Best cheesecake in New York? (Philadelphia, Watson: store, pay, places)

[scatman]

If you don't want to pay for Juniors......Lord's!

[Aquarius37]

Eileen's Baker in Soho (if they are still around) has REALLY good cheesecake.

[Aquarius37]

Ah, I see some people have already mentioned Eileen's. The pumpkin cheesecake is really good this time of year.

[BlakeJones]

Juniors is hot garbage, the only reason people mention it is because that's the only thing they've known for their whole lives starting back when there were no standards for quality baked goods in NYC. It's nostalgic cognitive dissidence. Crawl out of your basements and try something else for once

[sirtiger]

Originally Posted by tungt88

I think you're referring to S&S Cheesecake, which has always been the "gold standard" of NY style cheesecakes for many years, and still is (living in the area as a kid, I grew up on it). It's sold in a number of restaurants around the city and the bodega next to the S&S factory on West 238th/Broadway also carries their cheesecakes. Online ordering can be done, too.

Zagat's #1 Rated Cheesecake, Best Cheesecake NYC, NY Style Cheesecake

S&S Cheesecake Store/Factory review (includes interior photos)

There are a number of good/very good cheesecake stores (Eileen's, Two Little Red Hens, etc), but none are quite at the level of S&S.

Junior's in-store is better than the Junior's you buy at the market.

A number of good cheesecake stores can be found here:

Serious Eats Finds New York's Best Cheesecake | Serious Eats

As a native NYer, now I must trek there. +repped

[LizfromtheBronx]

Originally Posted by sirtiger

As a native NYer, now I must trek there. +repped

So good, you won't regret it. It's not a graham cracker crust, more like a not crumbly shortbread.

My mom worked nearby, and every Christmas, we had to have the S&S! It was so exciting when they started selling them in supermarkets.

[vision33r]

Junior's cheesecakes are now made in NJ. I've had Junior's all the time, it was probably gold standard in the 2000s but not anymore. To many places these days have good cheesecakes and I don't think Junior's NY style cheesecake is all that great anymore. There are many new upstarts that are top notch. The difference between different cheesecakes is not that much.

I bet if you had blind taste tests most people would failed to pick Junior's as the best. Most people have this stuck mentality that only Junior's make cheesecakes. My wife actually does a pretty good cheesecake too.

[BlakeJones]

Originally Posted by vision33r

My wife actually does a pretty good cheesecake too.

Funny you should mention, the main ingredient is bricks of Philadelphia cream cheese. They sell the bricks for like a buck something. It's the same stuff as they sell in the bagel spread containers where you pay close to 5 bucks for maybe half as much. It's the SAME stuff except they add some emulsifiers to make it spread more smoothly and in a convenient container because they know it's not worth nearly as much as they charge for it

[Cosenza]

Homemade is the best.

[EastBoundandDownChick]

Eileen's will always be my first love, the perfect balance of dense/fluffy, sweet/tart. And they have minis to reduce the guilt! LA Cheesecake Bakeshop is a close second. Jean Danet Pastry in Bayside is also excellent. A kind of Italian/French fusion with the freshest, hugest strawberries used in a topping you will find anywhere.