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ENTERTAINMENT: DINING
GOOD EATS: Cheddar's keeps casual dining affordable
CheddarÕs Casual CafeÕ is located outside of the Ashland Town Center at 530 Winchester Ave., in Ashland. The menu features a wide variety of items.
ASHLAND -- Established in 1978 by Aubrey Good and Doug Rogers, Cheddar's is a chain of casual American restaurants that opened its first location in Arlington, Texas.
Today, the chain has 70 locations across the country, including an Ashland location that opened in May 2008.
"We're a family-oriented, casual dining area," said Adam Cook, manager of the Ashland location. "We try to keep our prices very reasonable while making as much as possible from scratch. We make everything from the chips and queso on the appetizer menu to the hot fudge we put on our desserts."
Popular entrees include country fried steak ($6.99) and lemon pepper chicken ($7.99). The restaurant also is known for its baby-back ribs, serving them with the customer's choice of honey barbecue or hickory smoked sauces. Half a rack of ribs goes for $9.99, while a full rack sells for $12.99. Customers can add a house or Caesar salad and a honey butter croissant for $1.99.
Cheddar's also has a wide variety of sandwiches and hamburgers such as the Monte Cristo made with ham, turkey and two types of cheeses on a battered and lightly fried bread for $6.99. There's also the Buffalo chicken wrapper featuring Buffalo chicken tenders, cheddar cheese, chopped slaw, pickles and ranch in a flour tortilla for $6.79.
Sandwiches are served with a choice of cole slaw, fries or red beans and rice. Burgers include the "World Class Bacon Cheeseburger" topped with four strips of bacon for $5.39. Another signature option is the peppercorn ranch burger topped with black peppercorns, lettuce, tomato, pickles, ranch dressing and crispy onion straws for $5.39.
"Most of our business is on Friday and Saturday evenings, but we have a very good lunch crowd," Cook said. "We also do steady work throughout the week. We also have an active bar. We have a lot of basics such as margaritas, mudslides, etc. A good one is our 'Pain Killer,' which is like a pina colada with an extra kick. There's a limit of only two pain killers per customer."
Cheddar's offers three desserts. The most popular is the cookie monster, a hot fudge sundae served over a large warm chocolate chip cookie. The other two desserts are the apple pie and the hot fudge cake sundae.
Cheddar's Casual Cafe is located outside of the Ashland Town Center at 530 Winchester Ave. It is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Cash and all major credit and debit cards are accepted.
For a full menu and information about the franchise visit www.cheddars.com. To place a carryout order, call 606-324-1045.
If you go
NAME: Cheddar's Casual Cafe
TYPE OF FOOD: Casual American Family Dining
ADDRESS: 530 Winchester Ave., Ashland, Ky., 41101
PHONE NUMBER: 606-324-1045
PAYMENTS ACCEPTED: Cash and all major credit/debit cards
HOURS: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-11 p.m, Friday-Saturday
WEB SITE: www.cheddars.com
