KIM SEVERSON2026年10月29日芝乐坊定义了“高档休闲餐饮”，精准把握了美国食客的心理与胃口。 Timothy Hiatt/Getty Images for The Cheesecake FactoryFirst, the man responsible for the way the Cheesecake Factory looks wants you to know he isn’t mad. And his feelings aren’t hurt.首先，负责芝乐坊(Cheesecake Factory)装潢设计的那个人想让你知道：他没生气。他不觉得受伤。Rick McCormack is the designer behind the eclectic décor of murals, towering columns and oversize amber light fixtures that gives each Cheesecake Factory the vibe of a postmodern suburban Versailles.里克·麦考马克就是这种壁画、高耸立柱和超大琥珀色灯具混搭造型的设计者，让每家芝乐坊都有了一种后现代郊区凡尔赛宫的氛围。When he first learned that former President Barack Obama had told a political rally on Saturday that President Trump’s golden glow-up of the Oval Office looked “like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” he was surprised. And when the White House responded by denouncing Mr. Obama as an elitist — setting off an internet dumpster fire about class optics in America — Mr. McCormack just shook his head.周六，前总统贝拉克·奥巴马在一场政治集会上说，特朗普总统对椭圆形办公室的金色改造看起来“像萨达姆·侯赛因开了一家芝乐坊”。麦考马克第一次听说时很惊讶。白宫随后谴责奥巴马是精英主义者，在互联网上引发了一场关于美国阶级形象观的激烈争论，而麦考马克只是摇了摇头。“没有哪种设计是所有人都喜欢的，”赋予了该连锁品牌独特外观的里克·麦考马克说。“I’m not emotionally attached to the Cheesecake Factory design, but don’t we have bigger issues in the country?” he said in an interview on Tuesday.“我对芝乐坊的设计没有特别的感情，可我们的国家有比这更重要的问题吧？”他在周二的采访中说。Then he thought about the bigger picture. Yes, like Cracker Barrel and Starbucks before it, the Cheesecake Factory has found itself an unwitting player in the culture wars. And yes, he said, the whole thing seems silly.然后他想了想更大的图景。是的，像之前的Cracker Barrel和星巴克一样，芝乐坊不知不觉成了文化战争中的一个角色。是的，他说，整件事看起来很傻。But on the positive side, the midterm dust-up has focused the attention of an entire nation — at least those following politics — on his true love, restaurant design.但好的一面是，这场中期选举的争吵让整个国家——至少是关注政治的那部分人——把注意力集中到了他真正的爱好上：餐厅设计。“No design is universally loved,” said Mr. McCormack, 69. “I realize that. That is one thing I like about design. That makes the world of design go around.”“没有哪种设计是所有人都喜欢的，”69岁的麦考马克说。“我明白这一点。这恰恰是我喜欢设计的一个原因。设计的世界就是这样运转的。”The Cheesecake Factory — which began in 1978 in an epicenter of elitism, Beverly Hills, Calif. — is a fortress, accustomed to absorbing attacks perhaps not as clever but equally forceful.芝乐坊1978年起步于精英主义的中心地带加州比弗利山。它是一座堡垒，习惯了承受攻击，那些攻击也许不那么巧妙，但力量丝毫不小。A writer for Vice once called it “the culinary embodiment of the Kardashians.” The Centers for Science in the Public Interest has assailed its portion sizes, calling its food “heart attacks disguised as dinner.”Vice的一位作者曾称它是“卡戴珊家族在餐饮界的化身”。公共利益科学中心抨击其分量，称其食物是“伪装成晚餐的心脏病发作”。The chain’s look, dreamed up by its founder and chief executive, David Overton, and refined over 16 years by Mr. McCormack, has long had its own band of critics.由创始人兼首席执行官大卫·奥弗顿构想、再由麦考马克用16年时间提炼而成的餐馆装潢长期以来一直遭到一些人的诟病。