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If 10,000 Chicago Biters eat veggie instead of meaty chili tonight, we’ll save 13 mil gal of water – the volume of Guinness produced in 26 days.

Smaller, thinner spicy peppers make your eyes water less than the biggies.

A (Crock) Pot of Gold

The Bite:

Hoping to find more than bleary eyes at the end of the rainbow this St. Patrick’s Day? Chili-out this weekend and gird your liver for Monday’s Guinness-fest with an all-veg bowl o’ beans (our fave in the city) at Lincoln Square’s friendly, authentic Irish pub The Grafton. Compared to its con carne brethren, this meatless wonder brings together good-old-fashioned beans, peppers, and tomatoes, and averts the greenhouse gases and polluted water produced by factory-farmed beef. (Just one serving of beef-based stew requires 1,300 gal of water to produce the meat alone.) Plus this is booze-soaking grub if there ever was – worth its weight in gold come Tuesday morning.

Wanna Try?

The Grafton, 4530 N. Lincoln Ave. b/t Sunnyside and Wilson Aves. (773-271-9000). Veggie chili, $3-$5.

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