In this area, most people head to Ann Arbor for their dining choices.  Some people like to stick around Ypsilanti and visit Sidetrack or Aubree’s.  I can’t argue with any of these choices, but when it comes to really good local joints you just can’t beat a trip down Michigan Ave.  Sure, you may feel like you’re in a bit of an odd(for some people, scary) area on your way there but once you reach Gabriel’s Hoagies, Roy’s Squeeze-Inn or Los Amigos you’ll feel like you’re in food heaven.  These are some of the few businesses on this strip that remain from the 1950’s and before, and are offering not only great food, but an experience that you just can’t find many other places.

Bill's Drive-In - Ypsilanti, MI

Right across the street from Gabriel’s and Roy’s sits Bill’s Drive-In, which like both places, has fed locals for 50+ years(since 1935, to be exact).  The building looks like a tiny mustard colored house surrounded by a parking lot,  but two windows at the front and crooked signage indicating hot dogs and root beer let you know that this little house is actually a hot dog stand.  Pull in, but don’t get out of your car.  An attendant will be at your car within one minute and they do not serve customers at the front window.

There are no menus at Bill’s.  If you’re not sure what you want, the attendant will quickly tell you what they offer.  Hot dogs with or without chili, topped with your choice of onions, cheese, or mustard.  Loose burgers are also offered. There is homemade root beer to drink, and potato chips if you need a side.  If that’s not simple enough for you then I think you may have some sort of problem.  If you need something else other than that, I just don’t think Bill’s isn’t for you.  This isn’t Pink’s or any kind of fancy Hollywood hot dog stand.  They don’t need any other items.  Their menu is perfect.

Chili Dog from Bill's Drive-In - Ypsilanti, MI

Order a dog or two with chili and a large root beer.  It will only cost you about $3.00.  Open the paper wrap and you’ll find a steamed white bun that is shorter than the hot dog.   The hot dog is cooked by boiling and kept warm by steam. The dogs are naturally cased and while they don’t have as much snap as I would normally like, the flavor makes it completely OK.  The chili is very unique.  Not quite Coney chili, but not like.. Well, it’s hard to explain.  It’s definitely tomato rich and a little spicier than most Coney chili.  They have gotten the chili to hot dog ratio perfect and the ratio is consistent on every order.  The dog is topped with plenty of chili, but just not enough to spill all over your lap while eating it in your car.

Homemade Root Beer from Bill's Drive-In - Ypsilanti, MI

The hot dogs and chili are delicious, but the real star of Bill’s Drive-In is the root beer.  Believe me when I tell you that this is the best root beer you will ever had.  I have traveled thousands of miles on a quest to find the worlds’ best root beer.  I haven’t really, but I’ve tried a lot of root beer in my life and this is by far the best.  There’s not even a close second.  The root beer is rich, creamy, a little syrupy, with a nice bite to the finish.  It’s the definition of legit.  You just can’t get root beet like this anywhere else, especially in a bottle or can.  Next time you visit, ask to take a gallon home with you. It comes in a simple milk jug and will be gone in 24 hours.  You’ll thank me later.

Bill’s is another example of the great good that exists in this area if you look for it.  It’s not exactly a hidden gem, but most people would have to venture out farther than they usually go for a meal to find it.  Do some research and you will find places, such as Bill’s, which offers so much more appeal and history than simply going to a chain restaurant and eating something that has little thought and process behind it.

As I’ve stated before about a hundred times, Detroit is home to some fantastic food and history.  Any type of food you could think of can be found being served, in a respectable manner, somewhere in the city.  It’s home to fine dining, an entire neighborhood of all things Greek, Mexican Town, the best deep dish pizza being served outside of Chicago, and some of the finest Coney Islands in the country.   Specifically, Detroit is home to Lafaytte and American Coney Island. Deep in the heart of downtown Detroit these two historic spots, which just happen to stand side by side, have been serving up Coney favorites for over 70 years. The competition between Lafayette Coney Island and American Coney Island is fierce and there isn’t a Detroiter who hasn’t had to offer their dedication to one shop or the other.  The family’s friendly rivalry has allowed both locations to flourish through Detroit’s good times and bad.

