The Kenny’s Family Cheesecake served at the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival is just as Disneyland resort president Ken Potrock remembers it as a kid working in his family’s New York City delicatessen and Ohio restaurant.
“It’s pretty much right on,” Potrock said. “We’ve done a really good job. The ingredients are pretty straightforward.”
Potrock told the story behind his family’s cheesecake and how he got his name on the new Disneyland dessert during a cooking demonstration at Disney’s Food & Wine Festival running through April 25 at DCA.
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Kenny’s Family Cheesecake is available for $6.50 during the festival at the Berry Patch marketplace booth.
“If you say you know me, then maybe they’ll retro the price to what my dad charged for it in Akron, Ohio, which was $1.40 a slice,” Potrock said with a laugh.
The stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth festival cheesecake comes in a cup — which means you have to dig all the way to the bottom to get the entire taste in one bite — from the mixed berry topping to the graham cracker crust at the bottom.
Potrock started working at the family’s G and R Delicatessen folding pastry boxes as a 6-year-old kid.
“I got paid a penny a box,” Potrock said. “I would work for hours and walk away with about $1.”
The deli on 161st Street in the Bronx stood across the street from Yankee Stadium — which meant players stopped in all the time to buy pastries and sign autographs for young Kenny.
When Potrock was 10 years old, his family moved to Akron, Ohio and opened Lou and Hy’s restaurant, bakery and delicatessen.
“We were really known for cheesecakes,” Potrock said. “People came from far and wide.”
The most famous Lou and Hy’s regular customer: Akron, Ohio high school basketball phenomenon and Lakers star LeBron James.
The Potrock family recipe used for Kenny’s Family…
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