Bassano Cheesecake – Bassano Cheesecake

In the old days we knew the Baker, the butcher and the hardware store owner. Even the doctor and his family. We trusted them and cared about them and hell I feel like they cared about us. The world has grown so much since then that now we hardly know anyone anymore. Sure we might know the boy at the register or the girl at the desk but we don’t know the owner most times. The employees probably don’t know the owners either.

Thanks to the Internet, if we care about our customers and our products we can bring back a taste and feeling of the good old days long lost. I am talking to you today because of the advancement in technology that has shortened the distance between us. For example, today while we were at the store a nice woman called from New York, she had forgotten to order a cake for her father for Fathers Day. He lives in Tampa a few miles from us she asked if we could get a cake to her father before noon tomorrow, we don’t usually hand deliver our cakes but we said yes. She wanted to pay extra and we said no thank you, that’s just being neighborly, and the truth is it doesn’t really cost us anymore because we aren’t paying postage. I hope we made a connection and a friend. That’s how we want to do things! Because of my families old fashion pride we are making a product that we are proud to put our names on forever. I could brag about our product but we have all heard people brag for years about products that were not that great. We promise you that our cheesecakes are what they all should taste like, a step back in time and 10 steps forward in quality. I have seen some beautiful cheesecakes, tall with sharp peaks at the edge and lace around the sides, fruit dripping off the edges. Ours don’t look like that and for that, we don’t apologize. Our cheesecakes look like cheesecakes, 2.5 to 2.75 inches high and they all look slightly different like snowflakes because each one is handmade. None of them are taken from the oven at the same time, each one is watched and removed at the perfect moment when it is ready. This process sometimes takes an extra 30 minutes. We feel we owe that to you. We appreciate you because without you we could not do this.

The Man Walking in front of the Bride and Groom is Pasquale Bassano. This man walks like a king because he worked hard and found the American Dream. It was just a seed when he found it but through hard work he turned it into a field.

I wish I could sit and talk with my great grandfather for a few hours, he is a man that landed on Ellis Island with nothing more then a dream and in return we all were born in this great country in a large part due to his hard work our lives have been spared a huge struggle!

From Newspaper articles and stories Pasquale did not lead a quite life. He had to start as a construction worker when first arriving in Ellis Island. I was told that the foreman hit him over the back with a 2×4 while he was digging a hole, he grabbed the foreman and bit off a piece of his ear then threw him in the hole and became the foreman that day. This story has been verified through many people who have also mentioned that a lot of people who betrayed him were missing a piece of their ears. Another story that was told to me as a young kid was that he had trouble with English for a few years so while he was working as a construction foreman he would eat at the same diner every day. All he could order was a cup of coffee and a slice of apple pie because that is all he could order in English. A friend of his, after hearing him complain of how sick and tired of apple pie he was suggested he orders a Ham and Cheese sandwich and a cup of Ice Tea. My Great grandfather practiced ordering all day “won Ham-ena-cheese a sangwich and a cupa ice ah Tea ah” when he finally went into the diner the waitress said cup of coffee apple pie? My Grandfather said no! “won Ham-ena-cheese a sangwich and a cupa ice ah Tea ah” the waitress looked surprised and promptly asked him whole wheat, white or rye?, my great grandfather promptly answered “won cup of coffee and appleahpie” I do not know if this is a joke or a true story but I hope it is true. All other stories are backed up through newspaper articles. For instance, my great grandfather decided to help out the laborers standing in line looking for work during the great depression, so he drove a truck full of apples down to the city and handed them out to the poor looking for work. A man stole an apple from the truck that he was giving away apple from and my great grandfather made the news, not for his kindness but instead for beating a man with a shovel for stealing the apples he was giving away. Pasquale was a man of principles he would give the shirt off his back but he would not tolerate a thief!

I hope you have enjoyed so far I have much more to tell about Pasquale.

To be continued…

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