Both establishments are incredibly special to the city.  Entering doesn’t mean simply receiving a simple meal, it’s an experience.  At both establishments, the food is being prepared in the front of the house with a window to the outside, which offers culinary entertainment to passing pedestrians and customers walking into the door.  All of the employees are older Greek men, who immediately come for your other after you’ve taken your place at your table.  Once you have told your server what you wish to eat, it is yelled across the restaurants to the cooks in their distinctive code, who often have your meal cooked and in front of you within one minute.  Both have something that most restaurants lack these days, which is character.  As long as they are standing, you can almost guarantee that children you see sloppily eating a chili dog will one day be doing the same thing with their children.

Growing up, American Coney Island was my go to stop before Lions and Tigers games.  This was mainly because my Father preferred Lafayette, which is how most people come to select their favorite.  I’m a habitual contrarian, but for some reason this tradition always stuck with me.  I won’t say that I completely pledge my allegiance to American, but I’ve always been one to visit that side of the block.

When I watched the first episode of the Travel Channel’s Food Wars and noticed that the two would face off later in the season, I felt it necessary to make a trip and give you a view from someone who has been eating at both locations and all food in Detroit for 20 years.

Yes folks, this is Food Wars, Epic Portions Style.

Opened in 1917, American Coney Island sits on the corner of W. Lafayette and boasts the larger location of the two.  It is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, businesses in the Detroit area and has been family run and operated at the exact same location for all of its 90 plus years.  The inside is vibrant and looks a bit like a 70’s cafe, with a black and white checkered floor topped with vinyl chairs and a large number of tables.  On the walls hang pictures of the many famous customers over the years, with an obvious focus on the recent visit by Adam Richman.  It still has the old time feel, but it has obviously been updated over the years.

Coney Dog at American Coney Island

The food at American Coney Island still stays true to the original, which isn’t much of a surprise since it has been family run since its creation.  The hot dogs are specially seasoned and cased naturally, while the chili sauce is specially prepared using the same recipe since the day it opened.  The hot dogs have a distinctive snap when you bite into them, which you simply can’t get at a Kerby’s or any or chain Coney Island.  They are flavorful, and perfectly cooked with a little bit of char on the outside.  They aren’t enormous, so it is easy to eat 2 or 3 in a single visit.  They are normally topped with onions, but I opted to go without so I could get a true taste of the dog and the chili.  You can also get them topped with shredded cheese, which one of my frequent toppings.

Chili at American Coney Island

The chili is dark and bolder than most chili out there.  It’s obviously a chili “sauce” meant to top hot dogs but is absolutely delicious in a bowl by itself, with a Roloids desert.  It’s some serious stuff.  Combined the two make a pretty tastey coney dog, but I truly believe the chili tastes better by itself.   The bill for a chili dog, a bowl of chili, and a large drink came out to about $7.00.  It’s a little pricey for the amount of food you’re getting, but it’s worth it to experience such a historical location and eat some good old fashioned Coneys.

Lafayette Coney Island, which sits next door in a much smaller building, first opened in 1929 and has also been family owned ever since.  Their location is much less updated, and greatly resembles an old 1940’s cafe.  The kitchen is located in the middle of the restaurant, with seating along the sides and a small dining room in the back.  Their location allows about half as many customers as Lafayette, which makes usually makes it a more crowded establishment.  Come during lunch or dinner service and you may find yourself sharing a table with a complete stranger.  Even though service is much more chaotic than American Coney Island, the employees make it work.  You are often required to yell your order across the restaurant to your server, who yells it to his cooks in their own code.

There are several differences from American Coney Island.  It stands in stark contrast to the American Coney Island next door, a larger, cleaner, more decorated and stylish venue.  Lafayette may not be as clean, but it’s still nothing terrible.  If you’re looking for an eating establishment that has a completely clean record, I don’t think you would have much of an interest in either of these places.  They also do not accept credit cards.  In fact, the cash register looks to be the exact same one the place opened with.  Make sure you bring cash, or you will be taking a talk across the street to find an ATM.

During this particular visit, Food Wars was filming additional footage including extreme close ups on the food.

