Gregory’s Gourmet Desserts (285 23rd St.) sits in the basement of a nondescript beige brick building on a side street in Uptown Oakland. The entrance, marked only by a small sign, looks more like the back door to a cut-rate basement apartment or secret weed dispensary, so, inevitably, first-timers do a confused double-take before heading down the short flight of steps and peeking inside.
Gregory’s might, in fact, be Oakland’s tiniest and least conspicuously located retail bakery. But for regular customers, who swear that the shop sells the best cheesecakes and cobblers in the Bay Area, the hidden-away location and odd hours — just Wednesdays and Fridays, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. — are no deterrent.

- Luke Tsai
- Look for the sign.
Cheesecakes, available in wacky-sounding flavors with names like “Ugly Duckling” and “Best Milkshake” and priced at $4.50 a slice, are the bakery’s signature item. Williams, a New York transplant, said he never much cared for New York cheesecakes — he always found them too dense and heavy. The first cheesecake he fell in love with was the apple-streusel cheesecake at La Petite Boulangerie, a San Francisco-based chain that was popular in the Eighties. When the chain discontinued the item, and then eventually closed down altogether, Williams fiddled around in the kitchen until he came up with his own version. In the process, he taught himself how to bake.

- Luke Tsai
- “Best Milkshake”
I appreciated that the desserts were a little bit less sweet than the majority of American commercial baked goods. But the best thing about Williams’ cheesecakes and, especially, his key lime pie, was the texture — not dense, but lush, smooth, and unbelievably creamy. Aside from the cheesecakes, the cinnamon-y peach cobbler ($4) is another big seller at Gregory’s, and it’s one of the most satisfying versions I’ve had — jam-packed with fruit and buttery crumbled shortbread. I recommend eating it straight out of the fridge.

- Luke Tsai
- Peach cobbler
Meanwhile, Spoonrocket, the food-delivery service, also recently announced a collaboration with Gregory’s, which means that now customers can have the daily dessert selection delivered to their doorstep.