Friday, April 26, 2013

Review of The Cheesecake Factory

It may be a chain restaurant with dessert in it's name, but for my husband and me, it's one of our favorite restaurants.  A couple years ago, I think we ate there at least once a month.  We've been trying to get out of our restaurant bubble lately and try new places, but for my husband's birthday, he wanted to go to our old standby, The Cheesecake Factory.

Mexican Tortilla Salad
I usually always end up with a "usual" at restaurants, and The Cheesecake Factory is no different.  My usual there is the Santa Fe salad.  The cilantro peanut vinagrete has a huge influence on that.  For years, I've known that I've needed a new usual.  My husband and I used to buy the cilantro peanut dressing by the bottle and replicate the salad at home, so it didn't make going to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner as much fun; I knew I could basically make the same thing myself (first, with the help of their dressing, and later by using the Cilantro dressing from Trader Joe's).


So, yesterday, I decided to try something new.  I went with the Mexican Tortilla Salad off the Skinnylicious menu.  It may not have been a drastic change from my old usual (one salad to another), but it was a refreshing change.  In fact, "refreshing" is how I would describe the taste of the salad.  It had a light lime flavor, and overall, I think I found a new usual.


Chicken Bellagio
My husband also has a usual at The Cheesecake Factory, Chicken Bellagio.  He discovered it several years ago when it was featured on a special seasonal menu.  He was thrilled when it made it to the official menu.  It's too rich for my taste, very rich and creamy, but my husband loves it. 

bread basket
Another reason we love The Cheesecake Factory is the bread basket, particularly their brown bread.  I must find a recipe and learn to replicate that bread at home.  I love the honey flavor and the oatmeal sprinkled on top.

Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple Cheesecake

And, of course, there's the cheesecake.  We've tried probably at least half of the cheesecakes on the menu and probably a few that are no longer on the menu.  We tend to prefer the cheesecakes that don't include layers of cake or brownies, etc.  We want all cheesecake, and we each have our favorite, our usual.  Mine is the White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle.  My husband's is Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple.  Since it was his birthday, we shared his favorite.  It's rich and awesome.  I do love chocolate and peanut butter and cheesecake!  The peanut butter fudge stuff on top of the cheesecake is amazing.

It was a delicious meal at one of our standbys.

Happy eating!

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