The Original Cheesecake

Ruth Reichl's recently published "My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life" contains directions for the classic New York cheesecake, a recipe that undoubtedly has saved many lives.

The only place in Vancouver that--to our knowledge--served the true New York cheesecake was Rubin's Delicatessen on lower Granville Street. There are innumerable elaborate versions, but Mama Rubin's was the real thing: only cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and a drop of vanilla, with a slim sour cream glaze. Unlike Ms. Reichl, she did not make her crust with chocolate wafers--the crust played a very low-key supporting role.

Cheesecake was slow to arrive in Vancouver. Many of us were introduced to it by Montreal and Winnipeg expatriates, and the first cheesecake we tasted may have been White Spot's, which was and is delicious, but an entirely different dessert.

In the years since, there have been many cheesecake improvisations in restaurants and home kitchens, but for purists, Rubin's New York cheesecake remains the ultimate.

It was the "Guys and Dolls" of cheesecake.