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I'd heard wonderful things about Skyline, but I think it's highly overrated. I've made Cincinnati chili from a recipe in Jane and Michael Stern's Square Meals and it was MUCH better than what I had at Skyline! I've also made it from a recipe that appeared in Cook's Country and it was better than Skyline's. That recipe was a little easier than the Stern's recipe.

I grew up in Cincinnati but no longer live there, and Skyline and Graeters are must-haves whenever I return. I do think that Cincinnati chili is sort of an acquired taste - so many people I've told to try it didn't get it. It is unusual. Graeters is the best ice cream on this planet! They are known for their "chip" flavors because instead of using actual chips, they just pour in streams of chocolate as the ice cream mixes and it breaks off into various size chunks. I have found 3 inch chunks of chocolate in my ice cream!!!

I am probably the only Cincinnatian that dislikes both Skyline AND Graeters. Graeters just doesn't compare to Aglamesis Brothers to me. Aglamesis also has an adorable icecream parlor decor that I can't resist.

Also, how can you forget to mention Terry's Turf Club? Consider to be the best burgers in Cincinnati (if not Ohio) and definitely lives up to that claim!

@Katy66: Pigall's has been closed since February 27th, at which time Chef Jean-Robert de Cavel severed ties with his former business partner as well as all of the restaurants you mentioned. He is not currently the chef of a restaurant, but in a teaching capacity at Midwest Culinary Institute. Quality & service at both JeanRo Bistro and Lavomatic have slid seriously downhill since his February departure.

To all: Obviously, not a comprehensive list, but just a guideline to serious eating in Cincinnati. As we all know, there are so many more!

Enjoyed the Cincinnati foodie update! Keep them coming...

T - 50 miles North

I spent about a month in Cincinnati for work a few years ago. First time I went to Skyline, I thought it was mediocre and didn't get it. Then I went a second time and it wasn't bad. After the third time I was hooked. It grows on you. Also remember the commericals instructing you how to eat it. Cut into pieces rather than swirl it around a fork.

A three way with hot sauce and crumbled oyster crackers on top. That is a fine lunch

Also really enjoyed Daveeds a few times when I was there.

This interesting topic came about two weeks too late! We are Canadians and stopped in downtown Cincinnati for the night - it was July 4th and we wandered around and walked a bridge over to a big Munich-like beer hall and strolled around the waterfront. We enjoyed it so much that on the way back, we stopped in Covington because we had read about the Mainstrasse district. We ate at a "German" restaurant called, Warsteiner (at least that is what the name on a table umbrella on the patio said.) We all wanted to taste the local food and we ordered different kinds of Schnitzel, potato pancake and red cabbage. Without a doubt, it was one of the worst meals I have ever eaten. Everything was inedible, not one of the four of us was able to finish our meal. We were bitterly disappointed - the waitress was sweet, but did not follow through and ask why none of us ate our meals. I suppose we should have complained, but after an eleven hour drive, none of us had the heart. I will save this article for next year!

Cincinnati is a tradition-bound place and may have more restaurants that are simply "resting on their laurels" than other cities of its size and demographics. It's not unusual to encounter people who admit to patronizing mediocre restaurants solely because they remember them as the place they took their high school prom date, or where the family ate on Sundays back in the 1960s when great-grandma was still alive.

To bareneed, I know the bad restaurant you're talking about, and am puzzled how it remains in business. It's particularly ironic that in this ethnically German community, the best German food--which you also happened upon--is from a chain: see
http://www.hofbrauhausnewport.com/about.html

Cincinnati food is overrated. From it's Chili, to its pizza to its ice cream. It's all fair, but nothing outstanding. @ChloeA is exactly right. Cincinnati is pretty conservative an very much so about tradition. I lived on the Kentucky side of the river for 5 years but worked in Cincinnati and when I travel there now, there is not one restaurant I am just dying to visit. I even have a hard time making recommendations to people who assume I would know loads of great places to eat after living there. Sadly, if I do suggest something, I always feel the need to qualify it with, "But this was 4 years ago, it might not be any good now."

bareneed: Bahahah Warsteiner is a brand of beer. You stopped at the Hofbrauhaus Newport which is authentic German food. There are only three of them, one in Munich (the original) one in Newport Kentucky (this is the one you were at) and one in Las Vegas. All of their beer is imported from the Munich resturant. Its unfortuante that you did not enjoy your meal as it is a favorite!

People go to Skyline because it's all they know, but it doesn't compare to the real chili parlors in Cincinnati -- Price Hill, Camp Washington, Blue Ash and the 30 or so other independantly owned mom and pop legitimate chili parlors in town. Judging Cincinnati Chili by going to Skyline (or Goldstar) is like judging Hamburgers by going to McDonalds. Or judging New York City by going to Times Square. Or judging America by listening to Paris Hilton.