Cheesecake

Cheesecake, I’ve noticed, is a dessert that one can quickly become tired of. Not over time, but over the course of a slice. At the first bite your tastebuds are doing flips but all
too often by the end you’re thinking “ugh, no more”. That never happens with apple pie. In fact, with apple pie it’s un-American to not take seconds, and who wouldn’t want to? Probably a communist. Anyway, everyone loves cheesecake but no one can seem to finish it because it’s too rich (or something else) even if the first bite was drool-inducing.

Last night Becca took me out to dinner at Lauriol Plaza, a Mexican food restraunt that is one of the best I’ve been to. I took a chance on a special of the evening, a chicken dish,
and my gambit paid off as it was incredibly delicious. As we could either get dessert there or go out for ice cream (there’s always room for dessert even though I had my huge dinner
and half of Becca’s), I thought it would be a good idea to keep with the theme and get dessert there. They offered two varieties of cheesecake, and a couple varieties of ice cream. I went with the chocolate covered cheesecake.

Um, not even the first bite was OK. Well, the whole thing was just “OK”, but the first bite didn’t have my tastebuds doing the flips. It was kind of dry. Between dinner and dessert I could have died happy, but after the cheesecake I had to retract my previous statement; I couldn’t go on that note. I need to have better cheesecake than that as my last.

New York, I’m sure, will have great cheesecake. Actually, in D.C., Famous Luigi’s on 19th street has the best cheesecake in the city. With your first bite your stomach will actually free up room for it, now matter how stuffed you were.

But I shouldn’t complain about Lauriol Plaza’s cheesecake because it’s not like I could do a better job, right? Wrong:
Beat two eggs, 1 tbs.. flour, and 1/2 cup sugar until well blended. Mix in the 15 oz. ricotta cheese (unsalted), and then 1/3 cup heavy cream and 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract. Pour
into pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. Cook on wire rack and then chill. Mangia!