The Cheesecake Factory, Arlington, VA

Five of us ended up planning an impromptu dinner Wednesday evening. We drove into the Clarendon neighborhood of Arlington, where we ate at The Cheesecake Factory.

The Cheesecake Factory is part of a national chain with over a hundred restaurants around the country, mostly concentrated in major metropolitan areas in California and along the east coast. They are pretty up-scale for a franchise, concentrating on updated versions of American cuisine with a few popular international touches in large, spacious restaurants. The Clarendon store was no exception. We were seated in a big six-person booth in about the center of the restaurant.

One of the trademarks of the Cheesecake Factory, and actually one of my major complaints about them, is that all of their offerings are huge. Americans are already predisposed to try to clean their plates, and they don't need anymore encouragement to eat oversized portions and increase their obesity. While many people would say to either eat half and waste the rest (an idea which makes me cringe) or to get a doggy bag and take the leftovers home for lunch the next day, the doggy bag option is just not practical for people out on a business meal. The solution is that the restaurant needs to downsize their portions.

One of the guys at the table was eating light, so he ordered an herb-crusted salmon salad; the mountain of lettuce and salmon he received in a huge, oversized bowl would easily have made two entree salads at another restaurant. A couple of guys ordered quesadillas as appetizers, but what arrived was a huge serving of too-thick cheese quesadillas with what had to be well over a pound of cheese!

Our friendly waitress took our drink orders and was kind enough to mention when I ordered iced tea that it was adulterated, flavored with mango and other fruits (they call it "paradise tropical"), a nasty combination I find particularly noxious and disgusting, especially when restaurants serving it don't have an unflavored alternative. We eventually worked it out for her to use some cold, about to be discarded, coffee to make me some iced coffee, and that was quite satisfactory.

Knowing of the large portions, I avoided first courses and just ordered the pecan crusted catfish. As expected, my serving was enough for two, but it was good and I ate it all anyway (considering I'm trying to diet, see why I don't like this place?). I had two large catfish filets probably the equivalent of an entire large fish which had been rolled in ground pecans and very skillfully sauteed (not deep fried!) just to doneness. The fish rested against not one but two enormous mounds of nicely flavorful mashed potatoes. On the end of the plate was a big serving of a white corn succotash kind of vegetable that was crunchy and exploding with a melange of flavors.

No one had room for dessert.