Columbus, OH

As this blog progresses, you'll start to notice that there will be a lot of posts about Columbus, and that's because I live there. For all the traveling I do, I obviously also spend a lot of time here, forever searching for awesome places to eat, so expect a lot of time dedicated to the hot spots of this city (this is not one of them fyi).

The Cheesecake Factory

That being said, yesterday Caleb and I decided we wanted to grab a quick bite to eat and ended up choosing The Cheesecake Factory (as I said, not a local hot spot, but from time to time I will also be blogging about the standard, quick, chain places to eat too). Now, if you're American, you know that this isn't the fanciest of places to eat, or the most courageous in cuisine, and if you're from anywhere else you might not be aware of their GIGANTIC menu or their vomit-coloured interior, but it's definitely a safe place for people in groups to usually find something they can all eat. The Cheesecake Factory has always been (kind of) ahead when offering GF items. They used to have a separate menu, but these days they've incorporated it into the usual one - just look for the GF symbols. The company are also very aware of cross-contamination, so they get a big thumbs up from me about using separate water for pasta and grill plates etc.

On this day, I decided to have some pasta (they offer GF fusilli shapes as the alternative) and of all the dishes I could have had, I decided to try and be a bit healthier and opted for Evelyn's Favourite Pasta (yes I've added a U in there - shoot me, I'm British). I usually eat the Roasted Garlic and Chicken pasta which has THE tastiest sauce, but it's also loaded with cream, so I went for an alternative choice to try and save some calories.

The pasta itself is cooked al dente which is fine by me, but I was slightly disappointed with how dry the dish was. I'm a huge lover of pasta with tomato-based sauces, and I think I'd guessed that this was going to be one - and it wasn't. It was pesto and garlic based, which are two things I adore, but it was still lacking enough moisture for me. I love loved all the veggies included (eggplant, broccoli, peppers, artichokes, etc.) and I even asked for extra tomatoes to add in and it was enjoyable - just not as much as I usually enjoy their food (probably because it wasn't as calorific). Next time, I'll probably go back to ordering one of the other pasta's and just taking the hit! 

Now, as we were there it would have been rude to not have a piece of cheesecake. I know what you're thinking - there's no way you can cheesecake(!), but they actually offer a slice of Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake which is indeed GF. I was so eager to eat it, that I actually forgot to take a photo (I'm such a bad blogger), but I can assure you it was very decadent, extremely chocolatey and very, very easy to enjoy. We couldn't finish it, we both found it a bit sickly half way through, but as an option to eat whilst everyone enjoys the other 30 flavours (it might even be more than that), it definitely makes the cut. 

All in all, if you're looking for an easy place to eat that won't disrupt the non GF people in your group, The Cheesecake Factory is a great choice, that makes it super simple to be the annoying one! 

P.S: I go to New York in just over a week and I've already looked up some new GF spots for me to hit, let me know if you've got any favourites over in Manhattan.