Sheer laziness: I wanted to pig out in the privacy of my own apartment. 'Nuff said.
So I knew I wanted to eat in; that was the easy part. But where to order from? At times like these, there is nowhere else to turn but lionsmenu.com. It was there that I learned that Chili's does takeout orders. Perfect.
The fact that Chili's menu is online is awesome, and the menu itself is even more awesome. There's stuff for everyone: health nuts, skimpy eaters, not-so-skimpy eaters and even chocoholics. Which is great, because I fit a different one of those descriptions every day of the week.
I finally settled on the Guiltless Tomato Basil Pasta, in hopes that I would really feel guiltless as I slurped up the last noodle, and a Caesar salad on the side. Together, it was only a cool eight bucks.
We're supposed to call whomever we eat with our "dining companion," but I think that sounds silly. So I'll call her Anne, because that is her name.
Anne got the Quesadilla Explosion Salad, and was a little nervous at first because she thought she might explode while eating it. But it turned out that she was worrying over nothing; she didn't explode or even come close to it at any point during the meal.
I'll get to the food in a second, but I just want to say that Chili's takeout is super quick. Having takeout ready less than 20 minutes after you order it is nothing short of a miracle.
On a Saturday night, even! I was duly impressed.
Anyway, we picked up our food and promptly dug in. I had to reference the menu to learn what comprised the "explosion" part of Anne's salad. It turned out to be chicken, corn relish, cheeses, whatever cilantro is, tomatoes and tortilla strips. Quite explosive. It was also a teeny bit cold, but I will take the blame for that: The food had been ready way before I was.
As for my grub, it was delicious. I couldn't decide what to eat first. I think you're "supposed" to eat salads before entrees, but I have zero self control when it comes to pasta. So I compromised and alternated bites of each. Mmm.
And you know what? I felt pretty darn guiltless that whole night, even after downing some post-dinner pitchers of Miller Lite.
"My healthy dinner makes up for this!" I told myself with each subsequent chug. Those clever marketing tactics get me every time.
Some final thoughts: I've dined inside of Chili's before, and it's nice and all, but I really like this notion of takeout meals. The food tastes just as good, you save a little bit of money, and you can eat the whole thing wearing nothing but your underwear. (Not that I did that, of course. I'm just saying).
I guess the only drawback of taking out is that I didn't get to test out Chili's alcoholic beverage menu, which I swear was calling my name.
Apparently, you can't "take out" booze.
But rest assured that I will return to tackle this task someday soon.
I promise.
