No Place Else

I have a confession today. I did something I swore I wouldn't do while I was in London.
I went to Chili's.
Yep, that Chili's. There are 100 in your neighborhood and there are six in mine. I had lunch in one today.
A little background is in order here. Chili's is something of a running gag between my husband and me. He loves Chili's; me, not so much. I don't hate it; it's just waaay far down on the list of places I prefer to dine out. Keith really likes it. I'm not sure exactly why - there's no food there he particularly loves. Generally, he gets a hamburger. But 99 times out of 100, if we're going to get a bite out somewhere, he'll say, "Let's go to Chili's!"
Usually I just give him the No-Way-I-Am-Going-To Chili's look and we're done.
Also, I will say that Chili's has a bad association for me. We ate at Chili's a few hours before Keith had his heart attack. I'm not saying there's a link ... I'm just sayin' ...
Anyway, today we went over to Canary Wharf. That's about as an American experience as you can get in London. It's an enclosed mall, a sprawling, gleaming tower of glass and retail excess. It's part of a large complex of offices and financial institutions - it's where Lehman Bros. was headquartered here in London.
We walked around for a while and it's time for lunch, and there it is, calling to Keith like a beacon on high.
CHILI'S!
It's on the fourth floor of Cabot Place East, a section of the vast complex. There are three "fine restaurants" on that floor - Pizza Express, Itsu and Chili's. Keith was like a kid on the way to see Santa. He was practically giddy at the idea of eating at Chili's.
So in we went. It looks exactly like the Chili's back home - dark green walls, blue and yellow tile table, little apostrophe chili in the logo.
Menu's pretty much the same too - except that they don't have the Southwestern Eggrolls, which I like a lot.
They do have bottomless soft drinks, which is a novelty in London. And they actually put ICE IN THE GLASS. That's MORE of a novelty here!
I got a bowl of chili - how original! It was served with rice and black beans which I mixed into the chili. Keith got a burger, which he relished. I asked our server if he had any crackers (any self-respecting former Texan wants saltines with their chili, thank you) and he said yes. He brought me some tortilla chips. Close enough.
So we traveled across the ocean to eat at the neighborhood restaurant. I gave in. But I'm not budging on Pizza Hut, Subway, McDonald's or Burger King.