The hot dogs at Lafayette Coney Island have that exact same snap as American Coney Island, which is caused by the natural casing and a perfect char from the cooking.  The skin breaks when you take a bite and it explodes with flavor, just like a good hot dog should.  The difference is the hot dogs at Lafayette seem to have a much better flavor.  I’m not absolutely sure what it is, but the hot dogs at this place are unbelievable.  They come straight off of the grill steaming hot and need to sit for a minute or two before consumption.  This was impressive to me.  I don’t remember the last time I ate a hot dog at a restaurant that had come straight off of the grill.  Usually the hot dog you receive has been sitting in a warmer for some time.

The chili complements the hot dog perfectly.  Lafayette seriously has some of the best coney dogs I have ever had.  The hot dog gives you that nice snap and delicious flavor, while the chili offers a delicious accompaniment, rather than overtaking the entire dog.

Coney Dog at Lafayette Coney Island

Like I said, the chili is less of a “sauce” and more of an actual chili here.  It is far less bold than American Coney Island’s, and has a more complex flavor.  It is lighter in color and flavor, and won’t require you to drink a half bottle of Pepto-Bismol afterward.  It’s almost a blend between coney chili and a pot of chili that you would make at home.  It was amazing to me how the chili could have a somewhat subtle flavor when eaten by itself, but accompany the chili dog so well.  After tasting the coney dog, it’s very surprising to taste the chili and realize just how much flavor the hot dog offers.

The chili and a coney dog will cost you around $4.50, which is much more affordable than a trip to American Coney Island.

Chili at Lafayette Coney Island

And now.. The results.

I don’t want to sound cliche or anything, but this is seriously as close to a push as you can get.  Both offer very similar menus and takes on Coney style food.  Both have some things things that are better than the other, that cancel out other options that are not as good.  I though the chili at American Coney Island was much better than at Lafayette.  That bold, dark flavor is so delicious and unique.  The coney dog was better at Lafayette, mainly because hot dogs at Lafayette are far superior to those at American Coney Island.

If I had to pick a winner I would have to go with Lafayette Coney Island, simply because it is more of a Detroit experience.  If you’re looking for authenticity, then you’re going to want to go to Lafayette.  It may have been established at a later date, but you can get a sample of how the place has always been.  American Coney Island is still incredibly authentic,  but it has obviously been updated throughout the years.

The price at Lafayette is also far superior.  You can eat more for less, and experience more of their menu.  You can eat multiple coney dogs and still keep your lunch, dinner, or midnight snack under $10.

My advice to you is to do exactly what I did and try both places.  Get a coney or two at American, then walk right next door to Lafayette and eat some more.  It’s a fun experience and offers a great look into the history and culture of the city of Detroit.

I looked through the archives of this site and was shocked to see that Steak n Shake has never been reviewed on this site!  Of course, it may have something to do with the fact that the one in Ypsilanti is one of the worst in the nation and I have no clue how close Todd is to the ones in his area.  I know there are NONE in VA, which really pisses me off.  So I knew when I went back to Springfield, MO for leave, I would definitely have to make a trip to Steak n Shake.  Why?

Maybe it’s because the five best S n S’s in the country are here due to the fact that the owner of the company lives in Branson, MO.

Maybe it’s because I’m a former employee and I know the standard of service to expect from the place.

Maybe it’s just that I love burgers made from grade A steak cuts rather than ground beef.

Maybe it’s the shoestring french fries or the hand-dipped, home-made Milkshakes.

Maybe it’s…

BEAN CROCK!

Anyway, for a brief history of the place go here, I’m not making this any longer than I have to…

So for our little culinary jaunt to our oldtime haunt, Amy Went with a classic fave…

The Mid-westernly famous Frisco Melt!!!

In case you have trouble reading image captions, that’s a Frisco Melt.  Two Steakburger patties with swiss and cheddar cheese, 1000 Island dressing, and lettuce on sourdough bread.  She also got cheese fries.  In fact, this is pretty much all she ever orders from Steak n Shake.  For her drink, she went with a Vanilla Dr. Pepper (that’s right, you can add cherry or vanilla flavor to your drink at no charge!).

