Rating for cheesecake:  

Rating for restaurant:   

Kid-friendly!  

Monsters love to travel, especially to large cities with a dense population, skyscrapers and monuments where a Monster can pose like Godzilla or King Kong. This week Monster is in New York City, and aside from attending a TV show taping and catching a hot-listed play at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the thought of food is front and foremost on Monster’s mind!

New York City, in addition to being the capital of the world, is also a top foodie destination. The variety rivals the quality in just about everything, and all throughout town, residents and visitors alike will argue over the best bagel, the best hot dog, the best deli, the best pizza, the best chef-of-the-moment… It is the debate over the best cheesecake that brought Monster to Junior’s, a cheesecake bakery and restaurant that has grown from a single Brooklyn location in the 1950s to four store locations today.

What can you expect from Junior’s flagship location in Brooklyn? A landmark building that evokes the 50s. Diner vibe with vintage booths and stools at the bar. Friendly and casual service with a decidedly Brooklyn attitude. Now it’s a full-fledged restaurant large enough to accommodate wedding receptions with the most extended of extended families, but stay focused: Skip the overpriced entrees (of which there is a huge selection — several pages worth, in fact) and go directly to the cheesecake section — that’s why you’re here anyway. In fact, you may not even want to walk beyond the cheesecake counter, visible from outside and immediately located near the entrance. Sit yourself down and feast your eyes on possibly the largest selection of cheesecakes of traditional and seasonal flavors: plain, strawberry, cherry crumb, apple crumb, chocolate swirl, raspberry swirl, brownie marble swirl, lemon coconut, carrot cake, strawberry shortcake cheesecake… It may just be one of the hardest decisions you’ll ever have to make.

May I make a suggestion? Don’t let the many flavors dazzle you to the point of confusion or indecision. Choose a long-time favorite or a classic, and avoid anything so fancy you can’t repeat the name without reading it off the menu, or combines so many ingredients you can’t taste the cheese in the cake. All the flavors are good: rich, decadent, and creamy, with a think crust for contrast. Monster’s favorite, though, is the strawberry cheesecake topped with so many fresh strawberries Monster would challenge you to try to squeeze one more in without the whole layer starting to slide down its base! The combination is just perfect: the tartness and juiciness of the fruit completes the creamy sweetness of the cheese, and the result is the universe in harmony, a balance between yin and yang.

Should you really want a full meal, Junior’s restaurant offers everything a you’d expect a diner to offer: breakfast, soup, salad, sandwiches, and more: from buffalo wings to homemade chili, from Hungarian beef goulash to Southern style fried catfish, from BBQ baby back ribs to Caribbean style lobster tails. Something must catch your fancy here. Serving size is generous, though quality is only average.

Additional Information

Great for families and groups. Not nearby? No problem. Juniors offers online ordering of their famous cheesecakes and two-day and overnight shipping, so that you can get your cheesecake fix without leaving your home.

  Restaurant web site