A gentleman reached out to me on Facebook a few weeks ago and told me about his love for Cincinnati chili. He asked me to join his “cinci chili lovers” Facebook group. This gentlemen eats a LOT of chili! No sooner than I joined the group that I learned of The Bridge House Restaurant, which serves its own recipe Cincinnati chili. So Traci and I headed down to Reading to give it a try.
It’s been a little while since our last Stop, and our remaining options were looking a little slim. Then, a wonderfully-timed event happened - the release of a new book called The Authentic History of Cincinnati Chili by Dann Woellert (which mentions my blog!) Within the first few pages, I learned of a few places that I hadn’t known about before. Eager to get back out there, Traci and I checked off the first of these new places, The Mason Grill.
Making a Top 10 list of something you love is a really hard thing to do! If there’s one thing I learned on this Tour, it’s that there are more great places to enjoy some Cincinnati chili than I had originally thought… and I ain’t even finished yet! Some of them made the cut as the best of the best, but there are several more that are very worthy of a visit, even if you only “like” Cincinnati chili…
This probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone that knows me, especially Traci, but Price Hill Chili is simply MY perfect picture of what a Cincinnati chili parlor should be. And I feel like this Great Cincinnati Chili Tour really confirmed that for me.
We’re almost to the end! Chili Time is an all-around perfect Cincinnati chili parlor and is easily a winner of a Golden Oyster Award… mostly because they believe that ANY time is chili time (except 4:00-6:00am)!
Where as Demetrios IV was almost exactly what I was looking for on The Great Cincinnati Chili Tour, Blue Jay was exactly what I was looking for on The Great Cincinnati Chili Tour, and is awarded a Golden Oyster.
This one is kind of a surprise to me. Before this Great Cincinnati Chili Tour, I had never heard of Demetrios IV. Now, it’s one of the places I look forward to revisiting the most. It’s places like Demetrios that made this Tour worthwhile, and they deserve a Golden Oyster for it!
Kicking off the Top 5 is a little chili parlor on Montgomery Road that is know as much for its chili as it is for gravy fries, Pleasant Ridge Chili!
The first five Golden Oysters have been handed out! Let’s keep the big names coming today with Camp Washington Chili, one of the best known and most hyped independent chili parlors in town.
What would be a Cincinnati chili list be without Empress Chili on it? Well, I’d prefer not to find out and will gladly give them the slot above Skyline and Gold Star on my Golden Oyster Award list.
