Welcome to the Vancouver Foodster Cheesecake Challenge. I have invited restaurants, cafes and bakeries from all over the city to enter their cheesecake into this challenge, some have their cheesecake on their menus and others have created a special cheesecake just for this challenge. Each restaurant, café and bakery will be featuring their cheesecake on their menu from March 7-28, 2013.

How Does this all Work? Well, this is a public challenge, you are invited to go out and order any or all of the cheesecakes in this challenge, then you decide who you think has the best cheesecake creation.

Share your experiences: Tweet (and don’t forget to tweet or instagram your photos) throughout the challenge, our twitter address is @vanfoodster and the hashtag is #CheesecakeChallenge please include this hashtag in all your tweets during the event.

Voting criteria –  some things to help you judge your favourite cheesecake’s – keep these things in mind: originality, creativity, uniqueness, traditional, non-traditional, price, value and most importantly taste.

Get some friends together and make a day or night of it, visit 2 places or more to share and taste the different cheesecakes or go solo or with a friend – just remember to VOTE for your favourites between March 26 – March 31.

Here are the 12 Cheesecakes in this challenge, listed in no particular order other than when they were received by us.

Dunns Famous

Dunn’s Famous Strawberry Cheese Cake

Description- Original Montreal recipe baked in house and fresh strawberries, glazed with strawberry sauce

Price- $7.99

Ingredients- secret recipe from Dunn’s Famous since 1927

Offered: All day, everyday

Dunns Famous

827 Seymour Street,Vancouver

Tel: 604-682-8938

Twitter: @DunnsFamousBC

Web:  http://www.dunnsfamousbc.com

 

Satori Factory

Vanilla Bean Apple Pie Cheesecake (Gluten free)

Ingredients:

Crust: Almonds, garbanzo flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, sorghum flour, fava flour, sugar, butter, free range egg, organic sugar, cinnamon, salt

Filling: cream cheese, goat cheese, vanilla bean, cream, sour cream, free range eggs, corn starch, organic sugar

Topping: organic green apples, organic sugar

Ginger cinnamon crisp garnish: corn starch, fava flour, garbanzo flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, sorghum flour, organic sugar, canola oil, ginger, cinnamon, salt

Finished with fresh orange zest

Price: $4.50

Created by: Chef Sandra Lee

Offered: Daily

Satori Factory

5054 Victoria Drive, Vancouver

Tel: (604) 569-0420

Twitter: @mysatorifactory

Web: www.satorifactory.ca

 

Trees Organic Coffee & Roasting House

Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake

Description: Light & creamy cheesecake with whole raspberries and white chocolate on a graham crumb base, served with a drizzle of raspberry coulis

Price: $6.99

Offered: All day, everyday

Trees Organic Coffee & Roasting House

450 Granville Street, Vancouver

321 Water Street, Vancouver

1391 Richards Street, Vancouver

2655 Arbutus Street, Vancouver

7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond

Twitter: @TreesOrganic

Web: http://www.treescoffee.com/

 

Fets Bar and Grill

Banana Bacon Cheesecake with a whiskey maple caramel

Description: This rich house made baked creation has a bacon graham crust and is topped with a Canadian whiskey maple caramel and garnished with candied bacon

Price $9

Ingredients: Canadian Bacon, Real maple syrup, Canadian Whiskey, Bananas, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Graham Wafers, Secret ingredients

Created by our Sous Chef Travis Fergie

Offered: At Lunch, Dinner & Weekend Brunch

Fets Bar and Grill

1230 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

Tel: 604-255-7771

Twitter: @FetsGrill

Web: http://fetsgrill.com/

 

Darby’s Pub

Triple Chocolate Stout Cheesecake

Description: Chewy chocolate crust, dark chocolate stout cheesecake, caramel syrup, milk chocolate sauce

Price: $4.95

Created by: Executive Chef A.J. Jackson

Offered: 11am – Midnight

Darby’s Pub

2001 Macdonald Street, Vancouver

Tel: 604-731-0617

Twitter: @Darbys_In_Kits

Web: http://www.darbyspub.ca

 

Bella Gelateria

Amalfli Coast Limoncello Cheesecake gelato with sorrento lemon zest.

Description: Infusing a Sorrento lemon zest with the deep warm limoncello liquer from the Amalfi Coast of Southern Italy, then blended with a classic cream cheese, our cheesecake will take you to the warmth of the sun in Naples when you close your eyes.

