Julia Tries ALL Of The Most Popular Cheesecakes From Junior's | Delish

(sniffing) - That's the good thing. How are you all! We're in New York City, specifically, we're in Brooklyn and we're in the original location of Junior's Cheesecake. Also known as the best cheesecake in the world. It may not surprise you that we're trying all the

cheesecakes

. We are trying the classics. That is, the original, the cherry, the strawberry, the pineapple, the blueberry. We will try all the layer

cheesecakes

, layer cakes, and freakcake shakes. Every little girl's dream is to shove cheesecake in her face until her stretchy pants no longer fit. And I am very excited to achieve this today.

Well, oh God, what door? This? Bye, Mom. I'm not kidding, I've gone to bed for the past two weeks thinking about this session and cheesecake. I'm crying. I will cry over this episode at least once, if not now. (Laughs) This is the dream of every New Yorker and anyone whose dream is to be in New York. This is the dream. Isn't this the

most

beautiful thing you've ever seen? It wasn't really a question, it was a statement. This is the

most

beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. We start with the New York Cheesecake, the classic.

Do I pretend I've never had this before? Last week we went to Junior's Cheesecake, their current factory where they make them. They sent me home with a whole cheesecake and it's no longer in the fridge. I ate it every day. I already know this is delicious but I'll act like it's the first time I've tried it. Smooth, creamy, spicy. It stays stuck to the roof of your mouth and just wants to stay there. Oh, can I have one more bite? I will regret this later. Just don't mess with the original, you know, I love you so much.

I think it's actually a prerequisite. In order to try anything else, you have to try the plain and you have to give it, you know, it's time to shine because obviously the toppings are going to try to outshine the cheesecake. Chelsea's favorite cheesecake is this Strawberry Cheesecake here. In fact, she ate it for breakfast for a whole week straight, a curious fact. (laughs) Something I find very fascinating is that they use a macaroni crumb topping. It's like strawberry jelly and then actual strawberry pieces here. Oh Lord. Oh, it was many flavors at once. I will tell you that I am not a big fan of strawberries, but I like the strawberry jelly in this one.

See this? It's literally, oh tell me that's not the most perfect shade of lip gloss... (laughs). The most perfect lip gloss shade right there. Oh, can I cover it? Yes, that is a good shade of lip gloss. Check it out. (incomprehensible),

junior

cheesecake, I guess that's a fun fact. I will say it's a fun fact. Junior Cheesecake makes most, if not all, of their cheesecakes in this massive seven-acre factory. And it looks like a real Willy Wonka factory. And we actually got to see people making strawberry cheesecake and they took this huge spoon, not even an ice cream spoon.

It's bigger than that and they take it and put the gelatin right on top. And then they use it like a brush and just cover everything. So it's perfect, even all around, it was beautiful to look at. And I have even more appreciation and respect for the people who make them every day. Is incredible. I want to make blueberries next. For me, blueberry is always very underrated because the color is bright on the face but the flavors are a bit muted. So I really hope that this one, as you have it sticky, looks like a really beautiful blueberry pie. - Cheesecake instead.

I want to put all the blueberries in there. Oh, this is better than strawberry for me. - It has rather warmth. Almost like there was a little cinnamon for some reason. It could be the macaroni filling with this one. It tastes a lot more like brown sugar, cinnamon on top with blueberries or something. It feels extremely warm and homey even though it is a cold cheesecake. I would eat that dressing straight up. Oh, fallen man. When I saw this pineapple cheesecake from afar, I really thought it had a slice of pineapple on top. And then I thought, oh no, it's like real pineapple puree in jello form.

This is one of my mom's favorite cheesecakes. He loves to have tropical fruits. He loves how it reduces the creaminess and sweetness of cheesecakes. Then you have a little sour taste. - That is interesting. My mom makes this pineapple, we call it salad. In fact, we use whipped topping and we like cream cheese, pretzels, and pineapple. And this tastes the same in cheesecake form. It's like it has a little saltiness. And the pineapple is really creamy and not as tart and tart as I thought it would be. But there are still bites from the pineapple in there. (upbeat music) - I feel like I'm in a lūʻau.

