Eli's Cheesecake
November 6, 2008

11.6.08: Sorry, I didn't get a chance to say goodbye and thank you to you and Paul.  It was a good day, and I found it to be so worth the trip.  I wonder if you do this next year, maybe you could add the stop at the nut place Margie talked about.
                                           Phyllis Rozanski

It's always a fun day going to Eli's Cheesecake Factory in Chicago and gives our passengers the opportunity to buy some of the best cheesecakes around for the holidays.

The first pictures are of the entrance at Eli's before we did our brief factory tour.  Look at the scrumptious goodies in that showcase!

Our superb guide, Margie, at Eli's gave us a slide presentation of the history of Eli's.  Margie was the best!  She also quizzed us on some of the facts in the presentation and those with the correct answers were awarded with a piece of cheesecake to take home.

It was explained to us that Eli's has conformed to the Terrorist Act and can no longer offer the full factory tour, but we did go into the decorating portion of the factory and watched the cheesecakes coming down the conveyor belt as the workers put the final touches on the cheesecakes.  So we donned our fashionable hairnets and those brave enough posed for a picture before our tour.

Of course, there is always one joker in the crowd!

In the decorating area, some of our passengers picked out the adornments to be added to a cheesecake that one of the workers had decorated while we watched.  Margie then asked if anyone could tell what her name was.  Many yelled out Mary Beth, since Margie was wearing a lab coat with the name Mary Beth on it.  Virginia must have been paying attention, as she guessed right and was rewarded with the cheesecake that was just decorated before us.

We then went back to the entrance/lunch area where we had a very nice lunch, complete with a piece of cheesecake. 

Then it was time to shop!  They had a wonderful variety and had even brought out a large supply of sugar-free cheesecakes, per our earlier request.

It was then time to check out with all of our purchases.

We then loaded the bus and moved on just around the corner to Maurice Lenell Cookie Outlet Store.  Sorry, I took no pictures there.  It is a small store and was very crowded.  We did find out that the store will be closing at the end of the year, but they will be opening another store - the location is not yet determined.  Depending on their new location, this may have been the last time we will be able to include the outlet store.