Our Story

I came to Los Angeles from New York looking for a new beginning. Then COVID hit.

I lost my survival job, and with no real plan for what came next, I used my last paycheck to buy a used mixer off Craigslist. It wasn’t fancy, but it was enough.

At the time, my partner Greg was working as head baker at a popular bagel shop and making fresh cream cheese from scratch. I began using it in my mom’s famous Christmas cheesecake recipe and the first time we tasted the result, we knew we had created something special.

I began selling cheesecakes out of a parking lot in West LA. One cheesecake became another. Customers came back. They told their friends. And somewhere along the way, the thing we started out as a hail mary became East Side Cheesecakes.

Since then, that little parking-lot business has grown into a Los Angeles fan-favorite bakery, with our cheesecakes traveling to events and tables across the country.

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It's More Than Cheesecake ...

Our first year in business, in the middle of the COVID lockdown, a fellow New York transplant found our little cheesecake business online and quickly became one of our regulars. He ordered for nearly every holiday, always tipping in cash “for the guys in the back” when he picked up his cheesecakes.

Then one day, an order arrived from his daughter. I instantly recognized the last name. In the note, she mentioned how much her father had loved our cheesecake. That was how I learned he had passed away. I upgraded her order to larger cheesecakes, and when she came to pick them up, although we had never met before, I gave her a hug.

About a year and a half later, I lost my own father. After taking some time away from work, I scheduled our first pop-up back: on Father’s Day. I was doing my best to get through the day when his daughter walked up. She had a huge smile on her face. She bought cheesecakes, came over to me, and wrapped me in the biggest hug.

I think about that moment often. A moment I never could have predicted when I first started this business. It reminded me that the most meaningful thing we've built is community.

Every cheesecake we make is meant to be shared. It sits at the center of birthdays, weddings, family dinners, baby showers, office celebrations, and countless everyday moments that bring people together. When people share food, they share stories. They celebrate milestones. They strengthen relationships. Those small moments create ripple effects that last far beyond dessert.

So, for me, it's so much more than cheesecake.

At East Side Cheesecakes we believe that ingredients matter. Craft matters.

And the hands that make your food matter.

We believe food has the power to bring people together. In a world that can feel increasingly rushed and disconnected,

we hope we can offer you a reason to stop for a minute.

To gather around a table. To celebrate someone. To stay for another bite.

We hope to turn an ordinary day into a reason to celebrate.