It's no secret that we Westworders are seriously obsessed with green chile, which is why we could barely contain our enthusiasm when word hit the pavement back in early March that the executive decision-makers who oversee important things at Qdoba Mexican Grill, a homegrown chain headquartered in Wheat Ridge, planned to use our fine state as a test market for its new vegetarian chile verde in all 66 Colorado Qdoba restaurant locations.

It sounded like a good idea at the time, and according to Ted Stoner (wonder what it was like growing up with that last name...), Qdoba's director of strategic product development, it was: "We traveled throughout Colorado and the Southwest researching different chili peppers and ingredients as well as the history and culture behind green chile recipes. Then we hunkered down in our kitchen and began creating and experimenting with our chile verde which we're proud to let Coloradans be the first to sample."

I'm just as consumed with being first (only-child syndrome) as I am with green chile, but in this case, I was clearly the last in line, because yesterday when I went to my neighborhood Qdoba to get my first taste of  Stoner's "research," the dejected woman behind the counter just shook her head and said, "Sorry, it's already been discontinued."

Just like my favorite lipstick.

• Cafe Society
• Word of Mouth