They say “When in Rome”, but I’m not sure if it’s meant literally or figuratively…but we had a task to run today from Indy to Columbus, OH for his work to scout the location for his tractor/trailer combo set-up in the near future – and off we went on a mission. But “when in Rome”, we decided to take a detour to Cincinnati to check out the “favorite fast food” for the state of Ohio – Gold Star Chili. (http://www.goldstarchili.com) The location we picked was the closest on on our route into Cincinnati because we were that hungry! I usually try to find the original location, but my research in the vehicle bore no fruit so we navigated to the closest…no harm, no foul. We pulled up to what seems like a fast food chain location and expected to order our food at the counter and wait for our number or name to be called. Instead we were greeted by a friendly face and asked if we were dining in and if so to go ahead and take a seat in the dining room and they would be happy to help us. Unusual for a “fast food” chain, right? Well, there are some places that still serve and this was one of them; so major brownie points for this location. She came and asked our drink order and brought us menus as we had relayed the message loud and clear that we had never been to a Gold Star Chili before and wanted to check it out as it was listed as the fave fast food. Sidenote: prior to showing up, I had went ahead and signed up for their rewards program (as we do with most places since we eat all over the country) and I had received an offer for BOGO (buy one get one) Coney dogs (complete with chili, cheese, and onions (which I refused to order…remember, I don’t like raw onions); and I proceeded to cash in the offer! We also ordered what they call a “Ways”; which is spaghetti noodles with chili and cheese and you can add additional toppings like beans and onions. He ordered the 4-Way which consisted of spaghetti noodles, chili, cheese and beans (they were a red kidney bean). I ordered the Gorita which was a flour tortilla with chili, cheese, chipotle ranch, and Frito corn chips. The chili here was a unique flavor to Cincinnati and consists of 13 spices, which the recipe has never been leaked, a sauce base and ground hamburger meat. The flavor was unique in that it contained nutmeg and allspice as well as other spices. This recipe was adapted from the owners’ tweak on the restaurant they purchased in order to grow and develop Gold Star Chili in the greater Cincinnati area which includes locations in Kentucky and Indiana as well. They started with one and most of the information out there shows that there are now over 80 locations in the tri-state area. Once we completed our dishes, the waitress gave us to-go cups for our drinks and we proceeded to pay at the counter and scanned our rewards code to receive points…not sure how many we will receive, but it might be a little while before we’re able to accumulate more and redeem any but at least we can. The food was good for a “fast food” chain and was a comforting, warm, good-for-the-soul option on such a cold day in January with snow on the ground. Our final takeaway is we would return in the future to enjoy some more of this unique blend of chili!