Milky Way Dreamy Cheesecake

From New York? I could tell. New Yorkers are so alive—you never talk about the weather!”

From the moment we sat down in her dairy restaurant, the Milky Way, ebullient Leah Adler, the consummate Jewish mother, charmed and cosseted us. She steered us to homey gems like thick, oniony potato latkes spiked with jalapeños and pillowy cheese blintzes with chunky strawberry preserves.

We told her that we had come to Los Angeles with my sister Sami and niece Arielie to pick up food f