But let's finish this round with the cherry cheesecake. Fun fact: This is Tess Koman Coleman's favorite cheesecake. And not only that, this is one of her top three desserts of all time. I'm pretty sure if she remarried she would have this at her wedding. I'm a little afraid of maraschino cherries. When I was a kid, I drank like Shirley Temples every day in restaurants. And I was afraid that this would be like this. But the cherry is not actually a sugary candy. It tastes more like a natural cherry flavor. - It's much more subtle than I expected. - My favorite from the round of classics is undoubtedly the blueberry cheesecake.

I'm extremely confused as to how that is my favorite. I thought the strawberry was going to be where it was going, but the blueberry is so happy and so together and well rounded, it's like it's (bleep) together. And I couldn't be happier about it. - Are you ready for round two? - I forgot this whole video is just us trying cheesecake and there's nothing salty to break it up. (upbeat music) - Can I eat it? - There will come a point where I will be exhausted. I don't know when exactly that will happen in this episode, but I'm not there yet.

I still have my eyes on all this and say: let's do it! This is the Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake. Before taking a bite I'm going to tell you a curious fact. Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake. Real swirls used to be done by hand, right? Something like that and make it look really beautiful and like the raspberries are exploding. However, now that they are so big, they make between 3 and 4 million cheesecakes a year. So it's kind of hard to get someone to, you know, continue doing it to this day. They actually have a robot that has a stick, but it's this man named Carol who has been spinning their cheesecakes forever and has the perfect little touch.

They actually flew him out, put him on a green screen, and had him practice doing the swirl. Then the robot could copy it. So this raspberry swirl, although it's made by a robot, is actually copying exactly the way they used to make it by hand. Anyway, here we are. It's fine I understand it. People love raspberry swirl and I understand why. It's very subtle, so it's almost like you're eating the original cheesecake, which is a little bit of raspberry jam. It's slightly tart with the raspberry, but you still get that creamy, tangy bliss from the cream cheese.

They don't just spin it at the top, they spin it all the way to the bottom. This would be a better nail polish than a lip gloss in case anyone has been keeping track of what I think, which foods should be turned into makeup. This is the apple crumb cheesecake. It's lovely. Those are big, thick pieces. Can I say thick ass? There are thick crumb pieces here. Look at that piece. That's a whole chunk. Even though it's spring now, this will taste like fall. I just have a feeling. - Oh, it's crispy. - It's crunchy, it's a crunchy crumb. - Oh, and look, here are real apple slices at the bottom.

This might be my favorite of this round. I can tell just by looking at it. This is what I want for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Like this is a Christmas present for me. When I take a bite I feel like I'm in an apple orchard in upstate New York. I like to run, climb trees, pick big apples. That's what I feel here. I want apple cider with this. Then you're getting like an apple explosion. We have a cheesecake without added sugar. I don't know how much I'll enjoy this one, let's be honest. But I'll try it with you.

Even the crust, it is curious that it has no added sugar. The crust is much lighter, not like that golden toast that the others have. Oh that's interesting. It's much lighter. It's dissolving faster in my mouth. I don't miss any sugar. Like it still knew it had a good amount of sugar in it. If you want a lighter cheesecake, you don't want it to be so dense, this might be a good option for you. But I like dense cheesecake. This is the heaviest dish we've tried so far, which makes sense because it's called Brownie Explosion Cheesecake.

We have all the asses, I shouldn't shout, I'm sorry. We have a whole ass brownie on top of the cheesecake. And then there's the trick. Can you see the fudge layer in there? And it looks almost like an Oreo crumb at the bottom. This could be my wedding cake, who can say? - Yes, we are in slow motion. (beep) - You always make me do slow motion on the worst shots. - I know. (upbeat music) - We'll be here for a while. It stays very stuck everywhere in my mouth. - Putting brownie and cheesecake together is just unfair to all the other cheesecakes in this round.

