2022 Week 25 – Quick Cincy Trip

Took a quick overnight trip to Cincinnatti last weekend to attend my nephew’s graduation party. On the way down I decided to take a small detour and check out Blue Ash Chili. I had recently seen it featured on Diner Drive-ins & Dives and realized there was another chili place in Cincy that I hadn’t tried yet!

Although Blue Ash was good (VERY similar to Skyline), Camp Washington will remain my favorite Cincy Style Chili. I appreciate the fact that Blue Ash has a rather large menu and the Club Sandwiches coming out of the kitchen looked amazing. While prepping for this post I found the Cincy Chili Map and realized I have a LOT more places to check out! I didn’t realize (but should have) that there were so many independent Chili spots in the city.


A trip to Cincy also requires a stop at the Infamous Jungle Jim’s. I have to really be careful when I shop in that store because you can end up buying way too much. It helps to have a list of the “must get” items and leave some room in the care to try new things. It helps that I drive right by the Eastgate location so it’s super convenient to pop in on the way home.

On this trip, I focused on chocolates (great gifts) and Ramen (JJs has a great selection). I was pleased to see Smoking Goose was prominent in the deli area and even found some Cane Sugar Dr Pepper for a co-worker who’s a DP Super Fan.


Something I forgot to share from the week prior was the Strawberry Festival in Downtown Indianapolis. The lines were insane but the shortcake treat was delicious. I was fortunate that someone in our office placed a big group order and handed them out to the people that were in the office that day. The only thing better than a fresh strawberry shortcake with ice cream is a FREE fresh strawberry shortcake with ice cream!


That’s it for this week. It’s going to be another week of temps in the 90s but next week is looking like it might shape up to be a good one. I checked out two new (to me) lunch spots recently, more info on that next week. Thanks for reading!

Indy – Nick’s Chili Parlor

After visiting Saraga the other day we worked up an appetite and needed to fill our bellies.  I fired up Google Maps on my iPhone and looked for any places in the area that I might have starred as something to check out.  It just so happened that Nick’s was on my list and right down the street!

Nick’s is different in a lot of ways.  You order cafeteria style, which makes a lot of sense since you can slap together a chili dog and a bowl pretty quickly.  Fried items and burgers appear to be brought out to the table once prepared.  The dining area is open and bright from all the windows.  The menu has items other than chili related fare.  Some notable mentions are fried tenderloins, burgers, and tamales.

Nick’s tagline is “home to the ‘Not Yet World Famous’ 5-Way chili”.  Since that’s the way I like to get mine at the Cincy chains I thought I would give it a try for comparison.

We ended up ordering a couple of 5-way Chili bowls and 2 chili dogs with everything.  The 5-way is served in a deep bowl and is mostly chili with a little pasta in the bottom.  It’s also a lot easier to eat than the competition because of this configuration.

The Chili Dog was a full sized hot dog served in a steamed and quite substantial.  A couple of these would be a meal.

The Chili itself has a nice depth of flavor.  I thought it needed a little salt and a few dashes of hot sauce and after adding that it was quite delicious.

The service was fast and friendly and the restaurant was very clean.  I don’t spend a lot of time in this area of the city but I wouldn’t hesitate to come over here from downtown for a chili dog.

Nick’s Chili Parlor
2621 Lafayette Rd, Indianapolis, IN 46222
http://www.nickschiliparlor.com