Springtime Transatlantic Adventures
A Simple Burger Night at Chilli’s
In this Adventure
- So, 80 more Tier Points. Always demanding more, British Airways…
- To the joy of Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 with FlixBus
- British Airways Galleries South Lounge and T5B Lounge
- British Airways BA295 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare in World Traveller Plus
- Into the USA and the avid Hotel, Des Plaines
- The Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- Airplane Art Extra from the Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- A Simple Burger Night at Chilli’s
- Deep Dish Pizza Special at Pequods
- A Monday Morning Adventure around Chicago
- Back to O’Hare, The American Airlines Flagship Lounge
- AA90 Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow in Main Cabin Extra
- Luggage Trolley Drifting – Rushing to the bus
- The Other Shoe Drops. Was it worth it?
For this, we are going to jump back in time to the first night of the trip.
I’m going to be honest here – I was exhausted at this point in travel adventures. For context (as context is for kings), I was on about 3 hours of sleep in 24 hours on the first day of this trip to Chicago, with minimal time to rest at the hotel when I arrived.
After running around Microcenter and trying to get back to Rosemont, as well as trying to sort out a few things along the way, I needed 1) something simple, 2) something with a bit of kick and 3) something near the hotel.
The avid Hotel in Des Plaines is near a big-box Target (and the All-State Arena), several outlets (including a Panda Express, which I have no issue with at all), and a Chilli’s.
And I needed something simple that night that resembled a burger at this point in the game.
The other crux of the matter would be, if I went back to the hotel, I would either 1) order something and forget, then fall asleep or 2) forget to order anything and just fall asleep. This was a way to ensure I had a proper meal before falling asleep.
I took an Uber from Rosemont L Station to the Target at Des Plaines (as public transport in the suburbs in Chicago is akin to asking for impossibilities), where I picked up a few bits, then over to Chilli’s.
Chilli’s is a casual dining restaurant, and I’m not arguing about it at the point I arrived – or to be honest, I was too tired to care.
I was checked into the restaurant and was greeted by the staff. I was shown to a table, and with menu was given to me with dining utensils.
Checking through the menu, I was hankering for a burger. When the server came up, I was in a position to order an Alex’s Santa Fe Burger. In it, it had had Guacamole, Pepper Jack cheese, Diced Red Onion, Jalapeños, Tomato slices, pickles, cilantro (or coriander), drizzled with Santa Fe sauce, served with chips.
And yes, I went for a Double Patty. I should have asked them to skip the tomato, but my brain wasn’t exactly firing on all thrusters at that point.
In terms of a drink, this did not require thinking about. I requested a Diet Pepsi to go with the burger(being honest, water would have been fine… I was just in the mood for liquid to try and add hydration back into the system… there was also a coloured Gatorade in my bag for that purpose too).
I love the glass, though. Points there.
On the table, there was an electronic display. I gave in whilst I was playing with the menu for a Chilli’s account. Mainly just for the free drink.
Do you want to play a game?
I fed it a telephone number that I’m sure someone will enjoy (based on my own telephone number, but American numbers can’t handle 10 digits) to create an account.
Chips and Dip or a Drink? I’ll take a drink for the sake of it. I was feeling more basic than usual.
The Diet Pepsi was wet and cold, and with the in-flight dryness (and whilst the Boeing 787 has a lower internal altitude compared to older aircraft – 6,000 feet, which is lower than the standard 8,000 feet), you can still dry out and need to drink all the moisture you can to start getting the hydration and electrolytes back in.
The burger arrived… and I was happy. It was big, with fries, and it made me smile after a very long day.
Of course, I went with fries. My brain was equally fried at this point in the game.
Slice it open. And yes, there was a double patty in this. Walking around the Logan Square part of Chicago with poor maps and directions didn’t help in the middle of a Chicago evening, whilst running on minimal sleep.
Certainly, the spices in it helped a lot, with the sauce doing part of the heavy lift, with the accompaniments all working. It was a lot of a burger, but it was needed at this point of a long day.
I could deal with this.
The staff topped up my cold brown liquid a couple of times
I paid and tipped using the console on the table – whilst a little bit impersonal, to be honest, I was out of energy to interact with others at this point of the day.
With a burger inside me and the bill paid, it was time to deal with the joy of crossing roads in the USA.
It’s not that far away. Although Not Just Bikes has a documentary of something not being far away, and ending in pain.
As well as rail tracks.
No trains at 11 pm here.
Whilst cities are passable with walking options, they vanish the moment you start edging away from the centres of them. Thankfully, there were crosswalks at least.
With only a short walk from Chilli’s, I made it back to the hotel.
Thankfully, I made it to the room and promptly ended up on the bed. That was it for a good seven hours.
Overall
I needed a reasonably quality burger. And Chilli’s did the job nicely, when my energy levels weren’t very high, providing some welcome tastes, spices and liquids.
Will it rate highly against an independent burger joint? Of course not, but sometimes it’s a matter of choosing what you need when you need it.
And I’ve no objections to going there again. Although if I brought one of those burgers aboard a flight to London, I suspect I wouldn’t survive the process.
Next:
More food. More laziness. I’m back at Pequods Pizza. Because exhaustion gets you, sometimes.
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