Chili, Newport Flavor
Updated on October 4, 2004
I am including copies of the messages we shared when the topic of Chili was sent out to the NHS Alumni Community
If you have something to offer, send it as an E-Mail message to me at
If you have a recipe to share, send it to me and I will post it.
Jerry
Last Updated on Monday, October 4, 2004
Input from Grace (Howard) Muldoon 1975 10/28/01
Dear Jerry,
Was wondering if you or any of the Alumni remembers Chef Henry's Chili Restaurant? I remember it well. It was located on Monmouth Street and once in a while we'd go there for something different. Theirs was a "different" tasting chili, from Crystal and Dixie.....but it was still delicious. I remember they had a " coney special." You could get 10 cheese coneys for $1.25. Wow.. wouldn't that price be great today? Do you remember that price?
I was in first grade and just starting to read, and I still remember that sign. The other day, we ( my mother and my older sister) were laughing about that .. how inexpensive it was to feed the whole family. I remember one particular night, we stayed up late watching tv with Mom while Dad was on second shift. We wanted some coneys, so we piled into the car and headed to Chef Henry's. We chowed down on those coneys while watching Alfred Hitchcock. Scared us half to death. Hitchcock, that is. The coneys were great! To this day, I can't ever see a Hitchcock film, without wanting to taste that "different" taste of Chef Henry's coneys. It's ok to post this one.. would love to see who remembers that "coney special."
God bless America,
Grace (Howard) Muldoon
Input from Mary (Rauss) Goyak '1950 10/30/00
Dear Jerry, I, as a STILL unlearned computer fan, certainly enjoyed the Newport Chili stories. My favorite memory, as I told you before, was Phil Sarakatsannis slicing and dicing the onions but the Dixie was my very favorite. The Pittsburgh Pirates were playing in the World Series after we had moved from that town. My husband was from there and, since my beloved Reds were not in the Series, I was a fan of the Pirates. Each day before the game was on TV I would wear the same dress (got a bit gamey except on travel days when I could launder it) and drove down from Ft. Thomas to the Dixie for a three-way and had the delicious lunch and rooted for the Pirates who won in the 7th game on Bill Mazeroski's home run in the bottom of the 9th inning! I always have felt the Pirates owed it all to Dixie Chili three-ways. A gang of us visited the Dixie after the 25th reunion, I coming from California, requested a visit after the party to the Dixie and we all had a great time. It wasn't the same without Penny S. stirring the pot but the "secret" recipe was still as delish. LOL mlg
Input from Jack Moore 1955 10/31/00
When ever we traveled to the Cincinnati area, we would always go to a chili parlor. My first [and only] wife got tired of my telling her how much better Newport chili was, so she "forced" me to take her to Monmouth Street for "that good stuff".
She was soon a convert and after that a trip away from relatives was planned to see the old sights in my home town. The sights always included Crystal or Dixie. She, like me, liked the Crystal the most.
As the children got older we allowed them the pleasure of Newport chili [they had to be at least old enough to open their eyes to try it]. It got so that as we got near the river the kids would chant chili chants.
Skipping forward many years... One day my son-in-law [Danny] came home [they live in Pompano Beach] and announced that he had found a new, great place to eat in Ft. Lauderdale. He proudly took my daughter down US1 to the Skyline Chili Parlor. He had grown up in North Miami and had never had the pleasure of "good chili".
After my father passed away, my daughter and her husband traveled with me to Cincy to close his house and bring memories home to Florida with us. the first thing I did was take them to Newport for some real chili. Danny said that he really didn't care for my doing this. He said that the Skyline would never be the same after getting the good stuff.
Now if only we could get Dixie or Crystal to open here in Delray Beach.....
Input from Carol (Stafford) Bradley 1941 11/1/00
All the stories are very interesting and we will try the recipes.
However, Krogers has a packet with all the spices and all you have to do is one can of tomato paste and a pound of hamburger and throw it in a pot with 7 cans (tomato paste can) of water and simmer about an hour and a half and you are back in Newport.
Also, you are later gaduates so you probably donot know that Charley Sarakatsannis used to dish up all the hotdogs and chili spaghetti at Dixie and the dogs were 6 for a quarter and the chili spaghetti was 10 cents a plate. WOW!1!
Input from Don & Pat Schoo Õ55 10/28/00
We first moved out of the area in 1960 upon graduation from U.C.. One of the first stops upon returning to town was always the Chili parlor. Crystal was my favorite while in high school, but I developed a taste for the Skyline version since my wife to be was from Cincy. After our children were born and we moved out of the area for the next to last time, the first place they wanted to go was to the Chili parlor upon arriving in Cincy. This was one of the times they always got their way. It sometimes caused a little trouble in the family because Pat's father used to try and cook a nice meal (he was the best cook in the family) when he knew we were coming in and he was not at the bakery. The kids always wanted to stop at Skyline anyway, so we tended to be overstuffed on our first day back in town.
