MM-Cheesecake Factory

Grant and I have come to realize that Cheesecake Factory is really one of our favorite places ever! Their menu is a book so you really can't ever get sick of the food, even though we generally get the same few dishes over and over again because we love them so much we don't want to try anything else.

On the drive home yesterday (as Grant was eating his lemon raspberry cheesecake that we bought the night before and saved for the drive home) we listed all the Cheesecake Factories we had been to (at least as many as I can think of right now).

San Francisco- SO many memories here. I love eating out on the balcony here!
This picture was New Year's Eve 2001 with Anna and Bri. We spent the evening/night in the city with fireworks over the bay at midnight and an amazing meal and dessert, not to mention the magic of spending NYE in a big city, I love it!
-I did New Year's Eve 2002 in SF also, ate at Cheesecake Factory (unfortunately no pictures of that portion of the night) and had a great rest of the night there as well.
-As in last week's MM, Courtney, Jenny and I went there when they were visiting.
-Grant and I go into the city most times we visit my family and have eaten there on many occasions as the one below with my mom in 2006.
San Diego- A favorite just because it is one of my favorite cities, at a great mall (as you can tell from the vast quantity of shopping bags inside shopping bags we were all holding) and was my very first Cheesecake Factory experience. Me, Anna, Lindsay and Lauren, in SD for a lacrosse tournament, went down early to enjoy the beach, shopping, and our new found love, The Cheesecake Factory. We spent the weekend in the silver bullet having so much fun!
-Grant and I also ate dinner at this one for Valentine's Day 2004 (when we were engaged). We spent the weekend with my Grandpa and decided to go out for a good dinner just the 2 of us.

Sacramento- A much newer one, which is probably good since it may not have been as special if I had this one 20 minutes from my house all the time. We went there after Holly's graduation and for my birthday a few summers ago if I remember correctly.

Virginia Beach- Went here 2 summers ago with Jenny, Sean and Scott who were out in Virginia doing summer sales. I did challenge myself to get something new on the menu this night, I remember I loved it, but can't remember what it was!

Louisville- We went here after a youth temple trip a few months ago. Supposedly at a cool mall but we got there too late to shop, we'll obviously have to try it again!

Cincinnati- So nice to have another close enough to go whenever we really have a craving for it. We went up with Travis and Beth this summer, needed an excuse to get away from the remodeling, if only for a short while even!

Las Vegas (x2 locations)- Also many memories in Vegas locations. The Caesar's Palace one is a lot of fun because you get to wait by the huge fish tank, shop for miles (it is the home of a Taryn Rose shoes...so I always go take a picture and look around there), and the inside setup is a little different and fun.
-On several trips down to San Diego from Provo, we would stop on the strip for a good dinner at CF. Holly got to experience this with us quite a few times as well as we went down for Christmas on several occasions while we all lived in Provo.
-We also went to another one, not on the strip, with Mat and Jen...summer 2005 when we went down for a long weekend with them and had such a fun trip! We tried a few new favorites of Mat and Jen's (which is why I love going with other people) and added to our list of dishes we love.
Salt Lake City-Of course they put this in only about a year before we moved, but we ate there a few times before we left. You couldn't even get a table without waiting like 5 hours for the first month it was open. People in Utah are crazy about eating!

Honolulu- Our HONEYMOON!!! I lived in Hawaii in summer 2003 and between then and when Grant and I went back in May 2004, they had opened a CF :) We asked the waiter to take our picture, instead he gave the camera to someone else so he could be in it...and the person took a terrible blurry picture. But it's the memory that matters, right?!
Chicago (x2 locations)- And finally...Chicago, our most recent encounter with CF! Architecturally, this was my favorite location. It was on the bottom of the Hancock Building, was brand new, and was just funky and fun...I loved it. We went for lunch the first day we were there, just got an appetizer and a lunch portion of pasta but were full and did not want dessert or to carry it around the city all day...so, we went back to a different one for dinner the next night! and Grant got his lemon raspberry for the drive home yesterday!

FAVORITE menu items:
*Chicken Madeira (A classic favorite)
*Tex Mex Eggrolls (I often just get this is my meal)
*Thai Chicken Pasta (peanut buttery goodness)
*Meatloaf sandwich (a favorite of Grant's that was discontinued, but he still loves the Factory Favorite Meatloaf)
...and of course, Lemon-Raspberry Cheesecake (Grant)
*I'm not a huge cheesecake person, but I always have to have a few bites and do really love the caramel macadamia nut one)