Best of Coney Quest: Readers' Poll Winner

Congrats to Dixie Chili on winning the Cincinnati Coney Quest Readers' Poll! The reader poll results were reversed from ours: we had Price Hill Chili #1 followed by Dixie, while the readers' had Dixie #1 followed by Price Hill. Another one of our favorites, Camp Washington Chili, finished 3rd. However, the voting wasn't very close as Dixie Chili brought in a comanding 41% of the vote. The results did not surprise me since Dixie Chili was the most recommended  parlor when we first started the quest.

Best of Coney Quest: Readers' Poll

Over the past year and a half you have followed our quest and read our opinions on the local chili parlors. When it was over, we crowned Price Hill Chili as our favorite. Now, it is time for you to vote for your favorite Cincinnati chili parlor! If your favorite parlor is not listed, please select "Other" and tell us which unlisted parlor is your favorite in the comment section.

Voting will be open until Sunday and we will announce which parlor won the Readers' Poll on Monday.

POLL CLOSED

Poll Results: Cold vs. Melted

Our latest poll asked if our readers preferred cold cheese or melted cheese on their coneys. This became one of the most lopsided polls we have conducted. 81% said they prefer cold cheese over melted. While I figured cold would win, I did not think it would be by such a wide margin. I would also infer that most prefer the dine in experience, as it is difficult, maybe impossible, to not have the cheese melt if you get your coneys to go.

Poll Results: Gold Star or Skyline?

In our latest poll we put the two Cincinnati chili heavyweights, Gold Star Chili and Skyline Chili, against each other and asked our readers which they preferred. This was an interesting poll to keep track of. After the first day Skyline jumped out to a huge lead, things were looking bleak for Gold Star. During this time I also noticed that while Skyline had this big lead, most of the comments in the feedback section were pro-Gold Star. One of the Gold Star supporters attributed this to "there are more people who simply choose Skyline because it's what they grew up with, but Gold Star fans are more passionate and loyal." Then overnight those "passionate and loyal" Gold Star fans showed up and closed the gap from a blowout in Skyline's favor to a tight race.

However, in the end Skyline reigned supreme in this poll. Final results:

Skyline: 55%
Gold Star: 45%

While this certainly isn't a scientific poll, I think its a pretty accurate representation of how Cincinnatians feel about Gold Star vs. Skyline. Just based on my personal experiences, I know more people who prefer Skyline but not an overwhelming amount more than like Gold Star. So a 10% gap sounds about right. And for those of you who aren't a fan of either, and prefer another parlor in town, we will have a poll towards the end of the quest that will feature all the top chili parlors in town.

Poll: Gold Star or Skyline?

We have now officially visited the two biggest chili parlor chains in Cincinnati, Gold Star Chili and Skyline Chili. Clint preferred Skyline (he gave Skyline a 3.9 and Gold Star a 3.75) while Alison, who only ate Skyline pre-quest, preferred Gold Star (she gave Gold Star a 3.75 and Skyline a 3.5).

Now its time to ask our readers, which big name in Cincinnati chili do you prefer? Do you believe that Gold Star is "The flavor of Cincinnati" or when you are "Feeling good and hungry" is it Skyline time?

At the end of the quest we will do a poll on all the top parlors in town, but for now we just want to know which Cincy chili heavyweight reigns supreme amongst our readers.

Survey: What is your favorite festival?

Unfortunately Blogger has experienced some problems in the last 24 hours which led to the last two posts to disappear. One of those happened to be the latest poll where we asked what is your favorite Cincinnati festival. Since I no longer have that post or what the latest results were, I will re-ask this question, but in survey form. Post in the comment section what your favorite festival is.

As  a reminder here are the options we had on the poll:
MaiFest, CincItalia, Taste of Cincinnati, Newport Italian Fest, Newport Seafood Festival, Panegyri Greek Festival, St. Rita Festival, West Fest, A Church Festival, Oktoberfest, Riverfest (WEBN Fireworks), Harvest Home Fair, Red, White and Blue Ash, Taste of Blue Ash and Other.

Last time I saw the results, Other had a big lead, so maybe this is better in survey form anyway. We definitely are looking forward to going to festivals this summer and would love to hear what your favorites are.

Poll Results: Hot or Mild

In our latest poll we asked our readers if they preferred a hot/spicy cheese coney or a mild coney. This turned out to be one of our closest polls yet as there was only a one vote difference. Hot ended up victorious with 52% while Mild finished with 48% of the vote.

