Friday, October 17, 2008

Chili Breeze


Today is even colder than yesterday. I played my meatball hand too soon. Time to up the ante. Doughy chicken and dumplings? Steaming Frito pie? Or hearty Chili?

Chili will most likely win, I just need to figure out where to get it. Homemade or restaurant? There aren't many places in town to get chili that I know of. Chili can be a sensitive subject in Texas: Beans, No Beans, Crackers, Rice, Fritos. Strong opinions abound. I personally like my chili with beans, cheese, rice, onions, and Fritos. That meat will go as far as possible--if there were only places that had my combo.

The Texas Chili Parlor is the only place that comes to mind, but after an unfortunate evening involving mediocre chili and getting attitude for requesting a Lone Star--it is the TEXAS chili parlor, after all--I refuse to return. Who needs chartreuse with their chili, anyways? I prefer a tall glass of milk.

It's sad that there aren't more chili options in town. You would expect there to be chili carts on the street. This is Texas.

I'll have to settle for homemade to get my Frito-bean-rice-cheese-and-onion chili. Maybe I'll open up a cart.

* Photo by Stephanie Gamble

5 comments:

nhallfreelance said...

Ok, what's with the "I'll just have to settle for homemade" comment? You should be reveling in the fact that, not only can you then eat chili crafted by your own hands, but you can smell that chili all day as the flavors meld and deepen slowly on your stove. So much better than from a restaurant, in pretty much every way possible. Not to mention that you will have lots of leftovers. And nothing makes frito chili pie like leftover chili.

James Francis said...

But I want it noooooooooowwwwwwwww!

nhallfreelance said...

Then cook it yesterday.

-sk- said...

I L O V E chicken and dumplings!

nhallfreelance said...

Have you ever made borscht? I haven't, but plan on trying it this winter. I figure the Russians know a thing or two about cold-weather food.