Raspberry swirl can't compete with brownie explosion. Even the name itself is a blast and is correct. And it actually looks a lot like luxury chocolate. It's not like milk chocolate, but it doesn't have a very dark or bitter taste. It's the perfect combination. Well, there are two different people in this world. We're not talking about added sugar. We're not talking about a raspberry swirl between these two this round. Here's someone who just wants everything in sight. You are loud, you are the life of the party. This is your cheesecake. If you want to be more homely and want to relax and have a nice evening with a cup of hot chocolate, a cup of mulled cider and a hot punch.

This is the cheesecake for you. - I don't know, it depends on the day of the week. I feel like I could eat the whole portion of this but I couldn't eat a whole portion. - It depends on how much of a fighter you feel. You know, what kind of risks are you willing to take the day you eat here? - Life advice from Julia. (upbeat music) - This is truly an SOS moment. - I'm a little alarmed. - I feel like I'm preparing for my wedding and I'm testing my cake. And you're my husband, I guess, in this case.

And we're trying to decide what cake we want for our wedding. Well, let's start with the one that looks most like a wedding cake. Like looking at the back of strawberry shortcake. It's lovely. It does not look real. We have a whole bowl of strawberry jam to put on top of the cake like this. I was told to drizzle it on top, not dip the cake in it. Then I'll listen. (upbeat music) Oh, it's a big change from cheesecake, which was so dense and sticks in your mouth, to where we are now in this world of cupcakes.

I understand why they give you such a large portion because it just evaporates the moment it hits your tongue. - Yes. - So this chocolate cake also has, Ooh, does that breadcrumb cut into the edge? That's really nice. I really hope this is like a chocolate glaze instead of a ganache. I want it to be very light just to break up the yellow pastel. Are you kidding me? That's so soft. I'm not a big fan of yellow cake. The ratio between cake and frosting is ideal. What you're going to eat is mostly frosting. She knows in the middle of the night, she sneaks down and opens that jar of frosting.

And you're eating it by the spoonful. You know who you are. I'm looking directly at someone who... (laughs) This is what he knows. There is a slight cake texture, but it feels like you're eating a jar of frosting. If that's your thing, you have to order this. And I should tell you a fun fact while we're here right now before we move on from one chocolate thing to another. We're at the original Junior's restaurant right now in Brooklyn. Opened in 1950, the founder has owned this restaurant since the '20s. So, this space was actually the Enduro Café from the 1920s until 1949.

And then in 1950, it became Junior's. So this space is not only 70 years old. In fact, this family has occupied the same place for more than 100 years. The main change that Alan, the owner, told us was that they just added these glass dividers behind us. And also another curious fact is that they have not changed the cheesecake recipe in the last 70 years that they have been open. It's been the exact same cheesecake ever since. Even when they make it in a factory and have like robots making the raspberry swirl, it's still the same recipe. And with that, I'm going to have a double chocolate cake.

This is like Matilda's cake. And I feel like Chelsea is a little bit like Miss Trunchbull saying, "Eat your cake." (laughs) There is a 100% chance that all of this will be left on my teeth when I eat it. And I'm okay with it, I've accepted my fate. - Did you know? Is it another slow motion? - No, we're done with slow motion. We're done doing slow motion. - Are you sure? - Oh no. (laughs) Not the cake they give you in yourfirst date or maybe it is. And you see, oh, that's a Well, actually, okay, I've completely changed my mind on this.

When you have your first date at Junior's and they give you this cake, you make sure it has lots of chocolate and you see what the other person does. If the person doesn't say anything and doesn't laugh, you don't trust them. You leave the date immediately with chocolate teeth. Anyway, you can see that there is a layer of fudge, but what you don't see is that there are also layers of ganache. Then you are getting thick and mushy. Then you get that really silky ganache flavor and then you get the cake so, sorry if you hate the word moist.

But hello, this is literally what the word means. This cake has so many layers between them that it never dries out. It's like eating a brownie. A barely cooked brownie. We have the red velvet layer cake right here. Then we have cream cheese buttercream frosting. It's actually a 50/50 ratio because they said that when they were experimenting, making the filling, the cream cheese frosting. When it was just the cream cheese frosting, it was actually too cheesy and too spicy. So they also mix it with a little buttercream. Oh, I see what they mean. This is much calmer than I expected.

