O' Portillo's, how I love thee.

... italian beef, dipped, extra hot peppers, medium fries, medium root beer.

Am I in heaven?

It occured to me while out in Maryland this past weekend, that no one outside of the Chicagoland area gets to visit this wonderful restaurant. I seriously feel sorry for you. True, the east coast gets Chick-Fil-A, the south gets Waffle House, and the west gets In-And-Out Burger, but I'd take Portillos any day.

Now some pure Chicagoans may argue there are better places to get an italian beef (such as Al's Beef on Taylor Street), but I've been to alot of those places and I still dare to say that Portillos has the best. Not to mention, there's one just 10 minutes from my house, with several more within an hours drive.

I don't go there often... I try to limit my visits to once, maybe twice a month. If it's somewhere you went a few times a week, you may as well slap about 20 pounds of fat around your waste. But it's gooood.

I also sometimes go with their Chicago-style hot dog with everything sans tomatoes (sorry, I have to get it without tomatoes. They are gross. I pleasantly refer to them as "ass-matoes".) Get two of them and skip the fries.

There's literally every possible fast food/chain restaurant within about 15 minutes of our house. I'd say, however, that when we decide it's a "eat whatever" night, we goto Portillos 95% of the time.

We went there last night for dinner. I had a craving for it in Maryland, and was quickly horrified when I realized the closest one was a 16 hour drive. So after eating a somewhat heathly dinner on Monday, I took the plunge last night. I devoured the juicy, wet beef and hot peppers with glee. Afterwards I laid on the couch, let out a slight belch, and drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face.

O Portillo's, how I love thee.