CHEESECAKE REVIEW: Artuso Pastry Shop

My search for the best cheesecake in New York continues….

I won’t be coming up to Arthur Avenue as often as I used to. Our wonderful food tour will be moving to private only tours. Meaning we won’t run it regularly for the public.

So on the last few public tours I have, I’ve been trying to squeeze in all the classic things to eat that I have yet to try. And cheesecake is something that you can almost smell outside on the streets.

Artuso is a bit further from the main drag of Arthur Avenue but it’s known as being one of the best pastry shops in the area.

I truly love that many of these Italian pastry shops offer a smaller version of their regular pastries. That meant I could order both the cheesecake and a tiramisu.

They didn’t have a mini cheesecake without a glaze on top. Normally I would have ordered just the regular pure unadulterated stuff, but alas. I figured strawberry was the most natural topping.

This is a New York-style cheesecake (with cream cheese) rather than the ricotta-based Italian variety.

As advertised, the cheesecake truly is just a few bites. I didn’t love the overly sweet and slightly gelatinous strawberry topping. Similarly the chocolate base was a bit dense and didn’t add much to the combination.

Between the sugary bookends, I could make out that there was a good cheesecake in there. It was very smooth and rich without being overly sweet or tangy. It’s another worthy cheesecake option in this sweet Italian neighborhood.

I’ll obviously be back again to Arthur Avenue. If for no other reason than because I haven’t even started my official cannoli search yet.

Does Artuso Pastry Shop have the best cheesecake in NY? Hard to say without trying the cheesecake unadulterated but I give it a 7 out of 10 because despite the overly sweet additions, it’s a smooth balanced cake.