How Chili’s got its sizzle back: The untold story of the biggest, most viral restaurant turnaround in years

How did Chili’s become one of the last homes of middle-class indulgence? Our intrepid reporter drinks the lemon drop ‘margarita,’ discovers the 100 small fixes that brought Chili’s back, and goes inside the chain’s new retro redesign. At first glance, the toile wallpaper is pure class: cream-colored and printed with intricate, brick-red drawings. But as I look more closely, I see . . . Wait. Is that a pair of chili peppers riding a Jet Ski? And is that other pepper, the one on a chaise longue, posing nude for a painting?