This Chili-Topped Spaghetti Is A Cincinnati Legend

@rrrrogers

Cincinnati, Ohio, is one of the most chili-crazed cities in the United States with more than 180 chili parlors. What the heck is a chili parlor? These are restaurants that specialize in Cincinnati-style chili.

Camp Washington Chili serves up one of the more iconic Cincinnati chilis out there and it might slightly offend some pasta lovers. It’s basically a pile of meaty spiced chili, cheese, onions, beans and oyster crackers on top of a bed of spaghetti. The different number of topping combinations are called the “ways.” So, if you’re getting chili five ways that means it’ll have spaghetti, chili, cheese, onions and beans.

A post shared by battophoto (@battophoto) on May 24, 2017 at 2:04pm PDT

Cincinnati-style chili is a Mediterranean spiced meat sauce that’s used as a topping for spaghetti. It’s made of ground beef, stock, tomato paste and spices — cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, cumin and chili powder. There’s also a little unsweetened dark chocolate and bay leaf in there. Toppings usually include cheddar cheese, onions, beans and crackers. This Cincinnati-style chili is much thinner than the usual chili dish a lot of Americans are used to and it’s the unofficial food of this Ohio city.

Cincinatti Chili – thank you @mleelawrence & @andrewarvinmccabe

A post shared by Ryan Rogers (@rrrrogers) on Sep 23, 2016 at 11:33pm PDT

In 2000, the James Beard Foundation honored Camp Washington Chili with an America’s Classics award, which made it the first Cincinnati restaurant to win a Beard award. Open for over 50 years, this Ohio institution feels like home to a lot of locals and it represents a huge part of Cincinnati’s history.