Input from Grace (Howard) Muldoon '75 10/26/00
Dear Jerry...
Ok. well you asked. My best memory of Dixie Chili. It was January 19, 1979. It was 1:00 in the afternoon, a cold, icy, wintery day, streets so bad, that the Yellow Cab Company would only drop me off at 9th and Monmouth.. to walk the block down to my ob/gyn's office. I was 9.5 months pregnant. The sidewalks so slippery that I clung to the buildings with my hands as I walked down the block to Dr Giglia's office. Made it, without falling.
Whew! After the doctor's examination, he announced to me that I was 2 weeks late ( like I didn't know that)... and did a little procedure that, he told me, would begin my labor in a few hours. Oh. Ok. So afterward, ( knowing better but...)..
I again walked back to Monmouth Street.. precariously holding on to the buildings. My big winter coat was heavy and daunting as was my stomach.... but as I got to the corner...this wonderfully warm smell wafted to my hungry little nose. Chili... Dixie Chili... the best in the world. So I popped in... knowing I shouldn't eat, if I was going to start labor... but I couldn't resist. I ate 3 cheese coneys with everything.. yes everything.
Then I called Yellow Cab and told them to pick me up. After arriving home... I found out that the doctor was wrong.. my labor had started immediately not in a few hours... and I had to be rushed to the hospital. Mom's car stuck in the ice in her driveway... hubby an hour away... had to "rush" home on the icy highway.
However a happy ending. No ill effects from my "snack" . Well... 8 hours later... I was a new mom for the first time, had a beautiful redheaded baby boy named Craig.... and still think of him, as my little "hotdog". Yes, he did play baseball... and is now studying to become a writer at the University of Tennessee Knoxvillle. Sixteen months later, on June 11th,
I had his younger brother Jay the same way, after a 6 o'clock dinner of Dixie Chili 3-way. Yep... they both love CHILI ! Think Craig will write about this tale? So if you know any woman, past due on her due date.. take her out for chili.. Dixie style.
Input from Jerry King '53 3/28/00
The recent historical articles on Newport that we have shared and a cartoon I was sent this week brought some memories back to me. First let me say that I love chili and have developed a quite potent Tex-Mex style chili. On occasion I have let my neighbors sample some and (after 3 Tums and lots of water) most decline more samples in the future.
The cartoon was a dig about Cincinnati Chili and how "bad it is" and how it looks like pre-digested food. (Hopefully the attached JPEG file came across.)
At any rate, like most of you, the chili parlors on Monmouth were a favorite snack place during my formative period. I remember being out "after sports curfew" during basketball or track season and HAVING to get a sack of coney islands to eat while walking up the hill to my home on Kentucky Drive. Lived in huge fear every time that Stan Arzen or Ed Burton would drive by and see me at the counter at 9th and Monmouth buying my sack of Coney's.
As also was known, all of the chili parlors seemed to be owned by one Greek family or another.
I still stop at one of the Chili Parlors for a Coney Island fix on those occasions when I am back in Newport. Boy, have they ever gotten smaller!
Fast-forward 14 years from high school to 1967. I had graduated from Cincinnati; I had a Masters from Univ. of Penn, had worked 5 years in Massachusetts, had changed jobs to work for GE in 1964, moved back to the Philadelphia area and was working on my Ph.D. I was the sophisticated, experienced, worldly, technically astute, going up in the world person everyone wanted to be at age 32.
A group of us had a habit of walking into center city Philadelphia and having lunch at new restaurants. One day, one of the guys said: "There is a new Greek restaurant on Walnut Street. Let's go there for lunch." I replied: "That is a great idea, I LOVE chili."
Everyone looked at me like WEIRDO. Thus it was at age 32 that I found out that Chili was NOT a Greek dish.
Input from Glenn Swope '52 3/29/00
One night my wife and I arrived at the airport in N. Ky. late at night. By the time we picked up our rental car and headed for the Quality Inn in Covington, it was 11 PM. I checked in, took our bags to the room, and returned to the car. My wife asked where we were going. I said, "It's supper time." We headed for 8th and Monmouth and had chili. Now she is suspicious -- and she's right -- that 90 percent of the time, when we arrive in the Cincy area, it always seems to be a meal time, and we don't question where we'll eat. A couple of Coney's, a 3 way, and a case of cans to take back home. I also have a recipe that is a darn close duplicate.
