Cincinnati Cuisine

I moved to Cincinnati about ten years ago, more out of necessity than desire, but that’s another post. Today, I want to talk about Cincinnati chili…more specifically…Skyline Chili. Now, if you’ve never experienced it, let me try to describe it for you. First, it is like no other chili I’ve ever tasted. Where I come from, chili is chockfull of beans, meaty chunks of ground beef, onions, peppers, and tomatoes and spices like chili powder, but not here.

There are no beans in Cincinnati chili and the beef is ground up so finely that one can barely tell what it used to be let alone what it is masquerading as when it is served to you. As for the spices and seasonings, I cannot give a full and true accounting of all of the ingredients, but two of them -- so I'm told -- are cinnamon…and…chocolate. That’s right, I said cinnamon and chocolate…in CHILI.

Now, when I first came here, I wanted to “fit” in and, having heard so much about this heretofore untried delicacy, I promptly took myself off to find the nearest Skyline. They’re pretty much on every corner in this town, so it wasn’t too taxing a proposition. I settled on the house specialty; i.e., the three-way. No, not that kind of three-way. This dish starts out with a layer of spaghetti, which is followed by a generous helping of the chili I just described, and the whole concoction is then topped off with a veritable mountain of finely shredded cheddar cheese. (The truly adventuresome also add onions and red beans, thereby, making it a five-way, but being a Skyline "virgin," -- which is what I call Detective Goren in a little story I'm writing -- I decided that baby steps were by far the wisest way to go.)

Gotta tell ya, wasn’t too impressed with Cincinnati chili my first time, nor my second, third, and fourth times. In fact, that is how people know I am not a “native” of their fair city because true Cincinnatians wean their babies on this stuff. (I'm not joking.) I have been told that it is an “acquired taste,” and I’ve got to tell you it took me all of nine and a half years to finally obtain a taste for it. Last Friday, I was driving around, trying to decide what I wanted for lunch…when it hit me…I was actually craving Skyline.

So, does that make me a “true” Cincinnatian now? No; as I’ve learned, if one isn’t born here, one never truly belongs here, but that, too, is another post. My yearnings for Skyline come about six months apart and every time I break down and give-in to those hankerings, I suffer for them. Boy howdy, do I suffer. Trust me, there is nothing quite like being awakened from a sound sleep at 2:00a.m. with the painfully nagging reminder of what you had for lunch burning a hole in your gullet. Yep, folks, it sticks with you that long...hence my six month hiatus between samplings.

Now, with this glowing endorsement, if you ever happen to be visiting my neck of the woods and your taste buds are feeling a wee bit adventurous, just give me a shout out, and I’ll be happy to treat you to a three-way…Cincinnati style.

The three-way.

The cheese coney.