Brooklyn's Junior's Cheesecake Comes to Manhattan
The NY Daily News reports Brooklyn's best cheesecake is coming soon to the Crossroads of the World. Junior's restaurant plans to bring its legendary desserts - plus fried chicken, brisket and pastrami sandwiches - to the heart of Manhattan with a big new Times Square eatery opening in June.
"We're going to bring the whole Brooklyn experience to Manhattan," said Alan Rosen, whose grandfather opened the original Junior's on Flatbush Ave. more than a half-century ago. The new place will have nearly 200 seats and room for an outdoor cafe seating about 80 more customers, with the same menu items as the Brooklyn store. It will be on W. 44th St. and Shubert Alley, just west of Broadway.
"They're ready for us, both tourists and New Yorkers who may not have found us yet," said Rosen. "We're looking forward to showing them what Brooklyn has known for 56 years." It's a huge step for the much-loved Brooklyn institution, which has a small outpost in Grand Central Terminal. With a thriving mail-order and online business, Junior's sells a half-million cheesecakes a year.
Even though there are now a dozen varieties of cakes, the traditional plain and strawberry flavors are still the best sellers. The family-owned eatery - known for its retro neon sign and perpetually double-parked cars out front - has been a landmark in downtown Brooklyn since 1950.
It thrived in a prime location next to the borough's grand movie houses, survived the neighborhood's long decline, and stayed on as it boomed again. The Rosens pride themselves on staying small and keeping standards high - and insist that won't change in Times Square. "We're going to have great comfort food and great service," Rosen said.
Junior's is sinking $1 million into renovating the 5,000-square-foot Times Square space, complete with murals of landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge, Ebbets Field and Coney Island. With 24-hour foot traffic, the new place will open up for breakfast at 6:30 a.m. and stay open till the crowds start to thin at midnight or 1 a.m. on weekends. Rosen also had a message to Brooklynites who might worry that the new outlet could spell the demise of the original Junior's - fuhgeddaboudit.
"That is our flagship, and we are not going anywhere," he vowed. "We'll be around for another 56 years."
The eras of an institution
1929 - Harry Rosen, a lower East Side entrepreneur, opens the Enduro nightspot at DeKalb and Flatbush Aves. in downtown Brooklyn.
1950 - Junior's is born as Rosen remodels the place as a family restaurant and names it after his two sons, Marvin and Walter. The famed cheesecake recipe is born.
1960 - A lucrative business fueled by its location across from the Brooklyn Paramount Theater, Junior's gets handed down to the second generation of Rosens.
1981 - When a fire sweeps through the restaurant, worried customers line Flatbush Ave., crying, "Save the cheesecakes." After nine months of repairs, it reopens.
1989 - Junior's starts shipping cheesecakes nationwide.
1990 - Third generation of Rosens takes over Junior's.
2000 - Junior's opens an outpost in Grand Central Terminal.
2006 - New 280-seat restaurant planned for Times Square.
