Quote:
Originally Posted by electricflyer
Carl, I will assume you have never had Cincinnati style Chili.
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Actually I've had chili in Cincinnati, though I cannot attest its style. Having lived in Texas for about a third of my three quarters of a century of existence, I can say that what I had in Cincy didn't much resemble actual chili.
But that was long ago. As a youth I had step-relatives, a great horde of them, and a number of blood relatives too, in Cincinnati, and visited some of them from time to time. Decades later, I did some consulting (at Procter & Gamble, among others) in Cincinnati, and of course I had to eat. I've outlived the relatives, perhaps in consequence of avoiding Cincinnati chili in favor of Tex-Mex in Texas, which (a) is delicious, (b) toughens you up, and (c) varies considerably. My favorite enchiladas are still the sour-cream ones (beef or chicken) at El Fenix in Dallas. Some will sneer because El Fenix is a chain, but it's rigidly controlled and always excellent.
There are hundreds and hundreds of Mexican restaurants in Dallas. Some are Tex-Mex, some not. One that I used to have lunch in occasionally had dirt floors -- and its walls were galvanized corrugated steel, the kind used for putting roofs on sheds.
But my favorite Mexican food is what I believe is called Mexico City style. Mario and Alberto Leal, over a couple decades, owned a succession of most wonderful restaurants in Dallas:
Chiquita in two successive locations (they lost the lease on their first location; there's a story in that), followed by
Mario & Alberto, and then (in Plano)
Alberto's. Alas, they're all gone now. I lived quite close to
Mario & Alberto for a long time, and it's a wonder I don't weigh 500 pounds.
Maybe some day I'll make you some
real chili.