Review Of The Cheesecake Factory (BBQ Sandwich Only) 4325 Glenwood Avenue Crabtree Valley Mall, Upper Level, Facing Glenwood near Sears Raleigh, NC 27612 919-781-0050 By H. Kent Craig Originally Reviewed in 2006, Affirmed 2007 & 2008

While I don't normally plug barbecue of a restaurant that is not a true barbecue joint or isn't heavily meat-related somehow,, I just have to give a quick plug to The Cheesecake Factory/Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh NC's "pulled pork sandwich", it's simply too delicious for you as a fellow porcine epicurean not to know about. Considering that The Cheesecake Factory doesn't take reservations and there is often a minimum of half an hour to forty-five minute wait or even more than an hour sometimes to be seated even during mid-morning or mid-afternoon "slack times" and I almost never wait that long but my wife doesn't mind and she does love their chicken-tacos and filet mignon and other fare and I do as well (their filet mignon is better than the better-know Angus Barn steakhouse down the road), when we're at Crabtree Valley Mall and we can at least find seats in the foyer (neither my wife and I can physically stand up easily for an hour-plus's wait), we will do The Cheesecake Factory and have never been disappointed. I've eaten their pulled pork sandwich several times now, the first time a couple of years ago when I had steak the night before and a full breakfast and just didn't feel like another burger atop it all, so with a slight sense of dread, I mean, this is a Nouvelle American' cuisine place and not a barbecue joint - so how good could their pulled-pork sandwich be? - I ordered it and was very, very pleasantly surprised indeed. Since first discovering this at their Raleigh N.C. location, I've tried it also at their restaurants in Maryland and Virginia and it was as consistently excellent at those respective locations as it was in Raleigh. The pork itself is as perfectly cooked, neither over nor under, as you can get. Their excellent sweet but not too sweet homemade red sauce while normally poured atop the meat prior to serving can be asked for on the side which is how I usually get it. The meat is a good combination of mostly small to somewhat medium sized chopped chunks and a few thin, 2"-3"-long pulled pieces, perfectly groomed, not a single bit of extra fat and devoid of gristle, and as good as the fresh-baked bun that it serves as its blanket is, do what I do and forget the bread and just stab the succulent pieces of meat with your fork and dip into the saucer of "dip" (as any Lexington-Style sauce is properly called) and just let the flavor pleasantly sink into your subconscious. Forget hushpuppies, banana pudding, Mac & cheese, collards or anything else Southern-fied, this is The Cheesecake Factory after all, not B's or Cooper's nor Byrd's, and while even I wouldn't wait an hour just for the pulled pork sandwich for dinner, for a perfectly-sized lunch while you're with someone else who's enjoying a more conventional fare, you simply can't go wrong by ordering it, you won't be disappointed.

---

    {Back To BBQ Page}    

Home

|

Writing

|

Personal

|

Humor

|

Blog

|

Project Mgmt.

|

N.C. Bar-B-Q

|

Outdoors

|

MP3's

|

Contact