Gold Star Chili is a restaurant chain based in Cincinnati, Ohio, that sells Cincinnati chili. The original restaurant was established in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Mt. Washington in 1965 by four Daoud brothers, immigrants from Jordan. Gold Star Chili was the "Official Chili" of the Cincinnati Bengals until April 19, 2023.
Gold Star Chili in Withamsville, Ohio
The interior of a Gold Star Chili restaurant in Liberty Township, OH.
Cincinnati chili is a Mediterranean-spiced meat sauce used as a topping for spaghetti or hot dogs ("coneys"); both dishes were developed by immigrant restaurateurs in the 1920s. Its name evokes comparison to chili con carne, but the two are dissimilar in consistency, flavor, and serving method; Cincinnati chili more closely resembles Greek pasta sauces and spiced-meat hot dog topping sauces seen in other parts of the United States.
Four-way Cincinnati chili
John Kiradjieff posing in Empress Chili in 1925
Gold Star Chili restaurant interior
Ground beef is crumbled into water.