Get Your Chili On!

The post is dedicated to my New England friends who probably know very little about Cincinnati chili. During my last business trip to Boston, I talked to a small group of friends about this chili, but in a slightly inarticulate way. The following is my attempt to paint a very chili picture for all of you.

Chili is big business out here. According to the Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau, Cincinnatians consume more than two million pounds of the stuff each year! It’s quite different from the chili I knew growing up. I should preface this entire post by saying that I never really ate it as a kid. It’s not that it wasn’t available but more because I was a VERY picky eater and the contents didn’t really appeal to me. To this day, I’m still cautious about chili as most recipes include beans which I don’t like. This is why Cincinnati chili and I are soul mates.

Cincinnati chili, to quote this wikipedia article, is a “regional style of chili characterized by the use of unusual ingredients such as cinnamon, cloves, or chocolate”. Most notable is the consistency which I find akin to a sauce. As a frequent visitor prior to my move here in September 2009, I rarely dined at any of the “hot” chili spots (more to follow about those establishments), given my lack of interest in the dish. When I finally had the opportunity to visit Skyline Chili, I was somewhat horrified that the popular items on the menu were chili on spaghetti (weird) and chili with cheese on hot dogs (gross). My solution was to simply order a bowl of chili, which nearly gave the drive-thru attendant a heart attack. Apparently anyone in the know doesn’t do that. As soon as I got the order, I discovered that I was essentially eating soup. But it was GOOD! There was not a bean to be found and the taste had a surprising, but not scary, kick to it. I was hooked.

After I moved to the area, I decided that it was time to branch out during my next Skyline visit. The thought of chili and cheese on a hot dog still freaked me out, but I rationed that I could handle a 3-way (spaghetti, chili, and heaps of cheese) seeing as I liked all of those ingredients separately. I was hooked again. There was something comforting about the hot chili over the spaghetti…something even better than a hearty Bolognese sauce. Was it the chocolate or cinnamon that is allegedly included in the top secret chili recipe? Or was it the fact that I could refresh each bite with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and oyster crackers? I’m not entirely sure but I do know that it felt right. It was Skyline Time!

Ever since then, I find myself headed to Skyline more than I would like to admit. I recently jumped over to Gold Star Chili to test the greasy waters of Chili Cheese Fries. Oh. My. God. Those are amazing. What I like about the Gold Star chili cheese fries is that you have nice, crinkle-cut fries which withstand the gobs of chili and cheese better than shoestring fries can. Genius! I also tried a chili cheese sandwich which is a coney minus the hot dog. That was pretty good too, and unlike the 3-way, you can enjoy while driving a car. I need to get a grip...on the steering wheel and not on the sandwich.

It’s time to wind this down but how apropos that my longest post thus far is about food?!? Let’s hope that the length of this post does not correlate to the circumference of my waist.