Fried Macaroni and Cheese

Another purloined appetizer, this one from Cheesecake Factory. I do not like the big chain restaurants as a rule, but last week I enjoyed an especially nice lunch at Cheesecake Factory. I ordered this appetizeer not because I wanted to eat it, but because I knew it would sell at the restaurant. It was quite tasty at Cheesecake Factory and it did sell well at the restaurant a couple nights later, when I sold it as a special.

There was a 15 minute wait for lunch on a Monday, mostly because it is located in the Galleria, a mecca of conspicuous consumption if there ever was one. My lunch date informed me I was not "dressed up" enough-I was wearing old jeans and a spiffy sweater from Macy's that was new last fall-I thought it was sort of casual dressy-oh well. Once seated, service was fast and professional-inspite of my tattered poverty struck appearance. I also enjoyed an excellent crab salad with Thousand Island dressing. One camplaint-the hard cooked egg was sieved, I would have preferred slices or chunks. It had a lovely presentation with whole romaine leaves, which did require knife and fork.

Cheesecake for Monday lunch dessert seemed a bit heavy, but how could you eat at a place named Cheesecake and not eat the cheesecake? All the cheesecakes are made in California and shipped to the restaurants-"to insure consistency", I was informed by the server. That sums up the cheesecake, consistent and borrring, homogenization is a very bad thing. In addition the crust was awful, and the whipped topping horrible and overflowing. The espresso was excellent, but I had to ask for lemon twist-Am I the only one that drinks espresso with lemon twist? It used to be standard service to serve lemon twist with espresso, or maybe it's just me.