March, 2023 - Phoodographs and Finds

In the world of restaurants I’ve always believed that there needs to be a certain level of creativity in the kitchen to stimulate and surprise patrons with recipes that manipulate and finesse ingredients to reach a level of individuality that sets them apart.

Experiencing many of Executive Chef Dave’s culinary delight’s at Carmine’s in NYC from 1992-1999 as well as Corporate Chef Dave’s creativity at Vincent’s Clam Bar, I can personally tell you he knows how to finesse ingredients to reach a level of individuality that sets his dishes apart and he applies the same creativity to Chef Dave’s Famous Cheesecake.

http://phoodographsandfinds.blogspot.com/2015/01/sauce-is-king-and-much-more-at-vincents.html

Check this out:

According to Chef Dave it’s a hybrid cheesecake because it’s made with 3 cheeses of which 2 of the 3 are “made from scratch’. While a chef at Carmine’s he met many famous and infamous celebrities since he would always come out of the kitchen to say hello to his customers. My cousin Chef Mitchell who partnered with the actor Michael Caine to open up the South Beach Brasserie on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach was the same way, as he would always pop out of the kitchen to meet and greet so to speak.

Getting back to Chef Dave, he popped out of his kitchen one evening to meet and greet celebrity comedian Dom Deluise. He then brought him back into the kitchen and that was the beginning of the creation of this cheesecake recipe. Yup…the truth!

My take of this recipe so you can try to imagine the texture and taste…it’s a cross between both the American style and Italian style cheesecakes we have all tasted. What stands out for me and others who I have treated to this recipe is how he manipulated and finessed the ingredients to create his gently textured and flavored cinnamon crust made with his own homemade and crumbled graham crackers. PHAB!

After picking up my cheesecake I found myself inspired enough to want to bake some cookies from granddaughter Emma’s traditional homemade dough that was in my freezer from Thanksgiving…