Cheese Heads

Witness the explosive growth of The Cheesecake Factory, founded in
1978 and today with nearly 150 locations, the closest to Syracuse being
at Walden Galleria in suburban Buffalo. The inviting eatery attracts
your taste buds when you first walk in the door—glass-enclosed coolers
hold dozens of cheesecake creations, including flavors like red velvet,
dulce de leche caramel and banana cream.

Closer to home, Big Mama’s Cheesecakes has outgrown the 2107
Brewerton Road, Mattydale location it has occupied for 2½ years. Owner
Carrie Fanizzi is moving the operation to Northern Lights Plaza at the
end of October. “We need a bigger kitchen, and we need more space for
our retail customers,” she says. 

Currently, Fanizzi reports that she makes 150 to 200 cheesecakes per
week, and business is booming. “The increase in orders is what is
leading us to move,” she says. “Plus we want to be more open to the
public.” Big Mama’s is open to the public Tuesdays, Thursdays and
Fridays from 4 to 7 p.m., and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Our hours
will expand once the move takes place,” Fanizzi says. “We’re also going
to be doing a lot of different things over there.”

That includes selling cheesecake cupcakes, which she did at both the
Taste of Syracuse and the New York State Fair, for $1. “We offered the
$1 samples at the Fair because the economy is so bad,” she says. “We
figured people like to go to the Fair and try a few different things to
eat, so they could have a $1 cupcake to nibble on, and if you wanted to
try a different flavor later in the day, you could.”

Big Mama’s plans to return to the Fair in 2011, with luck at the same
Horticulture Building location she landed at this year. “It was a very
nice spot, and we hope they’ll give it to us again.”

While Fanizzi sells cheesecake by the slice during retail hours, the
bulk of her business is wholesale to local restaurants. However, if you
want to order a cheesecake from her, just give her a call and you’ll
have your treat in two days. Or you can request a sample platter from
among the 40 different flavors made in Mattydale. 

And to further show the popularity of cheesecake, Fanizzi says she is
receiving more orders for wedding cakes than ever before. “We have done
a lot of wedding cakes this year,” she notes. “A lot of people are
switching over from traditional cakes.” As for special ingredients,
Fanizzi wouldn’t name any except for “a lot of patience and a lot of
love. You have to take pride in what you do.”

Of course, cheesecake wouldn’t be cheesecake without its vital
ingredient, cream cheese. Filed in the “who knew?” category could be the
factoid that little Lowville, sitting on the western cusp of the
Adirondacks, is home to the largest Philadelphia-brand cream cheese
manufacturing plant in the world. Owned by Kraft Foods, the plant
employs 335. So, wanting to jump on the local festival bandwagon, a
committee formed in Lowville and devised the idea of a Cream Cheese
Festival.

The sixth edition of the fest takes place Saturday, Sept. 18, 11 a.m.
to 6 p.m., along State Street, Lowville’s main drag. “A group of us got
together because we realized we needed an event, a celebration in
Lowville, and we got thinking about what would be unique to this area,
and someone thought of the Kraft plant,” says Heidi VanZandt, a member
of the festival committee. “It started out small, and it has grown every
year.”

Events include a children’s Discovery Park, with $3 admission for the
entire day; a cream cheese mural, cream cheese bingo, cream cheese
eating contest and a cream cheese toss; artisans; food; music; and the
highlight of the day, a huge cheesecake made by Kraft and touted as the
largest of its kind in the United States.

“They do something different every year, different flavors, different
designs, and they give away pieces until it’s gone,” says VanZandt.
Since the point of cream cheese is to eat it, there are two recipe
contests that Kraft sponsors, dessert and non-dessert. “Cream cheese is
the theme, and it has to use Philadelphia brand,” she adds. “The prizes
are $500 for first place, $250 for second place, and a Kraft gift bag
for third place.”

For more information on the Cream Cheese Festival, visit www.creamcheesefestival.com.

Speaking of Kraft and Philadelphia cream cheese, the two recipes here were culled from the Kraft website, so they want you to use their
cream cheese (we won’t tell if you cheat and use a store brand instead).
Either way, they’ll be pretty tasty.