#5 Glendale Heights Portillo's

“Five different Portillo’s in one month,” I said on the way to lunch Saturday. At the Portillo’s in Glendale Heights, Josh asked if I thought I would get tired of going to Portillo’s. I told him I didn’t think so. So far I haven’t eaten the same thing twice, and that’s how the journey is going to play out, at least in my mind. This Portillo’s has some personal memories for us. Years ago this is the one where my sister, her kids, my mother, and my step-father would meet us for lunch. When my sister would come up for Christmas, she would stay with our mom in Bartlett. Since we’re in Elmhurst, and our brother Carl lives in Oak Park, it made sense to meet at this one. This location is large enough that a group of 20 can easily sit together.

If I look a little peeked, or as Joy used to say “punk,” in the pictures below it’s because I was forced into having an emergency root canal on Friday. For those of you that haven’t had one, it sounds a lot more painful than it is. The fact that the dentist removes the nerves from your tooth actually eliminates the pain. There’s only a minute or so where ripping your hair out with your bare hands would hurt less, then it’s over. My tooth still feels a little sensitive, but it’s a lot better than the toothache that made me want to drive the car into a bridge abutment on the way to the dentist office. Well, they used to say, “no pain, no gain.” Interesting, I gained - less pain. It turns out that neither Josh nor I felt very good Saturday, that was until we ate at Portillo’s, then we felt much better!

Jeff
Chicken Club (not as good a Chick-fil-A, but hot and crunchy … with bacon no less!)
Joy
Cheeseburger (“Really good, better than last time.”)
Josh
Cheeseburger (“If you took the double cheeseburger and stuffed the chicken club in the middle, that would be awesome.”)
Fries
All
Chocolate Éclair Cake (May be a Barnelli’s exclusive. If you love chocolate and they have it, order it!)