Skyline Chili may be Cincinnati’s most recognizable food icon—but it did not invent Cincinnati chili.

In this episode of My Latest Fixation, I try Skyline Chili for the first time, confront the local Skyline vs. Gold Star rivalry, and investigates why Cincinnati puts its famously spice-forward chili on spaghetti. Along the way, I trace the story back to Empress Chili, the original Cincinnati chili parlor opened by the Kiradjieff brothers in 1922 beside the Empress Burlesque Theatre in downtown Cincinnati.cincinnati+1

I explore the immigrant roots of Cincinnati-style chili; cheese coneys, three-, four-, and five-ways; Skyline’s 1949 arrival in Price Hill; Gold Star’s beginnings in Mount Washington; and the very theatrical, very late-night world of the Empress Burlesque Theatre.skylinechili+1

Plus: Nashville chili expecta ...