Cincinnati chili
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Cincinnati chili (or "Cincinnati-style chili") is a regional style of chili characteristically served over spaghetti or as a coney sauce. While served in many regular restaurants, it is most often associated with several fast-food chains in the Cincinnati area, including Skyline Chili, Gold Star, Empress, and Dixie. Cincinnati chili is mostly served in restaurants around the Tri-State area, with locations in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. However, it now can be found in locations in Florida, Michigan, and West Virginia. Frozen and canned chili is also sold by the Cincinnati-based grocer Kroger in other states in the USA. Canned chili is available online through the web sites of the major chains.
According to the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau, Cincinnatians consume more than two million pounds of chili each year, topped by 850,000 pounds of shredded cheddar cheese. Each September, the city celebrates "Chilifest" at Yeatman's Cove at the Ohio River, with food and entertainment.
[edit] Origins and history
Cincinnati chili seems to have originated with one or more recently-immigrated restaurateurs from southern Europe (in particular, Greek and Slavic Macedonians) who were trying to broaden their customer base by moving beyond narrowly ethnic styles of cuisine. Empress Chili was the first chain to serve Cincinnati chili. Greek immigrants Tom and John Kiradjieff began serving the chili in 1922 at their hot dog stand, next to a burlesque theater called the Empress. Tom Kiradjieff invented the style by modifying a Greek stew and serving it over hot dogs and spaghetti. The style has since been copied and modified by many other restaurant proprietors. Nicholas D. Sarakatsannis founded Dixie Chili in Newport, Kentucky in 1929. Nicholas Lambrinides opened Skyline Chili in 1949. Gold Star Chili was opened by the Daoud brothers in 1965. Skyline and Gold Star are the two most popular chains today.
The individual apparently most responsible for the wide local and regional popularity of Cincinnati-style chili, if not for its creation, was Nicholas Lambrinides, who immigrated to the city from Kastoria, Greece, in 1912 and brought his favorite family recipes with him. To save up the money to bring his wife to America as well, he first worked as a cook for a railroad crew and in a hotel kitchen, then opened a short-order diner. After nearly a decade, his wife was able to join him in Cincinnati and they raised five sons.
By World War II, Lambrinides was working as a chef for the original Empress Chili restaurant, where he continued to tinker with a recipe which he had been developing for years. In 1949, he and three of his sons opened their own place on Glenway Avenue, near the top of a steep hill (Price's or Price Hill); they named it Skyline Chili for its panoramic view of downtown Cincinnati. After some local resistance in the predominately Catholic neighborhood, Skyline developed a large and devoted following – especially on Thursdays and Saturdays, which immediately preceded and followed meatless Fridays.
The family opened a second restaurant in 1953 and the growth of the business accelerated in the 1960s; by the end of the century, there were 110 Skyline restaurants, mostly in Ohio, but with additional establishments in other states including Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and Florida. Lambrinides died in 1962 at the age of 82, but his sons continued to operate and expand the company. They retained the original recipe unchanged, though. According to William Lambrinides, "Dad always said, 'Don't change a thing with the recipe – don't add anything, don't take out anything, it's perfect the way it is'." As a result, Skyline's version has largely become synonymous with "Cincinnati-style chili". In 1998, the company was sold to Fleet Equity Partners, a New England investment firm, which promised not to change the recipe (which they reportedly keep locked in a safe). [Cincinnati Post, 12 April 1999]
In addition to the major chains, a number of small independent chili parlors operate in various Cincinnati neighborhoods, such as Park Chili, Pleasant Ridge Chili, Camp Washington Chili, and Blue Ash Chili.
[edit] The dining experience
The two main Cincinnati chili chains (Gold Star and Skyline) offer a hybrid fast-food/sit-down dining experience. After seating themselves, patrons are normally served quickly by the waitstaff, since most orders only require assembly of already-cooked components (chili, spaghetti, hot dogs, etc.). Dishes of oyster crackers are usually provided with the meals, but alcoholic beverages are generally not served at the restaurants. Many chili parlors are open after midnight, and serving alcohol might become a nuisance to some customers.
Cincinnati chili sauce contains finely ground beef, seasoned with a mixture of spices. Vegetarians have the option of substituting the chili with beans and rice. Despite the secrecy of the recipes, the sauces of rivals Skyline and Gold Star taste very similar. Some aficionados report a distinct hint of nutmeg and chocolate, though the precise identity of other spices is hard to determine. The flavor of Cincinnati chili is distinct from that of the more widely recognized Texas-style chili, and differs from that variety too in its thinness, which makes it more suitable as a sauce for other dishes than as a dish by itself. This distinctiveness makes the chili a greatly missed delicacy among many former Cincinnati-area residents.
When served over spaghetti, the chili is typically topped by a large mountain of finely- shredded mild cheddar cheese (as much as will fit on top without it falling over the sides). Because of the large amount of cheese piled on top, the first few bites often consist entirely of cheese, at least for inexperienced diners. The serving method is based on (and is ordered in restaurants by) a traditional code. A "One-way" would be a bowl of chili only, but is never ordered this way. A "Two-way" is spaghetti topped with chili only. More typically, the chili is ordered as a "Three-way" (noodles, sauce, and cheese only), "Four-way" (with added red kidney beans or chopped raw white onions), or "Five-way" (with added beans and onions), "inverted" is the request to place the cheese under the chili so it melts. Dixie Chili offers a unique "Six-way" with all of the above ingredients, plus chopped garlic.
When served on a coney-style hot dog, the chili is also topped with a generous mound of cheese. The default coney also includes mustard and a small amount of onion. Patrons that order their coney without the mustard and onion are ordering a "chili weiner w/cheese" which most waitpersons still note on their slip as a "CWC". The hot dogs and buns served by Skyline and Gold Star are about half the size of their counterparts at most other restaurants, a feature that eases the consumption of what might otherwise be an unwieldy finger food. As it is, cheese loss is still a lamentable fact for even the most skilled of coney connoisseurs.
Common condiments used are oyster crackers for the spaghetti dishes and cayenne ("red-hot") sauce for everything.