I love that the outside is a layer of crumbs. I think it's beautiful. I think I'm baffled because I like chocolate so much more. In this carrot cake we obviously have carrots. We have some nuts. We have pineapples and also applesauce here. Oh God. This one has a vegetable. Maybe it's tasty. No. This is the first cake that has a really chewy texture. You have to work a little harder to eat it. - I'm not a big fan of carrot cakes. So I'm going to disappoint you in my review no matter what and I'm sorry. However, the carrot cake cream cheese frosting is delicious and so much better than red velvet frosting. - But the cream cheese with the carrot cake here, it's like they're best friends and they've been best friends for years and they just go back and forth together perfectly.

Lemon and coconut cake with thick lemon curd in the middle. - You favor me and just say thick again? - Thick. Okay, Philip, write down the word "thick" and change my voice to make it sound even more ghostly. What's it called when you get caught by a ghost and your body is like, ah? - Possessed? - Yes, make me possessed. Thick. I'm possessed by cheesecake right now. Mmmm, okay, wow. Aha, wow. Yes Yes Yes Yes! This lemon curd is changing the game. It's the perfect amount of acid. Not even sour, I would say almost sour lemon with the light and vibrancy of the coconut.

For me it's almost like an Easter dessert. Wow, this has given me my life back. Thanks, coconut flakes. I just want that curd. - I just want to eat the curd. I don't need anything else in my life. Favorite of this round. - I love the curd that's in there. But as a whole, it's an entity, I'm thinking about making the yellow cake and the chocolate cake. And then the strawberry cake is delicious. It's so light and fluffy. You know, when you're having dinner and you say, oh, I'll take a look at the dessert menu. This is what you order if you only have one bite left in your stomach, you can get this one because it actually fits a lot more.

We're done, right? - No. - No, okay, great. Oh, it's heavy and your favorite. - That one also weighs. - This could be a three, this is three pounds at least in my case, it could be more than that. That's heavy. We are currently doing five rounds of dessert at Junior's. We haven't even mentioned it, they have a full food menu. That's not cheesecake or cake. We'll have to go back and do that. I'm going to start with the carrot cheesecake. Cheesecake with carrot cake layers. Yes. It looks like we might have carrot cake filled with buttercream and cream cheese.

So this huge piece is the cheesecake. And then it is also interspersed with more cream and carrot cake. Well. (mumbling through food) This is so much better than the carrot cake we just ate. Having that thick layer of cheesecake with the carrot cake and cream just adds more tangy flavor. And there is more depth. It's like a mysterious cake that seems to come out of its shell. Red velvet cheesecake layer cake. Well, before we get into this, Chelsea and I filmed with this man named Bill Yosses. - Hello, my name is Bill Yosses and I was lucky enough to be a pastry chef for two presidents. -And he made the most decadent and beautiful red velvet cake, which was Michelle Obama's favorite.

It makes me think about Junior's being the place, an establishment that every politician, athlete, star, singer, actor, whoever you are, if you come to New York and you come to Brooklyn, you have to visit Junior's. . It's great to see all the history photos of all the politicians who have been here. Not only are all the mayors of New York, but President Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have been here. That's how established it is and how rich the history is here. Oh, rich history, like rich desserts, Rick's history. Oh, full circle. - Julia is losing control (beep).

So I wonder if this is also Michelle Obama's favorite Junior Cheesecake and if she loves red velvet, for my girl, Michelle. - Oh God. (mumbles) - Is it getting denser? I can't tell what's going on here. This could almost be a wedding cake for me. I feel like having a cake with red blood is probably not the best option. Oh, Halloween cake. This is Halloween cake, right? - Yes, okay, time for cheesecake and chocolate mousse. Look at all these chocolate chips. They are so small. Look at my pinky nail compared to the little chocolate chip, it's so cute and small.

I love little chocolate chips like this because they are crunchy. And it's like eating, no, I'm going to say it's like eating chocolate babies. But it's not okay to say that, it's like eating little chocolate, it's like eating chocolate chips for babies. I don't think I have room in my stomach for that right now. - If you can. - Oh, no, I don't. (laughs) No, I don't. Okay, but I'll make room for you. It has to fit there. Make way for the stomach. It tastes like chocolate pudding. Almost like you freeze a package of snacks and freeze the pudding to make it thicker.

