Cheesecake

Few desserts welcome customization as much as cheesecake, which starts as a basic block of alabaster-white filling made from little more than sugar, butter, cream cheese, and eggs atop a Graham cracker crust (a formula known as New York cheesecake). From there, it can get as wild as triple chocolate pecan cheesecake on a crumbled nut crust or honey-nut cheesecake on a cinnamon-roll crust. Aficionados on the West Coast consider Harriet’s Cheesecakes Unlimited of Los Angeles to be Mecca. Sixty different kinds are on the full menu, about a dozen available every day. Outstanding variations are caramel-draped praline cheesecake, spicy sweet potato cheesecake, and Oreo cheesecake with a chocolate crust.