So what did your bespectacled and currently enbearded author order?  Well, usually I go with a Mushroom n Swiss Steakburger with Fries and a cup of chili and have a chocolate shake, but I was feeling a bit adventurous and saw a new menu item that caught my fancy!

The Western BBQ Bacon Steakburger!!!

Yes, once again, I’m doing a review where I ordered a BBQ Bacon Burger.  What can I say?  I love them.  This one wasn’t outstanding but it was pretty good.  It had french fried onions on it, which was pretty tasty.   I used to eat entire cans of that stuff like they were potato sticks.  Anyway, digressing. I also got a cup of chili with cheese and crackers.

Oh yeah, I got this with my meal too...

For my beverage, I got…

A Hershey's Syrup Special Dark ChocolateMilkshake

Oh yum…  Seriously, that was an amazing shake!  I don’t know if it’s worth $5, but it’s a damn good shake (100 pop culture cool points to the first person other than John or Todd to name that quote).

On the subject of their shakes, they have over 20 different varieties of milkshakes.  I mean, it’s half their name, so one would expect some quality and variety, am I right?

Here’s a few pics I took of their selection…

These ones are candy inspired...

Some classic shakes: Chocolate, OrangeFreeze, Strawnana side-by side, Root Beer Float, and Turtle sippable Sundae

They have your regular shakes in Chocolate, Vanilla, Mocha, Strawberry, Spec Dark, and an

Orange Freeze which is made by mixing vanilla ice cream with water and orange flavor instead of milk.

Then they have the specialty shakes such as Butterfinger, Cookies n Cream, Cookie Dough, T urtle Nut Supreme, Mint Cookies and Creme, Double Fudge, Peanut Butter Cup and Banana Split.  These are called Sippable Sundaes.  They also have strawberry and raspberry smoothies.  My favorite thing they do with their shakes though, is the Side-by-Side.  You can take two flavors of shakes and have them side by side in the same glass.  Create flavors such as Banocolate, Strawnana, Chocnilla, or MochaChocolate.

Another thing I like about the location I went to today is the fact that if you sit at the counter, you can see the food being made on the line.

View from the side

ORDER UP!

So if you’re ever in any of the states from Texas to Pennsylvania (excluding LA, VA, NJ, and MD), check this place out for a fun, nostalgic, good food served fast experience.  And if you want the best service from Steak n Shake, come to Springfield, MO.  Seriously, I scarcely had time to think “where’s the food?” when it was in front of me.  Excellent service. I leave you with some pics of my kids playing with the fold up cars  they gave us.

Amelie's car

Steak n Shake
Various locations throughout the Mid-West to East Coast

http://www.steaknshake.com/

Award Winning Chili! Photo courtesy of Jeff Engstrom, one awesome photographer: Jeff Engstrom is one awesome photographer: http://www.flickr.com/photos/antiapathy/257660605/

So a few days ago I posted a little about the glory of competitive chili making.  Today I am posting our recipe – Todd and Matt’s Chili (prep time: 1:15, cook time: 3 hours).

To begin with, you’ll need a super sharp knife, and a very, very large pot (preferably a turkey fryer).  If you don’t have a turkey fryer, start this concoction in even portions in two large pots (with covers) that you can later combine together after reducing for about an hour – this is what I often end up doing.  You’ll also need quite a shopping cart.

The Goods

Begin with the veggies

• 3 large onions – I’ve also done 4-5 small ones.  I like to include one red, one yellow, and one white for effect.
• 4 large green peppers.  Can also substitute other colored peppers for effect (but more $$).  The heat does not come from the peppers.
• 7 gloves of garlic (one bulb should do fine).
• About a half cup of cilantro (One bunch from the store will easily do).
• 66 oz of canned diced tomatoes – they simmer well.  I’ve tried stewed tomatoes and they don’t work as well.  This is basically two large cans (26 oz) and one small can (14.5 oz).
• Two cans (32 oz) pinto beans.
• Two cans (32 oz) black beans.
• Two cans (32 oz) kidney beans.

