Skyline Chili

All right, let's get down to it. You may have heard the hype whenever the Cincinnati Reds or Bengals are on national TV. You may have seen the latest Simpson's episode, The Road to Cincinnati, where Superintendent Chalmers and Principal Skinner go to Skyline Chili and each have a 3 Way at the end.

Hark! I hear you ask, "What is Cincinnati chili?"

One of the complaints I hear from those who are not familiar with Cincinnati chili and take a stab at trying it is that it is not Texas chili. Ok, I like Texas chili. It's meaty and spicy, but not too spicy for me. I'm not a fan of super and powerful hot spices that make my lips and tongue numb for an hour after one spoonful. Cincinnati chili is not about the meat. I mean, there is meat in it, but it's more like a meat sauce. It does have spices, just not hot ones. We're talking cumin, cinnamon, and chocolate.

Wait, what?

Yes, that wasn't a typo. I did say chocolate.

I live in the Northern Kentucky area across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. I've lived in many different places from Ohio, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Alabama. I know, culture shocks all around. I've tried to introduce Skyline Chili to these places outside of Cincinnati to no avail. Skyline and Cincinnati chili in general is more known around the Tri State area. It was harder to convince the people of the South to try the chili. They only know Texas chili, so for them, the hotter, the better. My family even tried to make Skyline coneys for my friends at my Mississippi high school. They wanted to put mayo on them. Sacrilege! What can I say? They practically drink mayo from the jar in the South. Actually, it was even harder for them not to snicker when we told them about a dish called a 3 Way. Apparently, that has an alternate meaning elsewhere.

And now that we're out of the gutter...

I choose Skyline Chili for its unique taste. There are many other franchises that offer Cincinnati chili in the area. Gold Star, Empress, Camp Washington, and Dixie are some of the others. Each town has its own chili parlor. My mother told me once that I couldn't pick out Skyline in a blind taste test. The challenge was accepted and I won.

Before the pandemic, I would stop into Skyline and belly up to the "coney island" bar. They don't prepare the food hidden away in the dark depths of a kitchen. Everything needed is already in the center of the restaurant. Miniature hot dogs (that you can't buy anywhere else), buns, piping hot chili, mountains of shredded cheddar cheese, onions, mustard, and spaghetti are all laid out and waiting to be placed on a dish. In my youth, I could down two coneys and a 3 Way at one sitting with no problem. Age has caught up to me and I now choose one or the other.

Many have different tastes, and I'm no different. Many like their coneys with chili, cheese, onions, and mustard. I don't do mustard. A 3 Way consists of three things: chili, cheese, and spaghetti. A 4 Way adds either onions or beans. A 5 Way adds both. It's all placed on an oval shaped plate. You turn the plate vertically and you eat it with a fork. No twirling here. This is Greek chili, not Italian. Eat it like you would a casserole. Sprinkle on a few oyster crackers and you are set.

A Greek immigrant named Nicholas Lambrinides worked at Empress Chili as a chef on Price Hill in Cincinnati. He created his own recipe for his own chili. The family still keeps that recipe under lock and key to this day. He set up his own restaurant in 1949. The building he chose in Price Hill gave a fantastic view of the Cincinnati skyline. Hence, the name stuck. They expanded over the years. There are several Skyline locations in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and even Florida. There's a Skyline up the street from me. Now with the pandemic, I won't go inside yet. I will use the drive thru to pick up coneys.

The next time you are in any of these areas in the Tri State and spot a Skyline Chili restaurant, stop in for some coneys and a 3 Way. I admit, there are haters, even within the area. Don't worry if it's not your taste in chili. We Cincinnati chili lovers won't hold a grudge. That just means more chili for us!