Chili’s is not fancy. It used to be a restaurant-cum-mini-mart, and it retains a very practical vibe, but it’s comfortable and the food is really, really good. Most Indian restaurants in America serve Northern Indian or Punjabi food; Chili’s is Southern Indian, and because of this the menu is completely different—lighter, with many more vegetables and leavened rice breads than you are used to seeing. Try the itlay, little fermented rice pillows, or the upma, a mild, soul-sustaining dish of vegetables and cracked wheat. Chili’s tea is sweet and milky and the owners are warm: Every time they walk by your table, they smile and nod and say, “Eat, eat.” Who can argue with that?