“If you want a fully immersive ‘postmodern design hellscape’- themed dining experience, I highly recommend dinner at The Cheesecake Factory,” the game developer and commentator Max Krieger wrote in a 2017 rant on Twitter. “The interior is a world of aesthetic chaos that feels like a mix between a Fry’s Electronics, an overgrown Panera, and a laser tag arena.”“如果你想要一个完全沉浸式的‘后现代设计地狱景观’主题用餐体验，我强烈推荐晚饭去芝乐坊，”游戏开发者兼评论员马克斯·克里格2017年在Twitter上的一通咆哮中写道。“内部是一个美学的混沌世界，感觉像是Fry's电器城、过度生长的Panera面包店和镭战馆的混合体。”Whatever. It worked. The Cheesecake Factory has defined the term “upscale casual dining,” and has done such a good job reading the psyche and the appetite of the American diner that it reported on Tuesday that its revenue had risen to $1.03 billion, from $907.2 million a year earlier.随便吧。反正效果不错。芝乐坊定义了“高档休闲餐饮”这个词，而且在解读美国食客的心理和胃口方面做得如此之好，以至于周二财报的收入已从去年同期的9.072亿美元增至10.3亿美元。Sales from locations that had been open at least a year were up more than 15 percent over last year. (A competitor, Texas Roadhouse, reported 6 percent growth.) The Cheesecake Factory expects to add 26 new restaurants to its roster of 218 this year.开业至少一年的门店销售额同比增长超过15%。（竞争对手 Texas Roadhouse报告增长6%。）芝乐坊今年计划在218家餐厅的基础上新增26家。这个连锁品牌由大卫·奥弗顿创立，他至今仍会亲自品尝菜单上的每一道菜品。Mr. Overton grew up in Detroit, where his mother, Evelyn, sold cheesecakes to restaurants that she baked in the family’s basement, using a recipe she had clipped from a newspaper.奥弗顿在底特律长大，母亲伊夫林向餐厅供应芝士蛋糕，并在自家地下室烘焙，用的是从报纸上剪下的配方。He moved to San Francisco, dropped out of law school and started playing drums for a rock band whose leader wrote the Jimi Hendrix hit “Hey, Joe.” In the early 1970s, he persuaded his parents and sister to move west and open a cheesecake bakery in North Hollywood called the Cheesecake Factory.他搬到旧金山，从法学院退学，开始给一支摇滚乐队打鼓，乐队主唱是吉米·亨德里克斯的名曲《嘿，乔》(Hey, Joe)的作者。1970年代初，他说服父母和姐姐搬到西海岸，在北好莱坞开了一家名为芝乐坊的芝士蛋糕烘焙店。It wasn’t making much money, so Mr. Overton decided to turn it into a restaurant. In 1978, he opened a small spot a block from Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills’ Golden Triangle.烘焙店赚不了多少钱，奥弗顿便决定把它改成餐厅。1978年，他在比弗利山黄金三角区距罗迪欧大道一个街区的地方开了一家小店。He was such a novice that he served hash browns because he didn’t know how to make French fries. As business grew, he studied the menus at upscale restaurants like Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, trying veal dishes and figuring out how to make them with less-expensive chicken. He doubled down on portion sizes and sauces.刚入行的他连炸薯条都不会做，只好供应薯饼。随着生意日渐红火，他开始研究沃尔夫冈·帕克 Spago之类高档餐厅的菜单，尝试小牛肉菜肴，琢磨怎么用更便宜的鸡肉做出来。他在份量和酱汁上不断加码。The menu kept growing into the 250-item behemoth it is today. (Ellen DeGeneres once called it “the only menu visible from space.”) Mr. Overton said it appealed to “palate of the common man.” “I’m not a gourmet,” he told the “Today” show. “I don’t like a lot of things, but what I like millions of people like, thank goodness.”