When Roger Sterling and Joan Harris return to the Tip Toe Inn, a Jewish deli on the corner of Broadway and 86th Street they frequented during their affair, Joan asks Roger why they always went there.
“No chance of running in to anyone and, of course, the cherry cheesecake,” replies Roger as he slides a forkful into his mouth.
The Tip Toe Inn is long gone, but for decades it was known for its corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, smoked sturgeon, lox, gefilte fish, borscht, and its cheesecake. Details of the Tip Toe Inn’s cherry cheesecake recipe are not known, so we turned to Lindy’s, the New York deli with the most famous cheesecake at the time. The recipe was long sought by food writers, cookbook authors, and patrons.
Lindy’s was “fabled for its sturgeon, corned beef, and blintzes,” wrote the New York Times’ Craig Claiborne in 1977. “But most of all it was renowned for its cheesecakes which were as integral a part of Gotham culture as Yankee Stadium, Coney Island, Grant’s Tomb, and the Staten Island Ferry.”
According to William Grimes’ 2009 book Appetite City: A Culinary History of New York, Lindy’s was “the archetypal show-business canteen…[t]he food and the atmosphere were casual, and Jewish. The waiters bickered with the customers, who bickered back, pretended to be annoyed, and loved every minute of it. Actors and comedians drifted from table to table, greeting friends and trading wisecracks.”
Harpo Marx, who usually had little to say in the movies, called Lindy’s cheesecake “ambrosia,” and the cheesecake itself became something of a Broadway star. In the hit show Guys and Dolls, based on several short stories by Damon Runyon, Lindy’s became Mindy’s, and the question of whether Mindy’s sells more strudel or cheesecake was the subject of a bet between gamblers Nathan Detroit and Sky Masterson.
Cheesecake is the ultimate indulgence, rich yet somehow light, smooth, creamy, and irresistible. As Roger correctly points out, cheesecake was served “to the Olympic athletes in ancient Greece,” (season 1, episode 7; “Red in the Face”), though we imagine it must have been the victor’s just deserts because cheesecake eaten before a competition could only slow an athlete down.
Numerous magazines and cookbooks purported to have Lindy’s original recipe, and many variants appeared in print. In her book How America Eats (1960), the legendary Clementine Paddleford, a food writer for the New York Herald Tribune and food editor for This Week Magazine (see Palm Springs Chile Rellenos), claimed that Leo Lindemann, Lindy himself, gave the recipe to her. One of Lindy cheesecake’s most distinctive features was the “cookie dough crust,” unlike the graham cracker crust we find in today’s cheesecake recipes.
Serve it with the cherry topping Roger loved so much, and you’ll add a pound sterling to the waist of every dinner guest. But, don’t worry; they can work it off at the next Olympics.
ADAPTED FROM HOW AMERICA EATS BY CLEMENTINE PADDLEFORD (SCRIBNER, 1960)
For the cookie crust
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1⁄4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
Pinch of vanilla bean (inside pulp) or
1⁄4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
1⁄2 cup butter
For the cheese filling
21⁄2 pounds cream cheese
13⁄4 cups sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
11⁄2 teaspoons grated orange peel
11⁄2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
Pinch of vanilla bean (inside pulp) or
1⁄4 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
1⁄4 cup heavy cream
For the topping
1 21-ounce can cherry pie filling
YIELD: 12–16 SERVINGS