I guess I'm somewhat like Pavlov's dog: certain times, places, sounds trigger food images in my mind. Certainly Dixie Chili is one. However, during my last couple of years in high school, I worked in the old Manyet's bakery in Southgate, when it was owned by John Prohl. Wherever we are, driving late at night, and I hear a good jazz station on the radio, I begin to taste cheese sandwiches. Seems in the bakery late at night, listening to jazz on WCKY, for a snack we'd grab a bun, throw some cheese on it, and stuff it in the oven for a turn to make "grilled" cheese sandwiches. To this day, late night jazz tickles my taste buds. This very night we were sitting in an Irish tavern in Sarasota listening to an excellent jazz band. I was getting a little tired, and suddenly my mind went to grilled cheese sandwiches! Memories! And we in Newport High had some good ones!
Input from Ione Spenlau Marks '48
3/30/00
Could we persuade Glenn to share his "almost" Dixie Chili Recipe with the rest of us who now live in other parts of the country and also crave "Greek" chili? I have craved it to the extent that I have paid the $15.95 case price plus $9.81 to have it shipped to me here in California. That equals out to $2.15 for each of those small cans. But it was worth every penny of it.
Also I wonder how many are aware that our favorite chili has a web site at:
Reading all the memories of chili has made me wonder how many also have memories of Goetta and get cravings for a breakfast of Goetta, eggs and rye toast. (Remember Rubel's Rye Bread?) For those who share my cravings for Goetta, it too has a website, where it can be ordered right from Glider's in Covington.
Have enjoyed all the messages filled with news and memories that have been sent to you. Hope they continue to arrive -- nothing better than sharing memories of home. Newport and Southgate have always been and always will be home.
Thanks once again, Jerry for compiling and maintaining the email directory. It was a great idea!
Input from Carol Lang Smiley '53
3/30/00
I have been enjoying the posts about chili and chili dogs. I have not been in Northern Kentucky for 15 years, but I have cans of Dixie Chili in my cupboard. How do I do this? Just bop on over to http://www.hometownfavorites.com and you can order all kinds of "good things" that you haven't seen for years. And it's in Florida, so the postage will not be much for you. They also have Stegner's Mock Turtle Soup, which I used to love, and still do.
Input from Glenn Swope '53 3/30/00
CINCINNATI CHILI
2# Ground Beef
1 quart Water
2 Medium Onions, minced
16 oz can Tomato sauce (may be increased a little)
5 whole Allspice
1/2 tsp. Red Pepper (cayenne)
1 tsp. Cumin Seed
4 TBS Chili Powder
1/2 oz Unsweetened Chocolate
4 Large Cloves Garlic minced
1 large bay leaf
2 TBS Vinegar
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp. Salt (we reduce that)
1 tsp. Cinnamon
Cook meat with water (do NOT brown first); stir well; bring to a boil. Add all ingredients in a bowl; stir well to blend. Add to meat. Simmer about 3 hours (while your mouth waters, your mind goes back, and you're young again and so is the gal on your arm). This is about a close as I could come.
Input from Marilyn Mischke '47 3/30/00
The following is supposed to be the Chili we consumed at the old Chili Parlors in Newport/Covington area.
2 lb. ground beef
4 medium onions minced
Brown meat and onions
1 tsp. cummin
1 tsp. vinegar
1 1/4 tsp. powdered cinnamon
1 can chili powder (1 1/2 ounce)
1 can tomato paste (6 oz)
1 quart of water
Put in cloth bag
10 bay leaves
25 whole allspice
10 whole peppers (or 1 tsp. red pepper, or 2 tsp. ground pepper)
2 toes garlic cut up
Cook 3 hours in covered pot - low heat - remove spice bag, salt to taste and cook 3 more hours. When you remove bag of spices mix with mixer and also mix with mixer when done.
Input from Wanda Reis '53
I don't know if this is really the Dixie Chili recipe, but 30+ years ago I was given this recipe and told that it was called Dixie Chili. I am listing it for you to try and decide for yourself.
DIXIE CHILI
Bring to boil 1 Qt. water and add:
1 Large Can Tomato Sauce
4 T. Chili Powder
1 t. Allspice
1 t. Cinnamon
1 t. Garlic Salt
4 Bay Leaves
4 Dried Red Peppers
4 Med. Onions
2 Lbs. Hamburger
Put meat in colander and run cold water over it. Let drain. Add meat to mixture. Cook slowly for 3 hours.
Salt and peper to taste.
Even if this is not exactly Dixie Chili, it is very good for making 3 or 4 ways.
If you have a memory about the Chili parlors or a good recipe, send them to me for sharing.
Jerry King NHS_Alumni@Mac.COM
http://homepage.mac.com/nhs_alumni/NHS_Choices.html