Eat like a native

BY GINA DAUGHERTY | CIN

Jean-Robert at Pigall's was named one of the best new restaurants in America in the November issue of Esquire magazine. (The one with Brittney Spears on the cover wearing only a -- oh never mind, we know you already saw it.) Esquire touts the delicous three-course Parisian dinner choices for just $75, which includes tax, gratuity and valet parking. "See if you can get that kind of VIP treatment on the coasts."

Going native
1. Eat like a native
2. Drink like a native
3. Endless love
4. Bad name, great game
5. Say what?

Some things are unique to these parts. Actually, lots of things are unique. What people say and what they eat -- they're all soooo Cincinnati.

Chili spaghetti and goetta. Hudy Delight and Little Kings. Asking "please?" rather than "excuse me?" High school football and neighborhood festivals.

From a native's perspective, these things don't seem so unique. But for a transplant, goetta blew your mind.

But you acclimate after a while, realizing when someone asks, "Where did you go to school?" he or she wants to know what high school you attended, and in turn, what neighborhood you grew up in and thus where you went to church.

And after living in Cincinnati for a spell, Cincinnati chili -- which at first repulsed you -- gets more and more delicious.

The idiosyncrasies of the city become commonplace. And you realize that wherever you are going, roads are named to get you there -- Cincinnati-Dayton Road; Mason-Montgomery Road; Hamilton-Cleves, and so forth.

So sit back, crack open a green grenade (that's a Little King) and we'll guide you through all things that are soooo Cincinnati.

Eat Like a Native:

The recipe for Skyline chili is legendary in its secrecy. (We know because it says so on the menu.) Does it have chocolate in it? Does it not? It's like asking why the wind blows, because the recipe Nicholas Lambrinides first concocted in 1949 is still a family secret.

Be that as it may, it didn't stop us from trying to figure it out.

We called on nationally acclaimed chef -- and Cincinnati transplant -- Jean-Robert de Cavel, who owns Jean-Robert at Pigall's on Fourth Street.

Like many other transplants, de Cavel hasn't quite gotten used to the anomaly that is Cincinnati chili.

"I told my friend I have to eat Skyline and he looked at me like, 'What?' I didn't even know what to order," de Cavel says. "It was the fourth or fifth time I've had it in 10 years."

The verdict is...

"I think it's molasses of some sort," de Cavel says.

What? No chocolate?

"I don't know about it having the chocolate. I think it's molasses. And then cinnamon and cayenne pepper. The cayenne gives it the spice without overkill."

And there you have it, Cincinnati -- molasses, says the chef, not chocolate.

Peppermint Patty:

What kind of Cincinnatian eats Skyline without the finale of a York Peppermint Patty? Not a true Cincinnatian.

Thanks to Skyline and Cincinnatians' penchant for the patty, nearly 2 million of the chocolate mints are sold at Skyline Chili each year.

We love them so much that Oct. 28 was declared Peppermint Patty Day in Cincinnati after a special presentation to the people of Cincinnati by Hershey. Everybody at Fountain Square at noon that day got Peppermint Patties. (Then everyone rushed out and got a three-way in an odd reversal of a mealtime ritual.)

Unfor-goetta-ble:

Though looks suggests otherwise, goetta is actually pork, pinhead oats and spices congealed together in a pan. That's all we're going to say about that.