The Cheesecake Factory, McLean, Va.

We have lots and lots of shopping malls around here. It's not enough, though, for them to have just stores, they have to have things to entertain the shoppers, especially nice places to eat. I went to a couple of malls this past week.

Ian and I went to Tyson's Corner Galleria and Tyson's Corner Center in McLean, Va., Thursday. While we were at the Galleria, we ate at The Cheesecake Factory.

Ian started with a strawberry-banana daquiri and an order of their fried macaroni and cheese balls (which, Ian noted, were not made with macaroni, but with penne). For his main course, he had the spicy chicken chipotle pasta.




I had a sandwich they call "The Navajo." I ordered it not so much because I wanted it, but because I was curious. They were playing off the idea of some modern pow-wow food called a Navajo taco or an Indian taco, where a large, flat round of "fry bread" is covered with beans or chili and lettuce. Cheesecake Factory has made a large but very thin round of fry bread, then used it like pita to enclose a chicken breast, avocado, tomato, and lettuce. It was okay, though not the "authentic" Indian taste I was hoping for. It came with French fries.



Cheesecake Factory always serves enormous portions of food. Because of that, neither Ian nor I were hungry enough to order any dessert. Alas.