Price:

$5.50 single size

$6.70 double size

$7.80 Triple size

Ingredients: Milk, Sugar, Limoncello, Cream cheese, Sorrento Lemon zest

Created by: Gelaterie Maestro James Coleridge

Offered: All day, everyday

Bella Gelateria

1001 W Cordova St, Vancouver

Tel: 604-569-1010

Twitter: @bellagelateria

Web: http://www.bellagelateria.com/

 

Tarts Bakery

Triple Threat: Hot Fudge Brownie Cheesecake Tart

Description: Three desserts in one. A layer of homemade chocolate fudge sauce, covered with a creamy cheesecake filling and studded with rich chocolate brownie pieces, all nestled in our signature flaky, all-butter pie crust. Garnished with two chunks of brownie, served warm and drizzled with hot fudge. Enjoy this decadent dessert that gives a whole new delicious meaning to the phrase “Triple Threat”!

Price: $6.99

Ingredients:

Crust: Flour, Unsalted Butter, Egg, Lemon Juice, Salt; Brownie Pieces: Semisweet Chocolate, Flour, Sugar, Unsalted Butter, Eggs, Baking Powder, Salt; Chocolate Fudge: Whipping Cream, Sugar, Cocoa Powder, Unsalted Butter, Coffee Extract; Cheesecake Filling: Cream Cheese, Sugar, Eggs, Pure Vanilla, Salt.

Created by: Sara Subramani and Lisa Coan.

Offered: All day, everyday

Tarts Bakery

1509 West Broadway, Vancouver

Tel: 604-737-8278

Twitter: @TartsBakery

Web: www.tartsbakery.ca/

 

Fable Kitchen

Gorgonzola Cheesecake

Description: Gorgonzola Cheesecake with Maple glazed pear balls, dulce de leche pear puree, vanilla cinnamon jelly sheet, mascarpone cream.

Price: $10

Ingredients: Gorganzola cheese, cream cheese, eggs, mascarpone, sugar, salt, cream, vanilla, cinnamon, greek yogurt, condensed milk.

Created by: Chef Curtis Luck

Offered: Mon-Saturday at dinner, 5:30 to close.

Fable Kitchen

1944 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver

Twitter: @FableKitchen

Web:  http://fablekitchen.ca/

 

Gramercy Grill

Strawberry Cheese Cake

Description: Baked Strawberry Cream Cheese Cake with Graham Wafer Crust

Price: $7.50

Ingredients: Cream Cheese, Milk, Sugar, Flour, Orange Zest, Lemon Zest, Strawberry, Eggs , Vanilla Bean, Butter, Graham Crackers

Offered: during all business hours – Mon thru Sat 11am to last seating 9pm and Sun 10am to last seating 9pm

Created by: Chef Dennis Huang

Gramercy Grill

2685 Arbutus Street, Vancouver

Tel: 604-730-5666

Twitter: @gramercygrill

Web:  http://www.gramercygrill.ca/

 

Salontea

Salontea Tea-infused Cheesecake

Description: Our Salontea Vanilla Chai tea-infused cheesecake is made with a flourless brownie and hazelnut base, with a hint of orange zest. It is topped with Salontea Dancer tea-poached fresh blueberries.  Our cheesecake creation is gluten free and served individually-sized.

Price $5.95

Ingredients: Cream Cheese, orange zest, eggs, sugar, flourless brownie mixture, ground hazelnuts, wild blueberries, Salontea Dancer and Vanilla Chai teas

Created by… our secret.

Offered: M-F 9-6, Sat 10-6, Sun 10-5

3010 Granville Street, Vancouver

Tel: 604.569.1198

Twitter: @SalonteaCanada

Web: http://salontea.com/locations.php

 

Max’s Burgers

Max’s Plain Old Cheesecake

Price: $3.99

Description: The same cheesecake we offered when we opened our doors. A classicNew Yorkstyle cheesecake served as an individual round and topped with whipped cream and a glazed strawberry. Nothing fancy, no “concept” no crazy flavours just a darn fine rendition of the classic.

Created by: n/a

Offered:  All the time.

Max’s Burgers

521 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver

Tel: 604-873-6297

Twitter: @MaxsBurgersVan

Web:  http://maxsburgers.ca

 

Pier 7 Restaurant

Meyer Lemon Brûlée Cheesecake 

Price: $8

Description: Meyer Lemon Brûlée Cheesecake with Roasted rhubarb, lavender citrus

Ingredients:  Cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, eggs, meyer lemons, vanilla

Created by: the Team at Pier 7

Offered: Daily

Pier 7 Restaurant

25 Wallace Mews Rd, North Vancouver

Tel: 604-929-7437

Twitter: @pier7restaurant

Web: http://pierseven.ca/

Make sure you pick up one of the Cheesecake Challenge postcards available at each of the participating restaurants and keep a record of your favourite cheesecake creations. Remember to Vote for your favourites from March 26-31 at https://vancouverfoodster.com/cheesecake-challenge/

By: Richard Wolak