Naruto-run your way to the Cheesecake Ninja with no regrets

The chocolate cheesecake muffin from the Cheesecake Ninja is rich wonderfulness in every bite and absolutely as good as it looks.

Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

On yet another dreary, rainy, wish-I-could-just-stay-in-bed morning, I found myself with a wee bit of time on my hands. It was time to travel to the Cheesecake Ninja and check out the food. I wish I could say that I Naruto-ran there with gusto, but I didn’t. I drove and sang along weakly with the radio in an attempt to fully awaken and clear my brain. By the time I arrived at 318 E. Main St., Suite A, in Jackson, I still wasn’t firing on all cylinders. The room was brightly lit and absolutely spotless.

I clasped my hands together and tried for chipper morning-personhood, "What do you have today?"

It was just past 7 a.m., and the store had just opened. The very kind owner said he had loaded biscuits and gravy and chocolate cheesecake muffins immediately available, and he was in the process of putting out the cheesecake, if that was my fancy. Good, the decision was made for me, and I replied with, “No, no, the biscuits and gravy and muffin are perfect.” He packed up my food. I paid with cash. Everything was friendly and efficient. I thanked him for being open early, and I ran out to my car through the rain.

Through some miracle or maybe just the capriciousness of nature, the rain broke before I got home, and I took a moment to find a good spot to photograph the food. Everything is so green and lovely outside right now, and even though the rain lowers my mood, I know I will miss it in the blazing, sun-drenched depths of summer. So I took just a second to surround what I hoped was delicious food with the beauty of burgeoning, lush greenery, took a few photos, probably to the consternation of my neighbors, and headed inside to eat breakfast.

Understand please, that I am not a breakfast person. I am not hungry in the morning. In fact, I often feel nauseous in the morning thanks to a maintenance drug I take. But I desperately wanted to get this article written and now was the time to taste the food fresh. I had purchased breakfast, and gosh darn it, I was going to at least taste it. And taste it I did.

The Cheesecake Ninja's loaded biscuits and gravy, soft and tangy and a ton of delicious breakfast food.

Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

Two whole biscuits had been placed on a thick bed of sausage gravy. In between were some scrambled eggs, at least two, perhaps a little more, and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese. To me, this had the makings of hash minus the hashbrowns, and in the past, I had been all about a mound of breakfast items covered with sausage gravy. This would have been right up my alley, but would I enjoy it now? With the intention of eating a mouthful of eggs and maybe one biscuit, I found I had eaten both biscuits instead, along with a couple forkfuls of egg. The biscuits were delightfully light and soft inside, and the bottoms were still soft, too, not hard and crusty. They had that wonderful tang, so I wondered if they were perhaps buttermilk biscuits. It didn’t matter. They were good, and I enjoyed every bite.

I turned to the muffin and frowned. I hadn’t saved much room, but I had to try it. Fine, I would take a bite of that spot near the side that seemed to have more cheesecake showing than the other side. I sniffed the muffin (don’t judge, sometimes smelling my food has saved me from an unpleasant surprise) and it was rich with chocolate, saturated with the scent. I perked up a little. I took a bite, and then another, and then another. The entire middle of the soft, decadent, deeply chocolate muffin was filled with a square of the richest, smoothest, delicately sweet cheesecake I have ever tasted. I ate half of the muffin and forced myself to stop. It was amazing.

The Cheesecake Ninja has a plethora of cheesecake flavors, of which I intend to try at least one on my next visit. The bakery also sells sandwiches and other foods for lunch, so don’t think that you can only find breakfast here. I, for one, was excessively grateful that it was open on a miserable rainy morning and that because of the quality of the food, I could once again enjoy a meal that has become a rarity for me. Naruto-run your way there ASAP.

Rebecca LaClair travels to a new place every week to try food from a trendy restaurant or one she hasn’t been to yet.