Deli-Style Classics, World-Famous Cheesecake Are Staples at Junior's New South Florida Restaurant
March 31, 2017
by Melissa Puppo for Boca Life, April 2017
Boca Raton’s Mizner Park recently welcomed iconic Brooklyn, New York eatery Junior’s Restaurant to its lineup of shopping, fun and flavor.
Boca Raton’s Mizner Park recently welcomed iconic Brooklyn, New York eatery Junior’s Restaurant to its lineup of shopping, fun and flavor. The restaurant features a vintage ’50s setting, with classic tunes, orange decor and a mural that serves as an ode to Ebbets Field.
Third-generation owner Alan Rosen brought Junior’s to Boca Raton because his father Walter (son of founder Harry) owned a home in Delray Beach that Rosen frequented. “[Boca is] like a sixth borough of New York, so where else should Junior’s be besides where everybody knows us?” Rosen asks.
Menu Offerings
Diners can order classic favorites like the matzoh ball soup or a Reuben sandwich, but make no mistake: Junior’s isn’t a deli. The restaurant also whips up the unexpected—chicken parmigiana, barbecue baby back ribs, Hungarian beef goulash, sirloin steak, fish and chips and more. “The beauty of going to Junior’s is you can have whatever you want,” Rosen says, acknowledging the more than 200 menu options.
Try the Something Different sandwich that blends two favorites into one: beef brisket layered between potato pancakes with au jus or mushroom gravy and applesauce. Chef Steven Gertner’s new pastrami-smoked salmon salad is also a must. As for Rosen, cheese blintzes are a tasty route to take. “We make the crepe from scratch, fill it with a mixture of pot cheese, cottage cheese, superfine sugar and vanilla, and then you pan fry them and serve hot, traditionally with sour cream and strawberry sauce,” he says.
World-Famous
There’s no leaving Junior’s without a trip to the bakery. Satisfy your sweet tooth with an array of cakes, cupcakes and cookies, not to mention Junior’s skyscraper ice cream sodas and mountain-high sundaes.
But don’t leave before tasting a signature—the world-famous cheesecake made with yellow spongecake crust. The original has been served since the Junior’s inception in 1950. “It’s a recipe that has not changed one ounce in 66 years,” Rosen says. “Same recipe. No matter what we make, how many cakes we make. No matter what size or variety, the base cheesecake recipe has not changed.”
He credits the restaurant’s success throughout the years to its relationship with the community. “[Junior’s] can become the place where, like in Brooklyn in New York, we have people who come back and say, ‘Oh I went here on my first date,’ or ‘I came here with my husband.’ That type of storytelling that happens in our restaurant is what I hope to happen in South Florida,” Rosen says.
Junior’s is open daily, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. The restaurant also features a full bar, bakery and to-go options.
Junior’s Restaurant, Mizner Park, 409 Plaza Real, Boca Raton / 561.672.7301 / juniorscheesecake.com
