October is the third annual Dining Month on OnMilwaukee.com. All month, we're stuffed with restaurant reviews, delicious features, chef profiles, unique articles on everything food, as well as the winners of our "Best of Dining 2009."
Real Chili
419 E. Wells St., (414) 271-4042
1625 W. Wells St, Milwaukee (414) 342-6955
Real Chili opened in Milwaukee in 1931, but technically speaking, the recipe goes back even further. Founder Francis Honesh worked at Chili John's in Green Bay, which opened around 1910 and is still in business. Now, there are two Milwaukee locations, one near Marquette, and another off Cathedral Square. The ubiquitous "Real Chili: It's Not Just For Breakfast Anymore" bumper stickers have literally been plastered all the way to the South Pole (a wall of fame graces the northeast corner of the Downtown shop).
Menu: Chili, and things to put chili on (like hot dogs).
Price: Inexpensive.
When to go: As Bart Simpson once said, "It's always time for chili." But more specifically, peak times are lunch and bar time. Nothing soaks up the booze at 2:30 a.m. like a heaping bowl of chili.
Dress: Anything goes. College kids in cut-offs to businesspeople in suits.
Don't miss: "The Marquette." It's a medium-spicy bowl of chili with spaghetti and beans.
Parking: Street parking can be tricky, depending on time of day. Fortunately, servers get you in and out quickly. This isn't a place to linger around endlessly.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
