A memorable Meal at Juniors

My dad commuted from Eastern Long Island to Brooklyn for 15 years. He used to bring me a cheesecake from Junior’s original location every year for my birthday.

I was about 12 when he started and it continued until he retired. He would then still make the trip to get me my favorite cake.

After my dad passed away and I moved to the Champaign, my mom started sending one for my birthday, as well as any time I needed cheering-up (like when I had surgery).

It’s now come full circle with over 40 years of Junior’s sharing my life.

I was in Florida for the newly opened of Junior’s in Boca Raton.  Mom and I will shared Junior’s in a third state, with another milestone -- she’s leaving Florida and moving to Illinois, so we can once again live in the same place.

Junior’s in Boca Raton looked just like the ones I was used to, with cheesecakes lining the shelves of the bakery area, red and white stripes everywhere, and walls full of nostalgia.

Photos of famous Brooklyn natives, including Barbra Streisand, Jimmy Kimmel, Neil Diamond, and members of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, were also all over the walls.

The only thing that made this location unusual was the year-round tables out on the patio.

I have to confess that we overdid it when confronted with the Junior’s menu we hadn’t seen in a long time, as well as few extras at this location.

We started with one of their Spiked Shakes, a concoction of a chocolate milkshake and Tito’s Vodka.

With those, the waiter brought us Junior’s complimentary starters, sliced beets and pickles, to eat while we were trying to decide what to get.

The Junior’s menu is a bit overwhelming as it’s filled with comfort food you’ll especially appreciate if you are a New Yorker.

We were guests of the restaurant and they were happy to bring us a selection of their best: a corned beef sandwich with steak fries, potato pancakes with apple sauce, and a turkey Rueben with Cole slaw.

Mom also had a shrimp cocktail. Everything was as good as we remembered from New York.

The hardest part, of course, was deciding which cheesecake to get. 

As a kid, the strawberry (with a delectable almond crust) was my favorite. I had since developed a strawberry allergy so that one was replaced by the Devils Food Cheesecake.

Devils Food Cheesecake puts all of my favorites together: chocolate cake and cheesecake, layered with fudge frosting and topped with chocolate shavings!

Our waiter encouraged us to try a second and we went with the plain cheesecake, topped with cherries.

Needless to say, we were stuffed when we walked out of Junior’s, but felt like we had just left a big meal “at home.”

Unfortunately, the Junior’s in Boca Raton closed soon after I was there. I guess it’s just not understood outside of New York.

If you can’t get to one of the New York locations (which I strongly recommend if you are ever in the area), I am happy to say that they still have cheesecake for sale online -- or you can try to make it yourself.