A couple of months ago I was frequenting the Bronx Alehouse in Riverdale and had a few tall glasses of fine ale. It was late on a Sunday night and before taking the car to drive back home, I had decided it was wise to eat something and have a cup of coffee before hitting the road. A few blocks away a solution flashed in my face in the form of the Riverdale Diner with it's large red sign. When I entered the establishment I was immediately faced with the dessert cake, and there before my eyes stood one of the greatest concepts ever put into action; a red velvet cheesecake. At the time I wasn't fully prepared to take on such a mighty force (think when Moses first discovers the Burning Bush), but I knew the time would come when there would be a final confrontation.
The weeks and months dropped off the calender and as good as the good times were or as bad as the bad times were, in the back of my mind the red velvet cheesecake had been looming in the back of my head. On some days I might say red velvet is my favorite cake, but on other days I would side with cheesecake. I was curious what the combination of both cakes were going to do with me. Positive and negative protons were able to set the atomic bomb in place, would the powers of red velvet and cheesecake be just as powerful? Without wanting to think about it further, I reached a point where I needed to plunge ahead and experience one of the wonders of the world. In preparation of this event, I ate very light during the day. I had half of a nasty chicken empanada from 7-11, a small chicken noodle soup, and a granola bar. I wanted to leave plenty of room for a reasonable-sized dinner and then the grand finale of a slice of red velvet cheesecake. That afternoon I even stopped by the gym to burn off the calories I knew I would be accepting later on.
I returned to the Riverdale Diner and the first thing I checked was the dessert case to make sure they were still offering it. There it was, in all it's glory. In fact, only a slice had been taken away which indicated it was a freshly made cake. Then from there things got a little awkward as I stood waiting for someone to seat me. The place wasn't crowded at all and there were workers all over, but none of them took notice that I wanted a seat. The owner or manager was counting money, a few workers were chatting with a customer at the counter, and someone was replacing a few of the pastries in the dessert case. It was possible they thought I was standing and waiting for a take-out order, but I was there for a good six minutes in limbo. I didn't want to sit at the counter as the people there were waiting for take-out orders and I didn't want to be stuck at a transient position while trying the cake. Then all of a sudden, an older lady walked in, looking quiet shabby, a few inches away from homeless, with a band aid on her elbow, and she approached the counter for a take-out order as well. I figured then maybe that's the only protocol to get any attention in the place. I shuffled my feet a few places towards the left to get closer to the counter in hopes someone would recognize my predicament, but it did no good. Eventually, I had to throw in the towel and ask a random waiter if I could have a seat (in hopes he would actually say yes).
Once seated I scanned the menu for a good medium sized meal, in knowing I already had the answer in my head in regards of what I was going to do for dessert. As a favorite diner haunt of mine, I found a nicely priced liver option: calves liver with peppers and onions over yellow rice. The dish itself had a fancy-sounding Spanish name, but it was basically liver over rice. The eleven-dollar meal came with a soup option and out of the four options I went with matzah ball soup. I only had to wait a minute for the soup to come out, and it was perfect for the situation. It was very light and went down easy, including the slices of bread and crackers they served on the side. Shortly after the soup came out it was time for the liver dish. Really, dinner was just as a formality as I was only there for the red velvet cheesecake, so it was difficult to fully evaluate the liver, but it was a tad bit overdone. I could've cleaned the plate if I really wanted to, but I needed to leave room for the main event. As I digested my meal, I entertained myself by taking in the patrons of the other tables around me. For example, one lady across from me couldn't eat dairy products and kept asking the waiter about almost ever item on the menu if it had dairy in it. Or behind me, instead of ordering a regular gyro deluxe dish, this other lady needed a special customized dish of a gyro served in a wrap instead of the standard pita bread.
Knowing I would only be moments away from take-off of the red velvet cheesecake, I made a short trip to the bathroom to splash some water on my face and get ready. It was quite a large and clean facility and served as the perfect venue for a few moments of quiet reflection. I returned to my table and as the busboy took my dishes away, the waiter asked if I wanted anything else. That's a moment I'll never forget, that's when I ordered the red velvet cheesecake. Naturally, I also had to add a cup of coffee to go with it, otherwise it wouldn't officially be a dessert. The coffee came out rather quickly, but the waiter said he needed a few minutes to prepare the slice of cake, I understood. You can't just serve something like that and walk away, it needs to be prepared the right way. About three minutes later the waiter returned with the red velvet cheesecake placed on a triangular plate with a few sprays of whipped cream and a dash of some type of syrup. I didn't want to dwell on it much, so I picked up my folk and dug in. To my surprise, the red velvet doe was dominate and I wasn't tasting much of the more densely-packed cheesecake, but then I realized what happened.
The way the cake was constructed, it was cheesecake heavy on top, and red velvet dominate towards the bottom, by eating the cake on the side, this threw me off a little. After a few bites, then a few more bites, I looked down and saw I had almost finished the whole thing so quickly, I needed to slow the pace. While I took a short break, I paid closer attention to the radio station that was pouring out of the diner's speakers. It seemed as if it was tuned into an 80's satellite radio station, and a song came on that I had been seeking quite some time back. I remember hearing it in the early 90's the first time, and again about four years ago, but had forgotten I wanted to find out the name of it. I remembered the lyrics of "two steps forward and two steps back", as well as, "opposites attract". Turns out the name of the song was "Opposites Attract" by Paula Abdul. This was turning out to be quite a night with the confrontation of the red velvet cheesecake and unlocking a mystery song that had been puzzling my brain for half my life. I picked up my fork for a few more bites and just about the time my stomach told me I won, I checked the battlefield and saw the cake splattered all over. I didn't want to completely embarrass the red velvet cheesecake, so I left a few pieces laying around so it could have it's dignity. The busboy whisked the defeated dish away and months of wonder had suddenly been fulfilled.
When it comes to red velvet and cheesecake, opposites certainly attract......
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