Chuck Schumer goes big on the cheesecake. In 2020, an SEC filing revealed that the longtime New York senator dropped nearly $9,000 of his own money on Junior’s cheesecake over the course of a decade. “Guilty as charged,” he said. “It’s the best cheesecake in the world.”
He may be right. The Brooklyn-born Junior’s—which recently opened a location just off Resorts World’s casino floor—has a truly winning way with the classic dessert. The restaurant’s founder Harry Rosen worked with his baker Eigel Petersen to perfect it, and the proof is in every bite: It has a fluffiness you don’t normally associate with cheesecake, in part because it forgoes the usual tough cracker crust for one that’s closer to sponge cake, and the taste—sweet and creamy, yet unexpectedly airy and light—absolutely sings.
Multiple cheesecake varieties occupy the first ten spots on the dessert menu, including carrot, chocolate mousse, red velvet, apple crumb, “fresh strawberry cheese pie” and more. But you really should begin with the original. And immediately after that—because who says you can’t start with dessert?—you can ponder Junior’s many, many savory options, beginning with their hefty sandwiches.
Of special note are Junior’s reubens, which rate their own spot on the menu. The Combo Reuben ($23) piles a small mountain of corned beef and pastrami, grilled sauerkraut and Swiss cheese on spongy rye, with a ramekin of tangy dressing on the side. You could get it with a side of chopped liver, creamy cole slaw, potato salad or thick-cut fries for an additional $4, but—real talk here—you may not need ‘em. The sandwich is a beast, with fist-sized mounds of cured beef. You could take part of your sandwich to go, but it’s unlikely to make it to your home refrigerator. Once you’ve tried it, you’ll want to keep picking at it.
The rest of Junior’s menu is rich with the kind of deli and diner staples that are worth a trip down even if, for some unfathomable reason, you elect to skip the cheesecake. Other sandwich options, ranging from $20 to $22, include baked Virginia ham, roast beef and an egg salad BLT. And the “sensational” sandwich portion of the menu features such tasty beasts as the Something Different ($26), brisket piled on potato pancakes; the Grilled Chicken Deluxe ($24), with bacon and American cheese and served on a toasted challah roll; and the open-faced Nova Bagel, with smoked salmon, cream cheese, red onion, tomato and capers ($26).
Beyond sandwiches, Junior’s has enough chef’s specialties to satiate the cravings of several boroughs, like Hungarian beef goulash with egg noodles ($28); Romanian tenderloin steak with sauteed onions and your choice of potato ($40); gravy and mozzarella-smothered disco fries ($12); cheese blintzes ($20) with strawberry sauce and sour cream; Cobb salad ($26) that doesn’t hold back on the grilled chicken, red pepper, roasted corn, avocado, bacon, egg, blue cheese and tomato; and good old, reliable matzoh ball soup ($8-$12), which is a curative for most any abuse that city living can dish out.
Point is, there are a lot of ways to get to the cheesecake, but get there you must. When the original Brooklyn Junior’s caught fire in 1981, a crowd of New Yorkers gathered to implore firefighters to “save the cheesecake!” Today, you can find out why.
JUNIOR’S Resorts World, 702-676-6963, rwlasvegas.com. Sunday-Thursday, 6 a.m.-11 p.m.; Friday & Saturday, 6 a.m.-midnight.
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