The meat

• 4 lbs of a relatively lean steak – I recommend bottom round, london broil, or even sirloin if you feel like getting fancy.  Stay away from the crappy pre-cubed ’stewing meat’ you’ll often see.  That’s probably the crap that fell on the floor.
• This could also become a vegetarian dish if you simply 1) do not put in the meat, thereby removing all flavor and 2) rip out your canine incisor teeth.   Then just kill yourself.  Don’t do that.  I didn’t mean that.  This cannot become a vegetarian dish.  At least – if you’re going to make it a vegetarian chili – don’t tell me.

The good stuff

• One beer – preferably a darker beer.  I try to use a stout or porter.  This not only adds liquid, but adds a bit of complex flavor to the mix.  Save a few more for yourself.
• Four tablespoons ground Cumin – try to get this fresh from a bulk spice store.
• 6 tablespoons of Chili Powder.
• 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt.
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper.
• 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.
• Crushed red pepper (to taste).

After you’ve dislocated your shoulders carrying all these goodies home, get your sharpest knife…and sharpen it.  Then sharpen it again.

Colors start out vibrant...

The Process

1. Chop meat into 0.75 – 1 inch cubes (nice and chunky)!  Remove as much fat as possible – the worst is running into a nasty hunk of fat in the middle of your chili.  Throw it all in the bottom of the pot.
2. Roughly chop onions and peppers (remove pepper seeds and ribs) and combine in pot.
3. Finely chop cilantro – about half a bunch – and add in pot.
4. Empty all beans from cans into strainer and wash thoroughly.  Add to pot.
5. Empty canned tomatoes into pot.
6. Crush (or very finely chop) garlic and add to pot.
7. Add beer to the pot.
8. Turn on your burner to medium and mix pot thoroughly.  Put pot cover about 3/4 of the way on.
9. Cook on medium for 1 hour, mixing thoroughly every 10 minutes.
10. Add balsamic vinegar and cook for another 2 hours. If you’ve got more than one pot, determine when you can combine into one big pot after all the vegetable juices have reduced.
11. Add all spices, dust the top of the chili with cracked red pepper  and mix thoroughly.  The red pepper is  where virtually all of the chili’s heat comes from – add this slowly and to taste.  DON’T RUIN A GOOD CHILI BY DUMPING IN TOO MUCH RED PEPPER!  Adding spices at the end of cooking makes sure that, 1) the spices don’t burn – this happened during an early batch and tastes gross, 2) that the spices don’t change flavor – sitting over 3 hours on a flame can change how cumin tastes, and 3) that you can control the level of heat in your chili.
12. Remove from heat.
13. Serve that summabitch piping hot – sprinkle cheese and sour cream on top.  Add a tortilla on top for effect.
14. Enjoy the best chili ever.

...and dull during cooking.

So you’ll start out with a huge bubbling pot…

See what I mean about combining the two pots together? Gets a little difficult with only one big pot.

Which will reduce significantly over the course of 3+ hours…

Here you can see the reduction within the chili

Finally, you’ll be left with a warm, bubbly pot of hot chili goodness.

Don't worry about browning meat before hand - it'll all cook together over 3 hours. Mmmmm.

Hope you all enjoy!  Please leave your comments and ideas for improvements!

The taste of sweet sweet victory can be yours! Photo courtesy of Jeff Engstrom - again, one great photographer/urban planner/gentleman/scholar/husband to an award winning teacher (Shoutout Karoliina!): http://www.flickr.com/photos/antiapathy/257660605/

2nd Place, 2006 Central Illinois International Chili Championship! Matt (in Red) and Todd (in Tigers hat) along with Chili judges and first place winner (on far left). It was rigged!

It’s about time I fessed up.  Back in 2006, my friend Matt and I entered the Urbana Beer and Chili Festival (Urbana, IL – my old stompin’ grounds) in an attempt to unseat the hitherto unbeaten Champaign County Democrats.  Otherwise known as the Central Illinois International Chili Championship, this competition invites amateur and restaurant competitors to duke it out in the greatest of drinking and chili eating venues – the downtown Urbana, IL parking garage.  Set on a windy, mid-fall Saturday, this environment adds the perfect garnishes to the classic, fall football weekend: Chili and lot and lots of beer.

