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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Cincinnati
Thin ground-beef sauce seasoned with cinnamon, clove and other Mediterranean spices, served over spaghetti and topped with a mountain of grated cheddar cheese. It was created in Cincinnati in 1922 by Macedonian immigrants.
Traditional dish from Cincinnati, Ohio
Also known as: chili de Cincinnati, three-way
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Cincinnati chili — Cincinnati, the United States
Cincinnati chili has nothing to do with Texas chili. It was created in 1922 by brothers Tom and John Kiradjieff, Macedonian immigrants, in a diner next to a theater in downtown Cincinnati. They adapted a meat sauce from their homeland, seasoned with cinnamon, clove, allspice, and called it chili to attract customers.
The sauce is thin and is served over spaghetti or on small hot dogs called coneys. To speed up ordering, the "ways" system was developed: a two-way is spaghetti with chili; a three-way adds finely grated cheddar cheese; a four-way adds either onions or beans; a five-way includes both.
Cincinnati has hundreds of chili parlors, as the specialized diners are called, many opened by families of Greek and Macedonian origin. The three-way and the cheese coney are the most common orders, and the cheese is always generous.
Cincinnati , Ohio
Ground beef, tomato, cinnamon, clove, allspice, cumin; spaghetti, grated cheddar cheese, onion, beans.
Served over spaghetti, ordered by the number of “ways,” or on small hot dogs (coneys), eaten with fork and knife with saltine crackers on the side.
All year round, at lunch, dinner and after games.
Your questions
It’s spaghetti topped with the city’s chili and a mountain of grated cheddar cheese.
No. It’s a thin meat sauce flavored with Mediterranean spices like cinnamon and clove, created by Macedonian immigrants and served over spaghetti.
Brothers Tom and John Kiradjieff, Macedonian immigrants, in 1922 in downtown Cincinnati.
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