FOODIE
When Cheesecake Is For Breakfast
By Luann & Company/ foodie@longislandernews.com

We normally wouldn’t dream of having cheesecake for breakfast, but a trip to the Walt Whitman Mall changed our minds.

In search of a way to combine brunch with last-minute holiday shopping, the Foodies found ourselves at The Cheesecake Factory in Huntington Station. Although we have eaten dinner there many a time, we had never indulged in its Sunday brunch, offered from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We had heard a great deal about it and were anxious to give it a try.

Hands down, our favorite was the Eggs Benedict, served two ways: traditionally, with ham and hollandaise sauces ($10.95); or with fresh spinach, bacon and grilled tomato ($11.95). Both were delicious, warm, and filling, with eggs cooked just right atop a thick, doughy English muffin-type bread 10 times better served for the dish than any from Thomas’.

Another table-pleaser was the Baja Chicken Hash ($11.95). A unique take on brunch with a decidedly Latin flavor, the dish doesn’t skimp on any ingredient. It comes with two crispy tortillas topped with chicken, chorizo, Poblano chiles, potatoes, corn, red, yellow and green peppers, onions and cheese. To bring in the breakfast component, it is topped with eggs and hollandaise sauce.

We had been sold on the Factory’s French Toast before we even got there, enticed by stories of thick, brioche bread soaked in brandy-infused batter. Grilled golden brown, the French Toast ($7.95) delivers for a simple, classic breakfast. Get it Napoleon-style ($10.95) and it comes stacked with strawberries, pecans and Chantilly cream. Or, get it in a Monte Cristo Sandwich ($11.95), and it’s stuffed with bacon, grilled ham, scrambled eggs and melted Swiss cheese, dusted with powdered sugar and served with strawberry preserves.

The Morning Quesedilla ($11.95) has everything you want and more: a flour tortilla stuffed with scrambled eggs, bacon, peppers, onions, black beans, cilantro, cheddar and Jack cheese, and tomatillo cream sauce, served with guacamole, sour cream and salsa. If it weren’t for the eggs and bacon, it’d be lunch for sure.

For $6.95, the Kids Brunch brings a hearty variety of French toast, bacon and strawberries.

During Sunday brunch, the entire menu is also offered, and as anyone who has ever been to the Cheesecake Factory before knows, that means practically anything you can think of, from burgers to salads to world dishes, pastas and pizzas. Perhaps the best part of Sunday brunch is you can still finish off with a slice of cheesecake and feel good about it.

Don’t worry if you can’t make the 2 p.m. on Sunday deadline. The Cheesecake Factory serves eggs and omelettes all day, and that includes the quesadilla.

The Cheesecake Factory

Walt Whitman Mall
160 Walt Whitman Road
Huntington Station
631-271-8200

www.thecheesecakefactory.com

Brunch offered 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays;
eggs and omelettes seven days a week, all day.

Main Menu