With a new cookbook, expanded locations, and a bakery that goes through 1.5 million pounds of cream cheese a year, third-generation restaurateur Alan Rosen ’91 is New York’s king of cheesecake. 
With a new cookbook, expanded locations, and a bakery that goes through 1.5 million pounds of cream cheese a year, third-generation restaurateur Alan Rosen '91 is New York's king of cheesecake
For Alan Rosen '91, it all started with the doilies.
As a boy growing up in the family that owned one of Brooklyn's most famous restaurants, Rosen had the task of separating the lacey papers that went under each cake from the in-house bakery. His small fingers made him perfect for the job. "When I was a kid—and I'm talking four or five years old—if I wanted to see my dad, I went to work with him," recalls the Hotel school grad. "He'd knock on my door at 4:30 in the morning and I'd get dressed. I've known some of the people I'm working with today for twenty-five, thirty years."
Rosen is sitting in a semi-circular booth at Junior's, the diner his grandfather opened at the corner of Flatbush and DeKalb on Election Day 1950. It's a Friday afternoon in August, but even during the lull between lunch and dinner the place is doing a steady business of tourists and locals. The walls are adorned with Brooklyn memorabilia (the bridge and the Dodgers are amply represented), and each table sports complimentary bowls of cole slaw, pickles, and pickled beets; Rosen himself is tucking into a tuna sandwich as thick as the Brooklyn phone book. And everywhere, there is cheesecake—not just the plain kind but cheesecake adorned with strawberries and streusel topping, cheesecake slathered with chocolate chips and chocolate mousse, mini-cheesecakes you could eat in three bites and mountainous ones that, under the frosting, are half carrot cake too. "It's creamy, it's smooth, it's rich, it's sweet—but it's not too sweet," Rosen says of Junior's signature confection. "It's just the right balance of what cheesecake is supposed to be. It's inspirational."
Rosen may have been eating Junior's cheesecake his entire life, but he's in no way blasé about its charms; when the time comes for dessert, he sings the praises of every bite (the plain is his favorite). It's a good thing, because although Junior's has some 200 items of what he calls "kosher-style comfort food" on its menu, cheesecake is its bread and butter. When Rosen took over the restaurant's reins fifteen years ago, Junior's was still mainly a Brooklyn phenomenon. Now, between its mail-order business and its four New York locations—the original as well as two in Grand Central Station and one just off Times Square—Junior's serves up some 10 million slices of cheesecake a year, using 1.5 million pounds of cream cheese and 2.2 million eggs. In October, Taunton Press published Junior's Cheesecake Cookbook, the first comprehensive peek into how the restaurant makes what's routinely called the finest example of New York-style cheesecake. The book, by Rosen and food writer Beth Allen, offers fifty recipes as well as tips for avoiding common pitfalls, from soggy crusts to cracked tops. When Rosen plugged it during one of his regular appearances on the QVC home-shopping channel, he sold more than 4,500 copies in ten minutes.
Junior's has been featured on QVC since 1995; it sells some 150,000 cheesecakes a year through the channel, with Rosen regularly hiking out to its Pennsylvania studios and donning chef's whites to promote his desserts. He has also appeared on the Food Network's "Throwdown with Bobby Flay"—a sort of foodie version of "Punk'd" in which unsuspecting chefs think they're hosting their own show, only to be challenged on-camera to an impromptu cook-off. (Flay, who has ample time to prepare, nearly always wins; indeed, his caramel apple cheesecake narrowly defeated Rosen's devil's food version.) "Alan is getting bigger and bigger," says Giuseppe Pezzotti '84, MS Hotel '96, a senior lecturer in food and beverage management at Cornell. He's referring to Rosen's professional success rather than any dessert-fueled girth; Rosen is reasonably trim for someone who spends his professional life surrounded by such temptations as Candy Bar Explosion Cheesecake. "He'll do well, whether he decides to keep expanding or stay where he is. He's already demonstrated that he can do almost anything he wants."
Original New York Cheesecake
4 pkgs. (8 oz. each) full-fat cream cheese, room temp.
1 2/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch
1 tbs. pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs
3/4 c. heavy or whipping cream
1. Follow directions for Sponge Cake Crust.
2. Put one pkg. cream cheese, 1/3 c. sugar, and cornstarch in large bowl and beat with electric mixer on low until creamy, about 3 mins., scraping down bowl several times. Blend in remaining cream cheese, scraping down bowl after each pkg.
3. Increase mixer to medium and beat in remaining sugar, then vanilla. Blend in eggs, beating well after each one. Beat in cream just until completely blended. Be careful not to overmix! Gently spoon batter over crust.
