At Big Jon’s Used Appliances on 16th Street, past the rows of kitchen ranges, washers and dryers, you’ll find a pair of brightly lit refrigerators a few dozen feet away from the entrance.
Through the glass door, you can see slices of desserts in plastic containers marked with the flavors of the sweet treats inside — banana split, blueberry lemon and many more.
Those are some of the flavors of Grammy Sue’s Cheesecake, a westside business owned by David Cecil that sells homemade cheesecakes throughout the west side. The base recipe used by the business comes from Cecil’s mother, known by her grandkids as Grammy Sue.
For decades, her homemade graham cracker crust and hand-mixed cream cheese filling was the most popular dish at every holiday gathering, pitch-in or potluck.
It’s a flavor Cecil always felt was worth getting into trouble for.
“I remember being 5 years old and sneaking into the refrigerator the night before Thanksgiving and sticking my finger in for a taste.”
— David Cecil, owner of Grammy Sue’s Cheesecake
“I remember being 5 years old and sneaking into the refrigerator the night before Thanksgiving and sticking my finger in for a taste,” Cecil said.
Cecil now sells Grammy Sue’s Cheesecake throughout the west side. What started as a side hustle to spend more time with his kids and make a little extra money has grown into a burgeoning business.
But Cecil has big dreams and the big flavors to help make it happen.
“I want to become like Long’s Bakery,” he said. “I want people to line up for cheesecake like they do for Long’s doughnuts. I want people to want to come to Indianapolis to get a taste of Grammy Sue’s Cheesecake. That’s my dream.”
Multiple flavors of cheesecake
Cecil made a few modifications to his mother’s recipe for Grammy Sue’s Cheesecake. He still uses her recipe for the cheesecake portion, but his take on the graham cracker crust is a lot thicker.
“I like a big, thick crust versus a traditional one,” he said. “It’s almost a 50-50 ratio.”
That allows him to experiment with cheesecake toppings. Besides the original country-style cheesecake and ones with strawberry or blueberry topping, Cecil sells an assortment of cheesecakes with unique flavors like pistachio, peanut butter and jelly, and banana split.
He experiments with other flavors, like maple bacon and peaches, that he sells for a brief time.
“We’re always thinking of something,” Cecil said.
Not all the flavors work, though.
“We can’t do pumpkin. It’s too weird. It doesn’t mix well with the cream cheese,” he said. “Dill pickle didn’t work, either. It was too runny.”
This year, he’s experimenting with a new fall cheesecake flavor — s’mores — that would add chocolate and marshmallow flavors atop its graham cracker base.
Expanding through the west side
Cecil was born in Indianapolis, but moved with his family to New Mexico after his father got a union job at a power plant.
In 2008, he moved back to the city to be closer to family after the death of his brother, Jon. He started a business named in his brother’s honor, Big Jon’s Used Appliances.
Cecil started making Grammy Sue’s cheesecakes out of his home five years ago with his sons. Now, he makes them out of a dedicated kitchen attached to Big Jon’s. The place is marked by a little cart with a bright red canopy with “cheesecake” written in large white letters.
He sells a few hundred pieces of cheesecake every week there, across several westside convenience stores and at restaurants like Speedway’s Main Street staple, Charlie Brown’s Pancake & Steakhouse.
“Whatever we make on Tuesday will be gone by Friday,” he said. “I mean, I’ve already got a text from one of our gas stations saying that they need a refill. They have a lot of hotels right across the street from them, so a lot of travelers get into it.”
BP convenience store employee Granny Denney, who works at the store at 5405 W. Bradbury Ave., said their refrigerator holds about 36 slices of cheesecake and often sells out quickly.
“They filled them up three times last week, and I need more,” she said.
Where to get Grammy Sue’s Cheesecake
Grammy Sue’s cheesecakes are available whole or by the slice. They can be purchased online and picked up at 3635 W. 16th St. The cheesecakes are also available at various convenience stores and restaurants throughout the westside.
For more information, call 317-683-3091 or visit their website.
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on Bluesky at @enriquesaenz.bsky.social.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
