Chili’s Missing Menu Item

I grew up eating at Chili’s. Not the Chili’s you know today, but the Chili’s that started in Dallas on Greenville Avenue and was the start for what has become a cornerstone in the casual dining ensemble. Not to say Chili’s is a lost cause. Much of their menu still lives on from their beginnings in 1975 when they were brand new and had no auspicious dreams of cranking out the same thing over and over to folks on their way to a showing of “Mamma Mia.” Still, on key menu item I used to get every time, is missing.

The Terlingua Pride.

The fact that I have now been to Terlingua makes the burger who carries its name all the more important to me. For those of you who came in late, the World Chili Championships are held annually in Terlingua (which is a hint on what the burger is made of). But fear not, you can still order your own Terlingua Pride, and I recommend you do.

Just order an Oldtimer (their regular burger) and have chili and cheese on it. For all practical purposes, a Terlingua Pride is a chili burger. But for me, it’s more than that: it’s a call to the past of a restaurant (from Texas!) who has grown far past their humble beginnings (not that humble beginnings are a bad thing, mind you).