Why the Cheesecake Factory best epitomizes American cuisine

It hit me a couple of weeks ago, while I was having yet another great meal at the Cheesecake Factory: if I was to choose one single place that epitomized everything that American cooking is about, the Cheesecake Factory would be the one. Of course I don't mean to say that the Cheesecake Factory is the best that America (or Chicago) has to offer. What I mean is that It is delicious, it is eclectic, it is under appreciated, it offers excellent service, it has a phenomenal price/quality ratio, it is a bit cheesy, and it lacks character. And these are all features that are often associated to American cuisine.

I can hear some of you laughing, on both sides of the Transatlantic Pond: my European snobbish friends are laughing at the moment, thinking "of course he would choose a crappy chain to describe American cuisine", while my American friends are kind of thinking "WTF? I thought this guy appreciated and valued American cuisine". 

So, here are my top seven reasons why The Cheesecake factory is the PERFECT representation of American cuisine:

1. It consistently delivers excellent food, while being grossly underestimated by stuck up foodies (both in the US and in America). Since I opened this blog, almost one year ago, I have been repeating again and again that American food is GOOD, and it is a lot better than the image that exists of it outside America. Every visitor we have had from Europe has left with a great appreciation of American cuisine. And this is exactly what happens with the Cheesecake Factory. You may think this place sucks because it is a chain. You may think that the food is fake and not authentic and not local. Yet, I dare you to go to ANY Cheesecake Factory in the country, and have a bad meal. It is impossible, full stop.
2. They serve dishes from all over the world. American cuisine has for a long time been described as a summary of the various culinary traditions brought in by its immigrants. Tacos from Mexico, pizza from Italy, pancakes from France. No restaurant in America reflects this better than the Cheesecake Factory: Vietnamese rolls, tacos, gumbos, jambalaya, pizza, hamburgers, pasta, fish. This place not only has everything, but everything is of absolute good quality, and with an unbeatable price quality ratio.
3. The menu is gigantic. If you haven't been, you can't understand. Last time I counted, there were more than two hundred (yes, two hundred) items on the menu, excluding their desserts (they have more than 30 types of cheesecake...) and drinks. If you don't have a precise craving, you will probably spend a good 20 minutes choosing from their gigantic menu. And is there anything more American than choice, the liberty of the customer to choose whatever he or she wants? Nope, there isn't.
4.  The portions are huge. If you think that portions in America are far too big, you will find confirmation at the Cheesecake factory. A couple of examples: an order of their (delicious) fish tacos is made of 5 tacos. FIVE. An order of any pasta dish must contain AT LEAST 250grams of pasta , i.e. almost 9 oz (a regular dish of pasta has 75-100 grams of pasta in Italy...)
5. It is a restaurant chain: the US is the land of restaurant chains,and with 149 restaurants in 34 American States, the Cheesecake Factory is one of the largest restaurant chains not serving fast-food. This means two things: the food is consistently good, no matters where you eat. But it also means that the restaurants lack a bit of character.
6. The price quality ratio is outstanding. Do I need to explain this? 
   
7. The service is also outstanding. If you are used to eating out in Brussels, where servers treat you like shit, and any request like "could I have my dressing on the side?" is met with "non, on ne peut pas" (no, we can't), eating in any American restaurant is a shock. But the cheesecake factory epitomizes again what American service normally means: fast, attentive, discrete and absolutely customer focused. Every (legitimate) request will be satisfied.

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