When in New York, it’s important to take care of the basics.  New York basics.  Theater and cheesecake, to be specific.   (Not necessarily in that order.)  I had been fortunate enough earlier in the week to go see Illyria, the off-Broadway musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night that Mary had been working on.  The caliber of the cast and the deceptively simple set design were absolutely fantastic.  I laughed, I sat rapt, and I walked out singing the score.  I also left hungry for more.  I dig theater.  I really, really dig it.  So, not surprisingly, Mary and I wound up in Times Square a couple days later, scoping out the last-minute discounted seats for matinees on Broadway while discussing our need to score some NY original cheesecake.  Matinee first?  Cheesecake first?  Since we’d lunched rather late, we settled on theater first.  Choosing a show was relatively easy.

Hello, Harry Potter.

Equus was a wonderful show, though I suffered through some cognitive dissonance as Harry Potter of Hogwart’s and Captain Katherine Janeway of the starship Voyager somehow found their way into the same world.  Both Daniel Radcliffe and Kate Mulgrew turned in excellent performances, however, and I eventually worked past how incredibly…human they looked without CG effects or disorienting camera angles.  It turns out they are made of flesh and blood, both rather shortish, and Mr Radcliffe somewhat boxy and long in the torso.  Who would have thought?  Perhaps surprisingly, the best parts of Equus for me weren’t the stars, nor the much-hyped nekkid scene (sorry–puberty and I parted ways long ago), but rather the incredible lighting design and the gents who played the horses.  Really fantastic stuff.

And, of course, being in New York and enjoying great theater is reason enough for great cheesecake.  My Mary knew just the spot:  Junior’s.  It’s known by many as the home of NY’s best cheesecake, and the actual name of the restaurant seems to be “Junior’s Most Fabulous Cheesecake and Desserts.”  Heck, yeah.  Check out exhibit A:

We went with the plain cheesecake first.  What better way to assess true cheesecake quality and continue with the naked theme of the evening?  However, we were feeling ambitious and decided to try the carrot cake cheesecake as well.  Two pieces, but cheesecake is usually cut small, right?  No biggie.

Well, at Junior’s, they like to give you your money’s worth.  The plain slice was generous–plenty for two people to share, especially considering how rich and dense it was.

The carrot cake cheesecake slice, on the other hand, was a thing of monstrous proportions.

It was all of the original slice of cheesecake, sandwiched in the equivalent of a hearty piece of carrot cake and cream cheese frosting.  It probably could have fed four people.  Four hungry people.  We wound up taking a lot of cake home.

And that was that.  Because I’d been on such a restaurant run in Philly, Mary and I stayed in a lot in NY for our meals, venturing out for only the essentials (like the spanakopita and delicate phyllo sweets at the Greek bakery near her house, and the aforementioned cheesecake).  One’s last day in New York, however, calls for something special.  Broadway, cheesecake, discussing Harry Potter on Broadway, and leftover cheesecake is a pretty good arrangement, all things considered.

New York, here’s to you. Cheers!