Have Your (Cheese)Cake and Eat It, Too!

ABBY FENNEWALD / THE EAGLE

If you’ve never been to Kramerbooks, you need to go. Now. Seriously. Shut down your computer, get on the metro, and don’t get off until you reach Dupont Circle.

I guess you probably want to know why I’m so adamant about this place. It’s not because of the books. I mean, yes, I could peruse the books in that place for hours on end. The real draw, though, is dessert.

“Not your average baked good” doesn’t even begin to describe this stuff. I’m pretty sure my life didn’t begin until I tasted this dessert.

And it’s not like they have one specialty and everything else is just okay. It’s all excellent: the cheesecake, the peach cobbler, the goober pie, the key lime pie, the double chocolate cake.

ABBY FENNEWALD / THE EAGLE

Most recently I had the (perfect) cheesecake.There was fruit sauce drizzled on the plate — raspberry and mango — and the cheesecake was solid enough to drag it through the fruity goodness before each bite. It was creamy and delicious — just the way I always imagined the perfect cheesecake.

ABBY FENNEWALD / THE EAGLE

And then there was the crust: graham crackers mashed to perfection that stick together in the most wonderful texture known to man. Or woman. Or alien. Or microscopic bacteria.

Now I know that we’re all supposed to love homemade dessert way more than anything we can get at any restaurant. And normally I love my mom’s cooking. Peach pie: unstoppable. Chocolate cake: to die for. But cheesecake? Take me to Kramer’s. And trust me, my mom’s cheesecake isn’t even bad. It’s just not…perfect.

I would even go to Kramer’s before I’d go to Cheesecake Factory for dessert. Which is a little sad for Cheesecake Factory, since that’s supposed to be their specialty and at Kramer’s it’s basically just an afterthought. I’ll give Cheesecake Factory the credit for having a great selection, but there’s something wonderful about pure, unblemished, original cheesecake.

Moral of the story is, everyone out there needs to check this place out. Go, look at books, get dessert, sit in Dupont Circle by the fountain, and have a nice, relaxing, calorie-heavy night. I promise it’s worth it.

ABBY FENNEWALD / THE EAGLE