菜单不断扩张，成了今天250项的巨兽。（艾伦·德杰尼勒斯曾称它是“唯一从太空可见的菜单”。）奥弗顿说它迎合的是“普通人的味蕾”。“我不是美食家，”他告诉《今日秀》。“很多东西我都不喜欢，但是，谢天谢地，我喜欢的东西正是数百万人都喜欢的。”2023年，芝乐坊总裁大卫·M·戈登和该连锁品牌1978年初版菜单的放大版。 Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesMr. McCormack came along in 1992, and stayed until he opened his own design firm in 2008. He embraced Mr. Overton’s design sensibility, which drew on Victorian-era San Francisco and quirky ideas like the tall columns topped with palm fronds that he had seen at bathhouses. And, of course, each restaurant featured a glass case near the front filled with cheesecake.麦考马克1992年加入，一直待到2008年开设自己的设计公司。他接受了奥弗顿的设计审美，这种审美借鉴了维多利亚时代的旧金山，还有他在澡堂见过的顶部饰有棕榈叶的高柱之类古怪念头。当然，每家餐厅前台附近都摆着一个装满芝士蛋糕的玻璃柜。“We were going for a little bit of an exotic or European feel,” Mr. McCormack recalled. Hand-painted plaster walls, limestone floors and booths in dark wood made it feel fancy.“我们想要一点异国情调，或者欧洲感觉，”麦考马克回忆道。手绘灰泥墙、石灰岩地板和深色木制卡座让它显得高档。“You’d see families coming in celebrating life’s milestones in a nice environment without having to spend every penny,” he said.“你会看到一家人来庆祝人生里程碑，环境不错，又不必花光每一分钱，”他说。In the song “Childs Play,” the singer Drake calls it “a place for families that drive Camrys and go to Disney.”歌手德雷克在《儿戏》(Childs Play)中称它是“开凯美瑞、去迪士尼的家庭专属”。This week, Mr. Trump and his allies hailed the Cheesecake Factory as America’s great middle-class restaurant and proof of how out-of-touch Mr. Obama is with the mainstream.本周，特朗普和他的盟友称赞芝乐坊是美国伟大的中产阶级餐厅，证明奥巴马与主流多么脱节。迈阿密的一家芝乐坊，这家餐厅已成为各大购物中心里的餐饮支柱。Democrats responded that Mr. Trump was the elitist, pointing out that the Cheesecake Factory isn’t exactly a bargain. Spaghetti and meatballs go for $25.95, and a burger close to $20. A slice of cheesecake is $10.95.民主党人回击说特朗普才是精英主义者，指出芝乐坊并不便宜。意大利面和肉丸25.95美元，汉堡接近20美元。一块芝士蛋糕10.95美元。At a Cheesecake Factory in Atlanta on Tuesday night, many of the staff hadn’t heard about Mr. Obama’s remarks. But they laughed when they did.周二晚上，亚特兰大一家芝乐坊的许多员工还没听说奥巴马的言论。但听说了之后，他们笑了。One waiter, who asked not to be identified, pointed out that Cheesecake Factory stock was performing better than some of the market giants. (Indeed, the restaurant’s share price has risen 100 percent this year, compared with 15 percent for Amazon’s, and 18 percent for Apple’s.)一位要求匿名的服务员指出，芝乐坊的股票表现比一些市场巨头还好。（确实，该餐厅股价今年上涨了100%，亚马逊为15%，苹果为18%。）Over the years, the maximalist design that marked the early restaurants has been toned down, a casualty of economics and scale. But the Atlanta restaurant still has the high ceilings, giant murals and that amber glow.多年来，早期餐厅那种极繁主义设计已被淡化，成了经济和规模的牺牲品。但亚特兰大那家店仍然有高天花板、巨大的壁画和琥珀色的光晕。“It does kind of look like Trump Tower in here,” the waiter said.“这里确实有点像特朗普大厦，”那位服务员说。Kim Severson常驻亚特兰大，报道美国饮食文化，并为时报烹饪版撰稿。翻译：经雷点击查看本文英文版。