As is our custom, Rabbi K visits me before all the Jewish holidays. Shavuot or Shavuos celebrates the gifting of the Ten Commandments to the Jewish people 3300 years ago. Moses marched the wanderers, in the desert, for forty years before the revelation of the tablets at Mt Sinai. This momentous event occurred, as the story goes, while the Jewish people were partying up a storm at the base of Mt Sinai. Interestingly, Shavuot also celebrates the gifts of our great earth and the symbols associated with this holiday are milk, grain and fruits. The combination of the pagan celebration of the earth becomes linked with the spiritual commitment of the Hebrews to a higher authority. Milk is considered to be “cleansing” so my rabbi always brings me cheesecake. Frankly, I do not believe they were making cheesecake in the desert 3000 plus years ago and these are modern times but symbols have meaning so we get cheesecake.
Now we all know that the Kosher cheesecake is going to be average but how does it match up to other cheesecakes in the neighborhoods. The best way to do that would be a blind taste test. I put together a plate of five different cheesecakes for the test and invited some friends over to help. No one was told where the cheesecake was from and everyone tasted the same piece from the same bakery at the same time. We did not make anyone wear blindfolds.
Four other bakeries participated in this study. They were Bovella’s from Westfield and Mountainside NJ. Gencarelli’s bakery, family owned since 1975, is located on Broad Street in Bloomfield. It is a classic New Jersey full service bakery. Glass cases, filled with every imaginable bakery treat, greet your hungry eyes. This is your neighborhood bakery that connects community through successive generations. I also visited Anthony's Cheesecake on Washington Street in downtown Bloomfield. Lastly I brought the classic New York Cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory.( CF)
The participants all tasted one bite of New York Cheescake, in the following order, from each bakery. Kosher, CF, Gencarelli’s, Anthony’s, and Bovella’s. The results were not surprising. CF and Kosher tied for the bottom followed by Bovella’s, Gencarelli’s and Anthony’s. All five of the backyard mavens selected Anthony’s as their favorite. Anthony’s is a boutique bakery doing the best “farm to table” food in this type of business. We also sampled a traditional Ricotta cheesecake and original Boston Creme concoction. The owners, self taught bakers, oversee everything and one can taste the quality with every bite. Some of the other temptations are named the Banana Pudding, the Black and White and the Butterfinger. This is a must visit place for quality food, well within a one hour drive. If you will drive one hour to eat in some random restaurant do the same for the best desserts in the area. Anthony’s is now in the Wake and Bake top ten.
The best part of writing this is visiting the bakeries and speaking to some of these owners. The larger and older bakeries are dialed into a system and you rarely see the owner. You can find the owner front and present in all the boutique bakeries. When I visited Crowley Cupcakes the owner showed us the bag of gluten flour she uses. This past week I spent a few minutes talking with Anthony Lauro, from Anthony’s cheesecakes, about what it takes to be successful and how rewarding the business can be. We spoke about ingredients and jokingly I asked him why his cheesecake was so much better than Cheesecake Factory. He cringed a little and then with good humor explained the difference between his preservative free product and CF. There is no way I can ever eat another piece of cheesecake from the corporate food factory.
They opened the Lunch Box/ Anthony’s Cheesecakes in 1996. That was a tough time to open a new business in downtown Bloomfield. By 2010 the cheesecake business had quite a following, including exclusive supply deals with the Jets and the Giants. In 2010 Anthony and co-owner Philip Byrne opened up a wholesale baking business on Washington Street. The opportunity to open a restaurant, along side the bakery, came with the huge redevelopment of downtown Bloomfield . They are open for lunch and dinner Wednesday to Sunday but you have to come for the cheesecake.
How do I describe the perfect cheesecake. Texture and immediate explosion of taste but not so sweet as to overwhelm your taste buds. Sweet enough to want more… much more.. The lingering sense of sweet on your palate. There is the anticipation of liking and wanting the next bite, knowing it will be just as good as the first. I know there are some other boutique bakeries in NJ who specialize in cheesecake. Now I have a standard by which to compare. It is all about quality, and quality in the ingredients, is it not? We all know the difference as proven in our little taste test. There were no leftovers from Anthony’s.
In honor of Shavuot I paused this evening to find connection between a rabbi’s visit, a holiday that celebrates the ten building block laws of society and a damn good cheesecake. It seems to be something about quality of ingredients, quality of process and quality of life. If you cheat at any of those things, take shortcuts or undervalue any of the path it will derail you from a path of quality of experience. There is great spiritual and emotional reward for the baker, the woodworker and the artist when they complete their work. People, like Anthony Lauro, love their product, put in the hard work and enjoy the journey. My friend, the rabbi, has the same energy, love for life and passion to make a difference as Anthony does for cheesecake and his community. The shame of it is that he can’t eat Anthony’s cake(not kosher) If he could, he would surely buy no other!
Peace to Everyone
The Ten Commandments always reminds me of the great Mel Brooks and his portrayal of Moses. On the way down from Mr Sinai, grasping three tablets -15 commandments, he proclaims to the assembled Hebrews, “ I have brought you from our Lord Fifteen, (and he drops a tablet ), 10 commandments “….So for fun leave a comment with your missing five commandments… .I had the Mendo Cheese from Kind Tree as I wrote this.
I will go first…. 1- Thou shall not spread mayo on your meat. 2- Thou shall not buy retail
3- Thou shall not eat shellfish, except for the lobster special. 4-Thou shall complain
5- Thou will eat cheesecake on Shavuot and unleavened bread on Passover. What a God!!
What a beautiful Saturday. Picture from the Great Swamp…Dedicated to the memory of Blanche Singer….
"How do I describe the perfect cheesecake. Texture and immediate explosion of taste but not so sweet as to overwhelm your taste buds. Sweet enough to want more… much more.. The lingering sense of sweet on your palate. There is the anticipation of liking and wanting the next bite, knowing it will be just as good as the first."
That is probably the best description I have ever read.
Another fine place for a delicious cheescake believe it or not is the Kenilworth Diner on the Boulevard. It’s baked in house and a creamier cheese I think you’ll b hard pressed to find. I would advise trying it next time you’re in Union County.
"How do I describe the perfect cheesecake. Texture and immediate explosion of taste but not so sweet as to overwhelm your taste buds. Sweet enough to want more… much more.. The lingering sense of sweet on your palate. There is the anticipation of liking and wanting the next bite, knowing it will be just as good as the first."
That is probably the best description I have ever read.
Give my best to Rabbi K. Happy Shavuot my friend.
One of the last things I got her was the basque cheesecake from Liv in Millburn. Perfect....
Perfect… OMG.
I prefer cheese blintzes to celebrate Shavuot! Always Golden brand, the best of the frozen options(nothing beats homemade, though).
Another fine place for a delicious cheescake believe it or not is the Kenilworth Diner on the Boulevard. It’s baked in house and a creamier cheese I think you’ll b hard pressed to find. I would advise trying it next time you’re in Union County.
Thanks Drew. Know the place well. Louca’s in Edison is great restaurant with a great cheesecake