Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Alaskan king crab legs with melted butter
Baked potatoes with butter and sour cream, lots of s&p
Green chile chicken enchilada casserole served with sour cream, chopped lettuce and tomatoes and sliced black olives
Filet mignon wrapped in bacon, topped with sauteed mushrooms
Avocados sprinkled with salt

Does anyone see a fat theme here?

@wookie - isn't it always time for cheesecake?!?!

I like my cheesecake plain, for the most part.

However, when I lived in Chicago, the Eli's Cheesecake factory was near where I lived. I'd go there to buy seconds. Mostly it was stuff like a little crack in the top, or some uneven browning. And I adored their almond cheesecake. It wasn't strongly flavored, just a hint of almond, and then some sliced almonds around the sides.

They also had a pumpkin cheesecake during the holidays that was pretty darned good. It wasn't really strongly flavored, which is probably why I liked it.

Oddly enough, I dislike chocolate cheesecake, even though I like chocolate.

Oh, gee, now I'm craving cheesecake.

Thank you sooo much SE readers! I'm just grinning from ear to ear just reading about all your beautiful cheesecakes!!!

@ protest - A gal I worked with got so jazzed about making a cheesecake that she tried a chocolate mascarpone one when she was having guests. Her very first one. I don't know what she did but it never set up and just kind of splooped there on the plate. She 911'ed me and I ran over to her house to help. We ended up pouring ganache all over it to make it servable. It was edible but I wouldn't say totally successful. I've never used mascarpone myself, but I really would have no hesitation about trying it.

@chiff - Tell me about the Nutella one! Do you just use that instead of pb?

I've had some wildly successful cakes but I must say my own personal fav was the cappucino and toffee chunk (Heath bar) w/ Kahlua whipped cream.

I forgot about the Friends episode! Who was on the floor in the hall with Rachel scarfing down the cake????

Cheesecake is my all-time favorite dessert...especially on my birthday. I'm partial to very dense, most any-flavor, crustless & soo cold it's almost frozen...served on a chilled plate.

Cheesecake is my specialty so I don't particularly care for the cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory because it's way too whipped for me. A cheesecake should have enough weight so if it falls on your foot, it will break a toe.

I do Nutella cheesecake, Key Lime, Mocha, Mango. Lemon, Strawberry, Bailey's...and Salmon. (You bake the salmon cheesecake with a bread crumb crust and salmon roe garnish with chives...then make a big divot in the edge and smear it on a cracker so people will know what to do).

Perhaps my most favorite cheesecake experience was the Wedding Cheesecake I made while I lived in Colorado. I made it for a chef (but no pressure...) and his very granola wife. I had to assemble the whole thing at a campsite. I brought just about every piece of cake garnishing equipment I owned. Hopefully the link will take you to the cake. From top left: Key Lime with Coconut Crust; Mango with Vanilla Wafer Crust; Mocha with Chocolate Wafer Crust; Orange/Grand Marnier with Coconut Crust; Chocolate/Raspberry with Chocolate Wafer Crust and the big honkin' cake at the bottom right was Plain with Graham Cracker Crust.

Friends episode with the cheesecake, anyone? I love every kind of cheesecake. The best I've had is at a local Italian place - a vanilla bean cheesecake, holy yum!!! The best I've made was pumpkin, caramel apple, and a few of my own little creations.

Mmmm NY style cheesecakes, plain. (yes, I leave the crust/bottom behind) It's so dense and rich. Odd thing is that as much as I love it, I only eat 2-3 slices/year when the craving hits.

That reminds me of how lucky we were (past tense *sigh*) at work to have someone who loved to bake any and all things. Every few weeks, he would bring in a cake, pie, pastries, etc. that he'd make from scratch. He would bake 2-3 huuuge cheesecakes every few months, with his wife helping him bring them in for the ten of us to eat. Fortunately, other co-workers outside the section would wander by and help us eat them. o.O

Not a big sweet eater, but I make at least 6-8 cheesecakes for the company Christmas party every year...always throw in one or two new ones but they Have to have: Cherry Cordial, Lemon Curd and Ginger, Carmel Toffee, & Kahlua Raspberry. Banana Split was fun...

You can give me a Ham & Cheese-Cake, please...as an appetizer with crostini!

grapes and pasta.

Really crispy grapes (red or green, seedless). I've definitely made myself slightly sick, because I honestly cannot stop once I start on a bag. Not the worst thing to binge on, but then again, it's not the best habit either...

Cheesecake. Mmmmmmmmm. New York style. Miss Grimble's. Plain. An old friend used to make her version of a tuxedo cake - chocolate wafer crumb crust, ny cheese cake bottom 2/3rds, top 1/3 chocolate mouse top, covered in a chocolate ganache. It was the most awesome sweet I've ever eaten. Much better than any other version I've ever had of Tuxedo Cake.