10 Iconic Foods of New York City, and Where To Find Them

From: The Village Voice

 Ultra-creamy New York cheesecake may be the world's richest dessert.

Hotbed of culinary fusion, NYC is not only a repository of cuisines from around the globe, but the place where many important dishes originated, if not by pure invention, then as uniquely compelling adaptations of things that flew in from elsewhere. Here are the city's most important, and best-tasting, gastronomic inventions.

10

Cheesecake

This creamy, calorific dessert has been made in America since colonial times -- in fact, Martha Washington recorded three cheesecake recipes in her personal cookbook -- but these were usually whipped up with fresh curds, something like Italian cheesecake. The invention of the Jewish style of cheesecake depended upon two factors -- the discovery of cream cheese (which occurred in the Catskills sometime in the 1870s; it later, rather absurdly, became associated with Philadelphia), and the presence of Jewish immigrants in New York City. Founded in 1950 in Downtown Brooklyn, Junior's quickly became a famous purveyor of cheesecakes, and theirs remains the best. 

Junior's, 386 Flatbush Avenue Extension, Brooklyn, 718-852-5257