4. Place the cake in a large shallow pan containing hot water that comes about 1 inch up sides of springform. Bake at 350° until edges are light golden brown and top is slightly golden tan, about 1 1/4 hours. Remove cheesecake from water bath, transfer to wire rack, and let cool for 2 hours (don't move it). Leave cake in pan, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until completely cold, overnight or at least 4 hours.
5. To serve, remove sides of springform, leaving cake on bottom of pan. Place on a cake plate. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Slice cold cake with sharp straight-edge knife. Cover any leftover cake and refrigerate or wrap and freeze for up to 1 month.
As Rosen savors his slice of cheese-cake, he keeps an eye on the bustling dining room, occasionally calling an employee over and handing out tickets to the Cyclones, Brooklyn's minor league baseball team. When he notices that a waiter's collar is loose, Rosen makes a subtle gesture telling him to button it; when a busboy mops the floor too close to where people are eating, he calls a manager over and quietly tells him to instruct the young man to wait until the table clears. They're small acts of managerial diplomacy—but not necessarily common ones in an industry made famous on reality TV for its big egos and Vesuvian tirades. "I've seen Alan interacting with his employees, and he talks to them like friends more than people who report to him," Pezzotti says. "He's just great, as a person and also as a professional."
Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake
4 pkgs. (8 oz. each) full-fat cream cheese, room temp.
1 2/3c. sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch
1 tbs. pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs
3/4 c. heavy or whipping cream
1 c. canned pumpkin purée
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, plus more for sprinkling
1. Follow directions for Sponge Cake Crust.
2. Put one pkg. cream cheese, 1/3 c. sugar, and cornstarch in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer on low until creamy, about 3 mins., scraping bowl down several times. Blend in remaining cream cheese, one pkg. at a time, scraping down bowl after each. Increase mixer to medium and beat in remaining sugar, then vanilla. Blend in eggs, beating well after each. Beat in cream just until completely blended. Be careful not to overmix!
3. Remove 1 1/2 c. batter and set aside. On low, blend pumpkin and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice into remaining batter. Gently spoon pumpkin batter on top of crust. Drop white batter in teaspoonfuls on top of pumpkin batter, pushing it down slightly as you go. Using a thin, pointed knife, cut through batter a few times in a "figure 8" design, just until white swirls appear.
4. Place cake in large shallow pan containing hot water that comes about 1 inch up sides of springform. Bake at 350° until edges are light golden brown and top has golden and tan swirls, about 1 1/4 hours. Remove cheesecake from water bath, transfer to wire rack, and let cool for 2 hours (don't move it). Leave cake in pan, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until completely cold, overnight or at least 4 hours.
5. Remove sides of springform, leaving cake on bottom of pan. Place on a cake plate. Pipe whipped cream rosettes around top edge of cake. Lightly sprinkle cream rosettes with pumpkin pie spice. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Slice cold cake with a sharp straight-edge knife. Cover any leftover cake and refrigerate, or wrap and freeze for up to 1 month.
Rosen lives in Harrison, New York, with his wife and three children, commuting to the city in a chauffeured Escalade that he calls his major indulgence; with his Blackberry and cell phone, the car is a mobile office that allows him to work while traveling from one Junior's outlet to another. His main office is located over the Brooklyn restaurant, a building that burned to the ground in 1981 and was faithfully rebuilt the following year. In the business's nearly six-decade history, it has accumulated its share of lore and celebrity sightings. Politicians have been regular fixtures; New York Mayor Abe Beame was said to run the city from a corner table. During the 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton stopped by for a pastrami on rye, cheese blintzes, cheese-cake—and a Diet Coke. When the Braves were playing the Yankees in the 1996 World Series, then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani wagered his Atlanta counterpart a Junior's cheesecake that the Bronx Bombers would win. (They did, but he sent the cheesecake anyway.) And when O. J. Simpson judge Lance Ito complained about a lawyer's impenetrable Brooklyn accent, Junior's sent him a cake reading, "Brooklyn to Ito: Bite Me." "This isn't just a restaurant," Rosen says. "It's got a soul to it. I mean, a restaurant that's been here fifty-seven years can't be just a restaurant. It's like a family member—you could call it my dad's fourth child."
Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake
For cheesecake:
3 pkgs. (8 oz. each) full-fat cream cheese, room temp.
1 1/3 c. sugar
3 tbs. cornstarch
1 tbs. pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs
2/3 c. heavy or whipping cream
For topping:
1 recipe Chocolate Ganache (below)
1 c. mini chocolate chips
For chocolate mousse:
1 tbs. unflavored granulated gelatin
2 tbs. cold water
8 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
3 c. heavy or whipping cream
3 tbs. sugar
1 tbs. pure vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Generously butter bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan. Wrap outside with aluminum foil, covering bottom and extending all the way up the sides.
