The Cheesecake Factory will always remind me of my mall-rat days as a teen. My parents are huge fans of the chain, so we’ve spent a solid amount of time at the California-based eatery. There, I celebrated my middle school graduation and had plenty of post-shopping-spree dinners, so I know this menu very well.
I even spent my Christmas Eve there with my Brooklyn crew of friends, when we trekked out to the Long Island location for a holiday feast. The Cheesecake Factory recently announced that it was , but it has also over 20 new ones — and I had a chance to preview all of them. Many of the standouts were seafood-based dishes and/or vegetable-forward.
Here’s my ranking of the new menu additions at my favorite mall hangout: I liked that a lot of the new offerings were vegetable-based dishes. This may have been my least favorite dish (I’m just not a huge snap pea fan!), but I’m always happy to get more green on the table. I’d probably just go with the cucumber salad (No.
8) or grilled asparagus (No. 12) next time. As a native New Yorker, I’m a little picky when it comes to sandwiches — especially those with deli meats.
Out of all the sandwich options, it was the most bland. The garlic aioli couldn’t save it, unfortunately. This reminded me of a standard beef and rice dish you’d find at your local American Chinese spot.
It was solid but not a standout. This is another vegetable-based side dish that would be great to share with friends, but it didn’t do much f.
