NFL Week 11: Chi Chi's

Chi Chi's! A celebration of food! Everyone remembers Chi Chi's. It's where your family went to celebrate every mediocre achievement in the family. "Congrats! You made the varsity golf team as a freshman! Let's go to Chi Chi's to celebrate!"

And why not? Chi Chi's was on the cutting edge of culinary adventures in the 80s. Who knew what a Chimichanga was? Let's take a full fat burrito - and fry it! That will appeal to the Americans! (And it did!). And I think they were the first restaurant to make fajitas. Did we know what fajitas were before Chi Chi's?

But everyone knows what the signature food item was for Chi Chi's...….one guess.

Fried Ice Cream! As a middle schooler, I was fascinated by this. How did they DO that? How do you fry ice cream without it resulting in a big melted goop? Oh, and it tasted so good. As a result, I think Chi Chi's was always my first choice when being asked where do I want to go out to ea

t for my birthday. Oh! The birthday celebrations! Chi Chi's was one of the first restaurants to bring all the staff out and sing a song for you - I remember being absolutely mortified on my first birthday visit there. I wanted to sink into the booth as 10 people came over and sang Happy Birthday to me - and put the sombrero on my head. I wish I had a picture of that.....

Everyone had a Chi Chi's near them (except my wife, who said "Marysville never had such fancy places like that"). The one nearest to us was the one in Timonium - and there has to be at least 5 readers that went to the same one. Where exactly was it? I remember it backing up to I-83; it was near the fairgrounds/race track, right?

Chi Chi's was founded in 1975 in Minneapolis - and soon spread nationwide to 210 location by the mid 90s. I think we all can remember what happened to cause its ultimate demise - it was in bankruptcy in the early 2000s when there was a Hepatitis outbreak in a Pittsburgh Chi Chi's in 2003; they settled in August 2004 and shut all the doors of all the Chi Chi's in September 2005.

I guess the biggest mystery to me is - why didn't any other food franchise - fast food or "fast casual" as they say now - pick up the fried ice cream idea? I'm sure all of us would line up for our next chance of a fried ice cream sundae - so why hasn't a chain pick this up? Seems like a perfect match for Arby's, or Jack in the Box, or even something like IHOP. A free was to get customers in!

There's no mention that each location had to have a stucco building for the restaurant - but I never saw a non-stucco Chi Chi's. There's a sad website out there devoted to old Chi Chi's buildings.

Here are some commercials to remind you of the great food (and ice cream) from Chi Chi's:

1. The first time I saw a Mexican pizza....

2. " A Celebration of food"! Chajita style? Another made up word....

Chi Chi's still does exist as a restaurant in Europe and the Middle East - but there are zero of them here in North America. Just like the number games Myles Garrett will play in for the rest of the year! What a horrible ending to a great game. Maybe Mason Rudolph - the instigator - wasn't suspended because having him as the QB for the Steelers is punishment enough for Pittsburgh.

On to the games.....

Dal 27, Det 20. On paper, this should be a blowout - but you know Dallas on the road can't be trusted and maybe Driskel can perform at home. He did look good (and scared me) in the second half last week at Chicago.

Car 30, Atl 13. I don't know what that was last week by the Falcons. Carolina has the pass D to stop Ryan (or Schaub) and Atlanta has no run offense to counter Carolina's weakness.

Bal 28, Hou 20. If the Ravens' mind is in the game, they should win this game easily. It's hard to stop them and it's unclear how we beat this team by over two touchdowns.

Ind 20, Jax 17. Too many variables here. Is Brissett 100% ? How will Foles play in his first start back? How many FGs will Vinatieri shank?

Buf 16, Mia 13. Miami's defense is playing much better - I am a little concerned about them when we play them next week - and Buffalo is not an explosive offense. So, should be a close, low scoring game, like most Bills games.

Min 31, Den 10. Brandon Allen, now with tape on him, on the road against one of the best defenses in the NFL? I don't see how the Broncos score here.

NO 34, TB 27. A fun shootout, and no, I'm not falling for Jameis again in this one. This will be a good test on whether the Saints game last week was a fluke, or if there are cracks in the NFC #1 team.

Was 24, NYJ 16. Just a hunch. Can you see the Jets playing 2 good games in a row? Washington is off a bye, and maybe they have plays that Haskins can run effectively.

SF 31, Arz 13. The Cardinals are the #1 pick in the Supercontest this week - and I don't get it. 49ers, off a hard loss, will come out and dominate this team. They remember 2 weeks ago where they let them back in the game - and it won't happen here.

Oak 30, Cin 20. Should be high scoring, solely due to Oakland's improving offense and their porous defense. Let's see if Finley can do something against this bad of a D.

NE 23, Phi 16. I just don't think the Eagles are healthy enough -even after the bye- to beat this defense. The Eagles secondary worries me too.

LAR 27, Chi 13. The Rams' run D will force the Bears to pass to win - and what are the chances of that happening? Like the Denver game, how are the Bears going to score?

LAC 27, KC 26. The Chargers are playing better - especially their D - and they have the run game to gash the Chiefs. Something is off with KC and not sure Mexico City is the place to fix it.

Best bets: 14 of them this week. Last week: 9-3, overall: 67-68-2.
ATS: last week: 4-3; overall: 35-46-1
O/u: last week: 6-0 (!!) ; overall: 32-22-1

Bal -4
Car -4
Car/Atl under 49
Jax/Ind under 43.5
Mia +6.5
Buf/Mia under 40.5
Min -10
NO/TB over 49.5
Was -2
SF -10
NE -4
NE/Phi under 45
LAR -6.5
LAC +4

Supercontest picks: last week: 3-2; overall: 20-30.

Car -5.5
Min -10.5
NE -3.5
LAR -6.5
LAC +3.5