College students handing out beer samples to their friends and taking purchased tickets. If that isn't a conflict of interest, then I don't know what is

For those of you poor souls who haven’t attended a Chili cookoff, they typically begin with competitors checking in, setting up their booths, passing health inspection, and finally – making their chili in a set period of time.  We had 4 hours to prep and cook, in which we were to make 4 gallons of chili for attendees to sample along with several hundred types of beer bought with donations from local business.  A portion of the gate went to charity (it’s good to give back! – name that movie quote).

Although I’m not bitter…*whatsoever*, the competition functions in the following manner, year after year after year: 1) Competitors make their chili.  2) Around 1000 people sample the chili.  The chilis that run out quickly are clearly the crowd favorites, since everyone makes roughly the same amount.  3) The judges then go and pick the best chilis.  4) At this point, the judges write the names of the best chilis on a piece of paper.  5) That piece of paper is then set on fire, after which the judges piss on the will of the people, and again give the victory to the Champaign County Democrats (the two party system?  ”The after party is the one you really want to attend”).   Year after year, people!  For Godsake, their chili tastes like its been blended!  BLENDED!!  Who does that?!  We ran out of our chili in like 2 hours, and they were still trying to unload their mush practically until dawn!  Anyway, we came in Second.  Booo!  Now that I got that out of my system…

Making good chili, especially 4 gallons of chili, is a long process.  First, you’ve got to practice – you must refine your recipe.  In the case of chili, this can be expensive, depending on the type of meat you want to use.  We got ours from the University of Illinois meat lab.  That’s right – for those of you who live in the U.S. near land grant schools (state colleges that have agriculture programs), many animal science programs have meat labs where they train students to butcher.  This is an awesome place to get a rediculous amount of meat for cheap.

Sometimes, the word “ridiculous” can be relative.  For the competition, we got around 16 pounds of bottom round steak.  16 pounds – that’s 256 oz of delicious steak.  Even Joey Chestnut couldn’t put that down.  Only problem – it came somewhat frozen.

• Todd’s Chili Lesson #1: DO NOT try to cut 16 pounds of slightly frozen steak into 1 inch cubes with a dull knife.  Or any kind of knife.  Just throw your hand in front of a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick – it will happen faster and feel the same.

My recipe [which I will reveal for the first time to the world in a future post - so stay tuned!], also calls for a lot of diced vegetables.  During a Chili competition, when many groups quadruple (or more) their normal recipe sizes, this means a LOT of diced vegetables.  When you’re in an outdoor booth with crapola, dull Ikea knives…surrounded by shit talking competitors…with a huge cooler of beer waiting for you after prep – dicing is no longer fun.  At all.

• Todd’s Chili Lesson #2: Find a restaurant supply store and purchase bagged, pre-diced vegetables.  This is usually still legit to use in the competition – you can’t pre-cut any veggies on your own and bring them in your own bag, but you can bring pre-cut veggies in a package from a store…damn health inspectors.  Hatred is crying into the blisters you got from dicing veggies, while watching (out of your one, remaining good eye) the guy next door slowly pour a giant sack of perfectly diced onion into his Chili, as he enjoys a tall, cool Budweiser.

Now that we’ve prepped the Chili – it’s time to get cookin’.  At our competition, we had to bring our own cooking devices.  As we were both poor college students at the time, we bought 3 portable electric burners off of Amazon.com (3 massive pots=about 4 gallons).  Many of the characters we were competing against simply brought turkey fryers and a few propane tanks.  We later realized that those people were very, very, very smart.  That’s right: Competitors = Smart.  Todd = Dumb.

• Todd’s Chili Lesson #3: Test your cooking devices.  Having an electric burner is actually a fairly smart idea.  You can leave it on for several hours without having propane problems.  It’s also a really really cheap alternative.  HOWEVER – be sure to understand the electrical network on which your burners will rely.  We found out about 15 minutes into cooking that two of our burners were not heating up enough.  We were basically maxing out the system.  That’s right – the Chili competition was reliant on TWO circuits for our entire section.  Whoops!  Got it figured out, but it killed our momentum, our confidence, and our buzz.  Would have helped to know more ahead of time.

