Cincinnati Chili

Tony spent a number of early adult years in Cincinnati, Ohio.  When we came through Ohio in the early days of our trucking adventure, he told me that we had to be sure to try some Cincinnati Chili.  

He then proceeded to tell me that in was served "over spaghetti".  

WTF?  

Really?  

Yep - that's the way it comes.

 And today we got to try some.

Reading up on the interwebs, I sleuthed out that the original came from Greek immigrant, Nicholas Lambrinides,  who opened the first Skyline Restaurant in Cincinnati in 1946.  The chili was based on a recipe he brought over from Greece and stands out because of the inclusion of chocolate and cinnamon.

The chili is served over spaghetti or hot dogs and is the official chili of the Cincinnati Reds.

The menu is fairly straightforward.  

You can have a 3-way, 4-way, or a 5-way.  

?

Yep - that's the way it comes.

After we ordered (I opted for a mere 3-way, Tony went wild and opted for 5-way), the waitress brought this out to us . . .

Nice, but . . . ? 

Forks?

Oyster crackers?

Yep - that's the way it comes.

Here it is . . .

On a plate.

All in all, I have to say that it was an interesting experience eating "chili" with a fork.

Tony was pretty happy to be having this blast from his past.  

Can you tell?

This was a fun meal.  The chili was actually more of a meat sauce over the spaghetti.  The mound of finely shredded cheese that blanketed it kind of took over, but the cinnamon and chocolate were just able to hold their own.  

After Tony had finished, he was left with a plateful of juice.  

That was where the oyster crackers came into play.  

He picked up a handful and crushed them over the plate.  "For sopping up the juice," was his explanation. 

 

Yep - that's the way it comes!