In fact, I'm glad they have a ratio like this because the elk comes in pretty late and the cream cheese even a little bit like this. Sorry, we are making the cheesecake so that it is much more balanced. It looks unbalanced when you look at it. But when you bite into it, it makes a lot of sense. Okay, what do I have left to eat, these two yet? - Oh Lord. - No, no, it's just this one. - Okay, can I eat the carrot cake one now? I ate it. - I'm going to do this one. ♪ There is a hero inside all of us ♪ ♪ Strong and brave people ♪ ♪ There is a hero inside all of us ♪ - Which one is this?

Did we even call him, did we even say what he was like? -Devil, he is the devil. - Are you eating the devil? You can not do this. They put cheesecake in the middle of a brownie cake. How do you do this? I mean, this is my childhood dream: to eat this. I'm just saying, oh, now I have chocolate in my hair, great. This is how it goes today. We have the chocolate flakes on the side, which give it a really good crunch. Then you have creaminess because cheesecake, I don't know. It's just great. It's fantastic.

I'm going downhill with this one. I am speechless and that doesn't happen often. I can't ever silence the (beep) so he can say everything he needs to say. Chocolate round (unintelligible), what a surprise. Okay, one more round left, cake shakes. and then I'll see myself out of here. (upbeat music) (laughter) - What, what's going on? This is not a real dessert. It's a dessert about a dessert. - I no longer have room in my stomach. Ouff, however, we are in the last round. We have two shakes, sorry, sorry, cake shakes. We have the New Yorker and then the brownie explosion.

I've never had a cake shake like this before. This is a beefy boy with a thick ass on top of your milkshake. Do I drink it and then eat a bite? Do you eat a bite and drink it? What is the order here, order of operations? I guess I take a sip. Woo, it's more like a strawberry milkshake than a milkshake. I used to make milkshakes when I was in college for the restaurant I worked at. They were extremely heavy, thick, with a lot of ice cream and a lot of milk. This one is not as thick and dense.

Actually, he would say it's a lot more juice. It's easier to drink than the ones I'm used to, which makes sense because you have all the cheesecake on top. Okay, we have graham cracker. We have whipped cream. We have a little strawberry sauce. We have cheesecake. How do you do this? That's what I was missing all this time, the graham cracker. For me, the only thing that would make Junior's cheesecake even better is the graham cracker crust. I think it adds that really cool crunch and texture, but again they've been doing it this way for 70, 71 years.

They don't need to know it from me. They say, thank you very much for your opinion, goodbye. Oh, it's like a chocolate soda. I have a Betty Crocker cookbook or something from the 1950s. And it has a chocolate soda, which sounds bad at first. You're like I don't want chocolate soda. It is not fizzy but it is a very light shake. I know some people think I want it thick and creamy, but they also put a whole slice of cheesecake in it. So you're trying to eat some cheesecake with it. So I think it's better to have the two together because if it was a thick shake, thick with cream cheese.

I feel like you would almost feel sick at the end. So it's much better this way, between the two of them. If I had to choose I would go with the strawberry one, I think the chocolate one is a lot of chocolate. It's intense where I like the strawberry with the graham cracker. It feels a little lighter. It feels a little fresher and obviously fruity, it has fruit. I think this one is prettier. I'll just say that I think this one is the prettiest and it tastes the best too. I'm a chocolate girl though. If you're going to make a cake batter, make this one.

I need to take my very, very sugar-drunk self home. Chelsea needs to get home. We'll take our cheesecakes. I need a moment before I even think about taking my body, my corpse, out of here. I'm going to go to bed. Maybe I'll finally stop dreaming about Junior's. I've been dreaming about this for so long that maybe this is finally the end. But I have a feeling I'm going to dream about chocolate and strawberries for a few more days. It's time to escort me out. I'll be a little horizontal for a moment, Chelsea, and then we can continue.

Do you think they'll find me here if I snuggle tighter? What would Obama do if he were here? ♪ There is a hero within everything ♪