Just about everything trendy in the United States can be found in the UAE. It’s remarkable, really … the assumption by corporate America that the UAE will be a welcoming place for whatever it is they are selling.

And, apparently, usually being right about that.

Whatever It Is They’re Selling usually lands first in Dubai, up the road from Abu Dhabi. And if things go well in Dubai the retailer/store moves down to the capital.

California Pizza Kitchen. Cheesecake Factory. Shake Shack. PF Chang’s. IHOP. Jamba Juice. TGI Fridays.

And now Baja Fresh, the “fast-casual” Mexican chain which had a couple of stores in Dubai … now has one here in Abu Dhabi, near the multiplex theaters in the semi-new and thoroughly sprawling Yas Mall. (Near the Yas Circuit, where they run the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix … on Yas Island.)

We are fans of Baja Fresh. It’s Mexican. And in part because the chain has been known for fresh ingredients. That’s kind of their marketing thing. That and the salsa bar.

And we tested them on the freshness scale, and the crew passed the test, after a rocky start.

We ordered a couple of mahi-mahi tacos and a plate of nachos with steak.

Backing up for a moment, the UAE is big on Velveeta-like cheese. The soft kind. That is pumped out of a container. And is a key ingredient in the ultra-cheap chips Oman sandwich — which may be the UAE’s favorite dish.

Cheese that comes out of a pump probably isn’t healthy and certainly isn’t fresh.

Yet there it was, on our nachos plate, a mound of orange “cheese food” atop the corn chips.

Having been here nearly six years, we understood how that might happen. The majority of people here love spreadable squishy cheese.

But we wanted real cheese. Shredded Jack, preferably. Like they do it back in California.

So we took the nachos plate back to the counter, and hardly had we begun to ask for real cheese when the manager rushed over, promised to fix things … and 5-10 minutes later, there was the new plate of nachos with semi-melted shredded Jack.

The point is … American chains need to adapt their menus a little when they go from, say, Newbury Park to the UAE. Losing the pork, adding Velveeta.

But the Baja Fresh people apparently grasp that some original/long-time fans are going to show up at the store, and demand fresh Jack.

To their credit, they were ready.

And we likely will eat there again, the next time a movie lures us over to Yas Island.