A recent trend at the local parlors is the launching of hotter chili options. Based on this completely unscientific survey,  it appears there is definitely a market for these spicier choices. There are also almost as many who prefer to stick with the standard coney option. The newly launched Gold Star Hot Mett Coney is only available for a limited time, it will be interesting to see if it can be successful enough to find itself on the menu permanently.

Poll: Hot or Mild

A popular trend at the local chili parlors are spicier options for those who enjoy their chili with more kick. Today Gold Star launches their Spicy Hot Mett Coney and at Skyline you can add Extreme Habanero Cheese to your coney or way. We visited West Side Chili Parlor over the weekend and they feature a spicy variation of Cincinnati style chili along with 4 other chili options.

In this poll we would like to know if you prefer hot options like those mentioned above or if you prefer to stick with a milder* cheese coney?


*Using "mild" as a generic term here. If you prefer the standard cheese coney over a specialty "hot" coney, this would be your vote.

Poll Results: How often do you visit chili parlors

In our latest poll we asked how often you visited a chili parlor. If we had a vote it would have been three times a month, we wanted to see how our readers compare. Turns there are many who get chili fixes just as often or even more often than us!

Results:

30% Three times a month
30% More than four times a month
15% Four times a month
7% Less than once a month
7% Once a month
7% Twice a month

Poll: How many times a month do you visit a chili parlor?

The other day me and Alison were talking about how long it had been since our last cheese coney. During the quest typically we visit a new parlor once a week, so going without coneys for the last 2 weeks feels like an eternity.

For our latest poll we wanted to know how often our readers visit their favorite parlor. Is once a month enough to fulfill your cravings or are you like us and find yourself going once a week?

The options for this poll are:

Less than once a month
Once a month
Twice a month
Three times a month
Four times a month
More than four times a month

And yes, you can include any time you make your own Cincinnati style chili at home.

Poll Results: How many chili parlors have you been to?

The latest poll was more of a survey, we wanted to know how many of the area chili parlors you have visited. I was happy to see that so many have visited multiple parlors. There was not a single vote for only 1 or 2 parlors, everyone has made it to at least 3 parlors. The "winner" of this poll was 5 parlors. 6 or more finished in 2nd, nice to see so many Cincinnati chili enthusiasts reading the blog.

Voting breakdown:

5  - 30%
6 or more - 25%
3 - 15%
4 - 15%
6 - 15%

Poll results: Chain vs. Independent

The latest poll was not a close one. We asked our readers if they preferred going to one of the chain chili parlors in town (Skyline, Gold Star, Dixie or Empress) or one of the independent parlors. The chains won in a landslide earning 76% of the vote.

I'm not surprised that the chains won, when you think Cincinnati chili the first though many have is Skyline or Gold Star, but I'm a bit surprised It won by such a large margin. Places like Camp Washington, Pleasant Ridge and Blue Ash have a large following amongst the Cincinnati chili parlors, but obviously not as large of a following as the bigger parlors.

Later on in the quest we will ask what your favorite of the chains are and what your favorite of the independents are.

Poll Results: What Side is the Best Side

In our latest poll we asked readers to weigh in on another long standing debate in Cincinnati: What side of town is the best? One catch was instead of just doing East vs. West, we tried to include all sections of the area. This poll has the most responses of our polls to date, which shows how passionate people are in this area about where they live. The winner of the poll was Northern Kentucky with 40% of the vote. At first this surprised me, but after thinking about how the Cincinnati areas had multiple choices, and how NKY just had one option, it made sense. Do Northern Kentuckians section each other by east and west like those north of the river do, or is everyone united?

To break down the results, Northern Kentucky was the overall winner, but Cincinnati had more total votes.  In East vs. West, the East Side won with 10% more of the votes. Central came in a respectable third place, only losing by a vote to the East. The biggest loser was North with only one vote.

Results of the poll:

NKY 40%
Eastside 23%
Central 20%
Westside 16%
North 3%

Poll: What Side is the Best Side?

The latest poll is not about chili, but it is about one of the biggest debates in Cincinnati: What side of town is the best side of town? The argument is always East vs.West, but there are more sides than just East and West in the Cincinnati area. Everyone that lives in the region can get in on this battle. Options are:

Eastside
Westside
Northern Suburbs (e.g. Mason, West Chester, etc)
Central (e.g. Downtown, OTR)
Northern Kentucky

(edit: Just realized there could be some Indiana residents who read the blog as well, its too late for me to edit the poll options, but feel free to write Indiana in if you're a Hoosier)

Poll Results: Location does matter

In our latest poll we asked do you go out of your way for a specific chili parlor even if there is one of that same brand closer to you? (e.g. you live by a Skyline in Newport, but go to the one in Clifton instead when you have your Skyline craving) The overwhelming answer was YES. 77% of the respondents indicated they go out of their way for what they think is the better location.

