Going to Binghamton Hots during the day is not at all the same as going after a night out, especially during Restaurant Week. It isn’t the place you think of when you map out your Restaurant Week stops, but it should be if you like to mix your healthy foods with some greasy ones. The menu Hots is offering this week is a mix of their standard snack fare with some more elevated classics. The three-course lunch during Restaurant Week is $12.

For the first course, I had the apple walnut salad with raspberry vinaigrette and bleu cheese. Overall, the salad was delicious, but it seemed out of character for Hots. The dressing was very sweet, which at times overpowered the other parts of the salad, especially the walnuts. The bleu cheese helped break that sweetness up, but it was still cloying. Sam, the photographer who accompanied me, had loaded potato skins, which ended up being more cheese and bacon than potato, and as a result, they were really tasty.

The main course was the hardest choice to make. Ultimately, we decided on the turkey chili and the slider samplers, though another salad and sandwich were also offered on the menu. When the chili arrived, I was immediately overwhelmed by the portion — it was huge. For me, chili is best served super-thick and topped with lots of extras. At Hots, the chili is more like a soup and is served with cornbread.

Both were delicious, and the chili had a slight bacon flavor that made me want to eat all of it, even though I physically could not. The chili was honestly beautiful to behold, as the red of the tomatoes and the green of the peppers provided for a striking contrast. The presentation of the sliders was more like what I was expecting from Hots (plastic baskets, greasy paper, etc.), but once you get past the presentation, they are enjoyable and a perfect-sized portion. The sliders included a basic cheeseburger, one with greek seasoning and tzatziki sauce and a third with onions on top.

At the time of our review, the only available dessert was the Greek yogurt pie with blueberries (though, for the record, I think the caramel apple crisp sounds amazing). Still, if this is what you end up ordering, you won’t be disappointed. The flavor is that of a sweet, tangy yogurt, as the name implies, but the texture is more like that of a soft cheesecake, with a graham cracker crust and tiny, super-sweet blueberries.

Overall, the Hots Restaurant Week menu offers a varied slate of offerings among the restaurants participating, in terms of both style of food and flavor.