The first time I went to Junior’s was more than a decade ago, one of my friends talking about the cheesecake all the time and since then, I consider this deli to have the best in New York. There was just one location I never went to: the original one in Brooklyn that opened in 1950 under a different name, being a diner first. For sure, this was less crowded than in its sister restaurants in New York and I felt that it had an authentic feel to it, some sort of nostalgia.

While Jodi only went for a bagel with cream cheese accompanied by a hot chocolate, I decided to go for an all delicatessen meal: egg cream, pastrami reuben and cheese cake. Egg cream is an interesting drink: this cold beverage does not contain egg or cream but rather milk, carbonated water and a syrup, in my case chocolate. Some say that the name comes from the German “echt” that means “real” or “genuine” who initially gave a meaning of “good cream” to it. And if you look closer to the photo, you will see that the glass has the measurement of each component on it.

The delicious cheesecake that was quite dense was although a bit much after that big pastrami reuben I had for my main: with its toasted rye bread, Swiss and sauerkraut, it contained a large amount of a delightfully greasy pastrami. This is indeed my go to sandwich when eating in a deli.

So definitely Junior’s is and will always be an institution like Katz’s or the 2nd avenue deli: packed with history, a certain nostalgia, good food, and also often many tourists (especially Katz’s), but these are places irreplaceable. And if you are looking for the best cheesecake in New York, Junior’s it is.

Enjoy (I did)!

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Junior’s-386 Flatbush Avenue, Downtown Brooklyn, NY 11238

Junior's in Brooklyn, NY

Jean-Philippe Gerbi