So it appears the old real estate slogan of "Location, Location, Location" can also be applied to the local chili parlors.

Poll Question: Does location matter?

Location, location, location. This week's poll question is for those that like to frequent the chain chili parlors. There are multiple Skyline's, Gold Star's, Dixie's and Empress' throughout the region.  There are even some Skyline and Gold Star's outside of Cincinnati, I've heard different opinions on the out of town locations. Some thing they are nothing like the ones in Cincy, some notice no difference. This is also true for the parlors in town. For example, I know people that will go out of their way to visit the Skyline on Ludlow even though there is a Skyline closer to them. Reasons I've heard for this is they like the ambiance better or they claim the chili just taste better there than at other locations.

For this poll a couple of questions can be asked that are rolled into this theme: Does it matter which one you go to or does every Skyline (or any of the other chains listed) taste the same? Does one location offer things another one does not? If you think one is better but isn't the most convenient location to you, do you go out of your way for the better one or choose the more convenient one?

The two options for this poll are:

I will go out of my way (for a particular location, even if there is one more convenient)


or

I choose the most convenient location

And as always, feel free to explain your vote in the comments section.

Poll Results: ...How do you get your fix?

Our latest poll had the smallest amount of votes, but the highest amount of feedback in the comments section. This poll asked people who no longer live in Cincinnati how they got their Cincy chili fix. Here are the results from the 9 votes:

2 get cans shipped to them
1 has relatives bring them cans
3 make their own
3 suffer without it until they visit Cincinnati

If I were to ever leave Cincinnati, I would likely have cans shipped to me. It might not be cheap, but it would definitely be worth it. I may make my own from time to time as well. Speaking of which, if you have any recipes please send them our way, we are going to try various recipes once we are done visiting every parlor. One thing I know for sure, suffering without Cincy chili would not be an option for me.

Out of Towners: How do you get your fix?

The latest poll is for those Cincy chili lovers who have moved away from Cincinnati, or those who aren't from Cincy and don't live here, but love our style of chili. How do you get your Cincinnati chili fix?

Do you have cans shipped to you?
Do you have relatives or friends bring you cans of it when they visit you?
Do you make your own? (If you do, we would love to know your recipe!)
Or do you just suffer until you make a visit back to Cincinnati?

If you are not an out of towner, you can leave a comment describing what you would do if you left Cincinnati.

Poll Results: What is your background and view of Cincy Chili?

Poll #2 asked our readers what their background was (local or transplant) and how they felt about Cincinnati style chili (love at first bite, gradual love, or hatred). Once again the poll lived up to my predictions.

57% are native to Cincinnati and LOVE Cincinnati chili
30% are transplants and didn't like it at first but eventually loved it
9% are transplants who loved it at first bite
3% are transplants who HATE Cincinnati chili

If you have lived in Cincinnati long enough these results probably don't surprise you too much. Most native Cincinnatians love our chili and are appalled that anyone could question that love. Most transplants I know that eat Cincy chili tell me they didn't like it at first, but kept on eating it since it was the thing to do here and eventually (usually by the 3rd time) loved it. I don't come across many transplants that love it at first bite, but as you can see they do exist. There was a total of 3% for the HATE options, but I would venture to guess if you polled random people that number would be much higher. It wouldn't make much sense for someone that hates Cincinnati chili to read this blog.

Thanks to all that participated in this poll, if you have any ideas for future polls related to chili, food, or just Cincinnati in general, let us know!

Poll: What is your background and view on Cincinnati Chili?

In this poll we would like to know what our readers background is and how they feel about Cincinnati style chili. By background I mean are you a native or a transplant? This blog features a combination of native and transplant, as I was born and raised in Cincinnati, while Alison moved here 5 years ago for school. Along with this info, we are interested in how that might effect your view on Cincy chili. Are you a native Cincinnatian who loves it, or one of the rare ones that don't care for it? Are you like Alison and a transplant that didn't care for it at first but then eventually fell in love with it, a transplant that just doesn't like it and thinks people are crazy for liking it, or did you actually love it at first bite?

Like last time, the poll can be found on the right side of the page and will stay up for a week.