In the end, the competition went incredibly well.  After our few preparation hiccups, we got things cooking and our well devised recipe and practice preparations served us well.  Have confidence in your burners.  Chili has to be a certain temperature to be served to the public.  We spent the first hour worrying if we could even get it hot enough to serve – the electrical problem didn’t help!  After things heated up, we were almost worried that our chili would get TOO hot.  Things might have been worse if we hadn’t been cooling off with a steady stream of liquid anxiety treatments…

• Todd’s Chili Lesson #4: Bring ample libations.  You’re cooking chili, not curing polio.  If you don’t have enough confidence in your chili that you can’t cook it slightly fuzzy faced, then you just haven’t done your homework.  You let down yourself, your competitors, and most of all…your Chili.

The final lesson in all of this – it’s all in the marketing.  Give your chili a personality.  Give it a brand!  Make it unique and people will want to come to your booth to try it.  If they like it, they will make their friends come and try it too.  And, as we all know – after everyone has 2 or 3 or 8 beers in them, they will certainly want to try a lot more.   This gives us our final lesson:

• Todd’s Chili Lesson #5: Decorate!  Decorate your booth, decorate yourself.  We did not do this.  After quickly following lesson #4, we might have THOUGHT we decorated (liquid confidence).  In reality, however, we certainly did not.

Second place team. Other than our award winning personalities, we brought no decorations. You must give your Chili a persona!

This sore sight contrasts heavily with the third place team (also people’s choice winners) who really justified their decorations by making one of the spiciest chilis that I’ve ever tasted.  They were also right next to us, which is why there is all that caution tape in the background of our photo.  Brilliant!

Third place team. Personality, decorations (even brought chili plants!), and one hell of a spicy chili! Unfortunately, this team also actually blended their chili - something that was strangely uncomfortable to watch. Maybe that's why their booth was wrapped in caution tape...

Holy eight pound, six ounce, newborn baby Jesus.

Guy’s Fieri’s “Dragon’s Breath Chilli” has to be one of the the craziest chili recipes I have ever seen.  To make eight servings of Chili, Fieri calls for 2 tbsp butter, 3 tbsp bacon grease, 1 lb boneless chuck, 2 lb ground beef, 1 pound bulk Italian sausage, 12 oz lager beer, doubled-fried French fries, and 1 c cheddar.  This single dish calls for 4 pounds of meat from three animals, if you include the chicken stock.  WOW.  This is chili served OVER double fried french fries.

Chili Recipe:

Ingredients (there are a lot):

Directions

In large stock pot over high heat, add butter and bacon grease. Add bell pepper, jalapeno, chiles and onion and cook until caramelized, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute a minute longer. Add chuck and brown. Add ground beef and sausage to brown and stir gently, trying not to break up the ground beef too much. Cook until meat is nicely browned and cooked through, about 7 to10 minutes. Add in granulated onions, granulated garlic, chili powder, paprika, cumin, coriander, cayenne, salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute. Add in tomato sauce and paste and stir for 2 minutes. Stir in beer and chicken stock. Add beans, lower heat and simmer for 2 hours.

Serve in bowls over Double-Fried French Fries and garnish with Saltine crackers, green onions and shredded Cheddar.

Double-Fried French Fries Recipe:

• 4 (4 to 5-inches long) russet potatoes (about 2 pounds)
• 2 quarts canola oil
• 1 tablespoons fine-grain sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Peel potatoes on the sides, leaving the ends with the skin on. Cut the potatoes into 1/3-inch slices and then slice into 1/3-inch sticks.

Fill a large bowl with water and soak potatoes, submerged, for at least 30 minutes up to 24 hours. This will help remove the excess starch from the potatoes and keep them from oxidizing.

Heat a heavy stock pot fitted with a deep-fry thermometer with oil to 325 degrees F.

Remove potatoes from the water, and pat dry to remove excess water. Add 2 handfuls of potatoes to hot oil. There should be at least 1-inch of oil above the potatoes. Par cook until potatoes are light brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove potatoes, gently shaking off excess oil and let drain on rack. Repeat until all of the potatoes are par cooked.

Raise heat of oil to 350 degrees F.

Cook potatoes again, 2 handfuls at a time, until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Remove from oil, shake off excess oil, and season lightly in a bowl with salt and pepper. Repeat until all potatoes are cooked.