One my favorite guilty pleasures is a rich and decadent New York style cheese cake covered in fresh raspberries or tangy tart cherries all on top of a crumbly graham cracker crust. And since it just so happens to be national cheese cake day, I feel the need to over indulge!

Historically speaking there have been several versions of the cheese cake for centuries, but the original “New York style” cheese cake that has become a staple on restaurant menus nationwide is said to have originated in 1929 at the Turf restaurant on 49th and Broadway, when  restaurant owner Arnold Reuben tried to replicate an amazing cheese cake he had one night while dining at a friend’s home.

Since then, several restaurants and bakeries all over New York have created their own spin on this historical dessert. Even though the classic version is pure and plain, a thousand and more variations have been created from banana cream pie, chocolate, Oreo and even key lime pie cheese cake. Thankfully for all of us cheese cake lovers, there are no rules against celebrating this creamy cake all year long and discovering new creations along the way.
Want to celebrate at home? Here is a recipe for New York’s famous cake:

Above photo by Bloggyboulga.

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(Editor’s note: We’re thrilled to welcome New York-based food lover, Seth Knight, as a contributing editor to Foodista.)

If you have ever watched the Food Network, added herbs to a whole chicken, used olive oil, or hell, eaten out in the last 50 years, you must take a moment to give thanks to James Beard, the father and patron saint of American cooking. Beard understood the American palate preferred something familiar but also yearned for new and exciting all at the same time. Recently, I attended a symposium in New York City hosted by The New School celebrating the life of this food industry giant (literally, he was 6’4), and I found myself longing be a part of the club; whose members were taught by and touch by “Jim.”

James Beard was born in 1903 in Portland, Oregon and was raised by his mother who ran a boardinghouse.  Beard was a sickly young child and it was then that he was able to experience the joy of food though his mother and their Chinese cook. He was often fed chicken jelly, a mixture of chicken broth, with the whites of an egg and its shell mixed, chilled and strained into gelatinous globs. James would later reminisce that “The Chinese have the perfect palate.” Beard indeed remembered every meal he ate with extreme detail and clarity, which spurred his ability to create in the kitchen. After failed attempts to become an Opera singer and Broadway actor, James opened a catering business Hors D’Oeuvre Inc in 1937. It was then he also wrote his first book Hors D’Oeuvres and Canapés. His book went against America’s growing addiction to “fast, easy and cheap.” Science had replaced fresh picked berries with JELL-O and homemade bread took a backseat to Bisquick.

Beard’s books were the first to cross from a list of ambiguous instructions to a narrative. Betty Fussell, author of The Story of Corn recalled, “He was the middle man. Jim bridged my eighth grade home economics class and the select gourmets of the world. His books were “straight-talk” and were written the way Americans spoke.  And they were personal, as if to say, If I could do it, so can you…And now we’ll do it together.” She continued, “He was also from the west, a cowboy…so he cooked with that adventurous spirit.”

According to Cinema Studies Professor Dana Polan, James Beard also sought to extend the pleasure of cooking beyond the housewife. As the host of the first stand-alone cooking show “I Love to Eat,” his primetime segment would encourage “man duties” such as stuffing a raw chicken or grilling. He even suggested that men be in charge for garnishing dishes, for they are the best decorators (we’ll get to that later).

James Beard was a born teacher and loved having people around.  Judith Jones, who worked with everyone from Langston Hughes to Julia Child remembered, “Jim loved to get together with aspiring cooks and get close and instruct them. He would run to the telephone and field calls from women in Iowa, and instruct them on how to calibrate their ovens. And if anyone ever questioned the direction he was talking the recipe, he’d say, “We’re Americans, we can do as we please.”

The always outspoken food writer extraordinaire Barbra Kafka, summed-up James Beard the best, saying, “Jim was gay! A lot of people fail to mention that. He was uncompromisingly gay, as was everything he did. His books were uncompromising, his life was honest, and his cooking was real.”

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The other night, on our way to dinner in the Sunset District of San Francisco, we stumbled upon a wonderful little Russian market. Being from Manhattan, where smoked fish abounds, Barnaby was immediately drawn to the shiny fish-filled glass encasement. He had the same look on his face that I get when I walk into Tiffany’s. Wide-eyed, glassy and sporting a silly grin. I don’t blame him, it’s genetic, his father is the same way when met with fish.

What was most beautiful was the large, whole, three-day smoked sturgeon that had just arrived that day and had yet to be sliced into. At $19 a pound we took a chunk and added a whole smoked mackerel as well for a mere $4 and change. Sunday brunch is calling…

When Barnaby was a child his father would bring out the toaster oven and set it and an assortment of bagels, cheeses and spreads, smoked fish and fish pâtés on the dining table for a self-toast-and-serve Sunday feast. We’ve continued this tradition on the occasional lazy Sunday. Whenever we stumble upon a good cheese, maybe a fine stinky Stilton, or a beautifully smoked fish, we’ll look at each other in agreement and say, “Let’s do a Dorfman breakfast this weekend.” Then we’ll build the menu around that one prized ingredient: the best bagels we can get outside of New York, maybe some chopped chicken liver or a bit of smoked sable, thinly sliced red onion and cucumber, some tomatoes and capers…you name it.

Try your own Dorfman Sunday feast at home some weekend. Brew a big pot of a Earl Grey tea, grab your favorite section of the New York Times and enjoy a delicious leisurely morning with your loved one.

Don’t know where to get great smoked fish? Zabar’s in New York can ship it, and many other delicacies, to you just check out their Fish Counter.

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I was born on a small island where people take food very seriously. Manhattan was then, and still is, the heart of America’s melting pot, a fact perhaps most reflected in the variety and diversity of foods. Many dishes came with immigrants from somewhere else, like the hot dog, cheesecake, and bagels. However, some seem to be true New York creations and the Egg Cream is one such item. Not particularly well known outside of the Big Apple, it was one of my favorite drinks growing up. Though the name would imply otherwise, the Egg Cream contains neither eggs, nor cream. There is some debate about the whos and whens of it’s creation and whys of its name, but everyone seems to agree that it’s made up of 3 key ingredients:

1. Milk
2. Fox’s u-bet Chocolate Flavored Syrup
3. Seltzer Water

We used to make them at home, in fact my father got regular deliveries of cases of soda siphons well into the 1980’s. However, my favorite place to drink Egg Creams was from a tiny little stand down on Canal Street near the Subway station. We often went there weekends to shop in Chinatown and see what oddities we could pick up on Canal Street. Better known today as a place for knockoff Rolex watches and Gucci handbags, in the 1970s Canal street was a place to find cheap surplus electronic parts, which I used to solder together into all sorts of experiments. Boxes of electric motors, switches and flashlight bulbs, all bought for a dime, made the best toys! However, getting there could be an ordeal since we lived on the Upper West Side about 125 blocks north. Only 6 miles away in reality, it felt like going to a far off land for me, especially since air conditioned subway cars were almost non-existent back then. So an ice-cold Egg Cream was the perfect refreshing treat when we came up out of the hot tunnels during those sweltering summer months.

Now you may think the combo of milk, soda, and chocolate syrup sounds strange, but give it a try…I bet you’ll love it! Check out post on Roots and Grubs for extensive detail on how properly to prepare and consume an Egg Cream.

I’d love to know what you think. Click the Comments link below and share your thoughts.

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