this dense, unrelenting style the epitome of NY cheesecake, but I know there must be better quality versions out there. I’m glad I went to Junior’s and experienced it, but I wonder if the quality has slipped a bit and they’re resting on their laurels, especially now that it’s days (at least in this building) are numbered.

Does Junior’s have the best cheesecake in NY? Maybe they did at one time, but my experience was that the cake was dense and sweet with very little escape from the richness. And it gets a 6 out of 10 since I have a feeling the slice came out of the freezer.