I had a bowl of Cincinnati chili at one of the Skyline Chili restaurants in Cincinnati, back in 1981. I remember liking it a lot, but it's too long ago for me to remember exactly how it tasted.

My wife tried making some from a recipe in "The Frugal Gourmet cooks American". It wasn't BAD, exactly, but I would say that it wasn't RIGHT.

Here in the Washington D.C. area there is a chain of restaurants called "Hard Times Cafe". They do their own version of Cincinnati chili, and I would say that it is my favorite food (not counting dessert!) They sell boxes of their spice mix so you can make your own, and we have tried making it with TVP instead of beef, resulting in a very nice vegetarian Cincinnati chili.

Of course, I don't know what a Cincinnati native would think of Hard Times's version.