2. Put one pkg. cream cheese, 1/3 c. sugar, and cornstarch in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer on low until creamy, about 3 mins., scraping down bowl several times. Blend in remaining cream cheese, one pkg. at a time, scraping down bowl after each. Increase mixer to medium and beat in remaining sugar, then vanilla. Blend in eggs, beating well after each. Beat in cream just until completely blended. Be careful not to overmix! Gently spoon batter into prepared pan.
3. Place cake in large shallow pan containing hot water that comes about 1 inch up sides of springform. Bake until edges are light golden brown and top of cake is slightly golden tan, about 11/4 hours. Remove cake from water bath, transfer to wire rack, and let cool for 2 hours (don't move it). Leave cake in pan, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until set, about 4 hours.
4. Meanwhile, make chocolate mousse. Place gelatin in heatproof measuring cup, stir in cold water, and let stand until thickened. Cook in microwave on high for about 30 secs. or over a pan of simmering water for about 1 min., until completely melted. Set aside to cool. Melt chocolate and let cool.
5. In large bowl, whip cream with mixer on high until soft peaks form. While mixer is running, add sugar and vanilla. Blend in cooled melted chocolate until white streaks disappear and cream begins to form peaks. Beat in dissolved gelatin all at once. Do not overbeat. Stop when stiff peaks form. Refrigerate.
6. Remove cake from refrigerator, leaving in pan. Spoon mousse on top and spread out to edges with metal spatula. Cover with plastic wrap. Freeze cake until mousse is firm and completely cold, overnight or at least 4 hours.
7. To decorate, make chocolate ganache and place in freezer until chilled and thickened, about 15 mins. Remove cake from freezer and let stand at room temp. about 5 mins. Remove sides of springform, leaving cake on bottom of pan. Place on a cake plate that can go into the freezer. Warm a metal icing spatula under hot running water and dry on paper towels.
8. Frost top of cake with ganache, smoothing out with spatula. With small spoon, make drips of ganache on sides. Sprinkle chocolate chips in 2-inch border around top edge of cake and mound a few in the center. Return to freezer (don't cover) until ganache is set, about another hour. Keep in freezer until 2 hours before serving, then transfer to refrigerator to thaw. Slice with sharp straight-edge knife. Cover leftover cake and refrigerate. Do not refreeze.
Chocolate Ganache
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 c. cold heavy or whipping cream
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1. Combine chocolate and cream in medium saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until chocolate melts and mixture begins to bubble around sides. Quickly whisk mixture until it comes together in a smooth sauce.
2. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla. Pour into heatproof bowl that can go into freezer. Chill ganache in freezer just until it thickens, about 15 mins. Use immediately.
When Rosen arrived at the Hotel school in the late Eighties, he was the first in his family to go to college; chef-instructor Robert White still marvels at the number of meals (around 330) that Rosen and his classmates served when they hosted a diner-themed night at the Statler. "He's a happy-go-lucky guy, but he's very focused and a very hard worker," White says. "Everyone knows how passionate he is about the food he serves." On a recent trip to Manhattan, White and Pezzotti decided to have a little fun with their former student. While staying at the nearby Marriot Marquis, they had dinner at Junior's in Times Square—and demanded to speak to the owner about the awful food. Rosen came out, prepared to deal with a pair of irate customers. "The minute he locked eyes with us, his face broke into this wide smile," White says, noting that Rosen sent him back to Ithaca with armloads of pastrami and corned beef, and got annoyed when he wouldn't also accept a free cheese-cake. "Alan is the definition of hospitality."
Sponge Cake Crust
For one 9-inch crust:
1/3 c. sifted cake flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
Pinch salt
2 extra-large eggs, separated
1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 drops pure lemon extract
2 tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1. Preheat oven to 350° and generously butter bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan (preferably nonstick). Wrap outside with aluminum foil, covering bottom and extending all the way up the sides.
2. In a small bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt together.
3. Beat egg yolks in large bowl with electric mixer on high for 3 mins. With mixer running, slowly add 2 tbs. sugar and beat until thick light yellow ribbons form, about 5 minutes more. Beat in extracts.
4. Sift flour mixture over batter and stir in by hand, just until no more white flecks appear. Blend in melted butter.
5. Wash mixing bowl and beaters well. Put egg whites and cream of tartar into bowl and beat on high until frothy. Gradually add remaining sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form (whites will stand up and look glossy). Fold about one-third of whites into batter, then remaining whites.
6. Gently spread batter over bottom of pan, and bake just until set and golden (not wet or sticky), about 10 mins. Touch crust gently in center. If it springs back, it's done. Watch carefully and don't let top brown. Leave crust in pan and place on wire rack to cool. Leave oven on while you prepare batter.