We’ve been lucky to have been invited to several kitchens all over Kuwait to see what it really looks like to prepare and create some of the tastiest dishes in the country. We always appreciate the hard work, dedication and thought that has been put into running a restaurant. Yet, The Cheesecake Factory takes it to a totally new level.
We arrived at the waterfront location on Kuwait’s Gulf Road on a beautiful Sunday morning before opening hours. The kitchen staff had already been working for a couple of hours prepping things for the day. The menu at The Cheesecake Factory has more than 200 items, and they use more than 1400 recipes to make them.
You might assume that a lot of the items are premade at The Cheesecake Factory, but in reality, everything is made from scratch, with the exception of the cheesecakes. The recipes for those fluffy sweet delights are a secret and there are only two factories (yes, they are real)in the US that produce them all for all the worldwide locations. Oh, what we would do, to be able to visit that!
William Zito, the Area Kitchen Operations Manager, who is probably the best person to show you around the kitchen, welcomed us into his kingdom. He has been with The Cheesecake Factory since 1996 and not only understands how things work, he also believes in their mission and vision. He explained that every morning, the staff starts chopping vegetables, making sauces and salad dressings that will be used throughout the day. Everything is stored and labeled using a tamperproof system so that they know if they need to make more.
We donned chef’s coats, aprons and the unflattering but absolutely mandatory hairnets before we were allowed to step into the kitchen. After washing our hands, we were invited in for our sneak peek. There’s a vibe of productivity, efficiency and precision that you immediately feel. The atmosphere is friendly but very fast-paced. There is no time to waste, but everyone is smiling.
The first item on our tour was the Avocado Eggrolls. The avocados are flown in from Mexico to make sure they are always fresh, ripe and tasty. The sun-dried tomatoes are made in-house instead of purchased ready-made, so they are exactly the right texture for this tasty appetizer dish. There is a touch screen at every station that shows all of the recipes, including ingredients, videos, measurements and techniques. There is even a photo of the plated dish, so that it arrives at your tables exactly the way it should.
Next, we watched as they made a large batch of cilantro vinaigrette dressing that is used for the Santa Fe Salad. The cilantro is hand-picked and shallots are hand chopped because after testing different ways of doing it, the team found that this method preserved flavor and taste. Shortcuts that affect a dish negatively are never taken.
Anyone who has visited a Cheesecake Factory has tried the Fried Macaroni and Cheese. This is a genius comfort dish that comes in the form of crispy crumb coated macaroni and cheese balls served over a creamy marinara sauce. Fried carbs and creamy cheese are the answer to all the wrongs in the world. The process of making them however is quite detailed. First, the cheese is shredded by hand, the sauce is made and then mixed with par cooked pasta. The dish is then baked and cooled. Balls of this pasta preparation are hand scooped, dropped in a flour mixture, egg wash and then coated with the panko crumbs for that super tasty crust. Into the fryer they go for a few minutes, and then they make their way to the cheese melting oven. The chef checks the inner temperature of each ball to make sure they are perfect before plating them with the marinara sauce and sending them out to the guests.
The Cheesecake Factory are masters of mise en place, which translates to putting everything in its place. In cooking, the phrase means that everything is instantly accessible, prepped and ready for immediate use. Everything is within arm’s reach for the person working. Drawers are filled with ingredients that are carefully measured and packed in the morning, so they can quickly find what they need and get your dish ready in record time. We watched one of the chefs make Louisiana Chicken Pasta. He started with an already prepped patty of herbed, spiced and seasoned butter that was made earlier that day by another cook. The mushrooms and chopped tomatoes were thrown in and then the pasta. He never needed to step away from the pan or take more than two steps. The process is incredibly lean, just what you would expect from a factory but not a kitchen.
It is this detail and planning that allows the kitchen to create amazing dishes while remaining spotless, organized and relatively stress-free. And while we are sure it gets hectic during rush hours, the staff assured us that it still runs like a well-oiled machine. Everyone and everything has a place and things still go smoothly.
We even got to try plating cheesecake dishes and piping whipped cream. It is fresh whipped cream made from real milk, none of that canned stuff that tastes like cardboard for us. It looks like simply squirting some caramel or chocolate sauce from a bottle, but the designs are very specific to each type of cake. Even the whipped cream. Some get two swirls, and some get one depending on your chosen flavor. Nothing is ever left to chance at The Cheesecake Factory.
After the tour, we got to enjoy a sea-view table and taste everything. As always, the food was delicious, and now we understand how and why. We thought it might have been impossible to end on a higher note than that feel-good feeling but then the cheesecake arrived.
Our appreciation for The Cheesecake Factory was only deepened by this visit, so has our gratitude for the amazing people who work tirelessly and are dedicated to giving us the best meal every time we visit. It was also a reminder that if you measure twice and cut once, you will always get better results. All the planning, prepping and organizing might seem like more work, but it definitely makes the whole experience of cooking seamless and simpler than it would have otherwise been. It is a lesson that we all intend to carry into other facets of our lives.
The Cheesecake Factory is located on the Waterfront on Gulf Road next to the Kuwait Towers, Grand Avenue – The Avenues, Sidra Restaurants in Mahboula. For more information, follow @TheCheesecakeFactoryME on Instagram.
