Pleasant Ridge Chili

One late night in 2021 after watching a Northern Wrestling Federation match down in Covington my friends and I were looking for a late night food spot. We ended up landing on Dixie Chili, a place I had never been before. It was so good, at least my drunken self thought it was. What I can say for sure is that night I made a little deal in my head. I need to go to every chili joint in Cincinnati. Coney’s are my jam and I probably have them every other week because I can’t help myself, but normally I stop into my local Skyline to get my fix. I know there’s a wide world of Cincinnati chili out there to be explored. Why did I wait so long into my life to start this journey? Who knows, but here we go.

It was a pretty mild night in February after some co-workers and I just got done in a little tournament at the Fowling Warehouse not too far from Pleasant Ridge Chili. We all ate dinner before, but after having a few beers the logical next step is to eat even more food that you will regret later on right? As we pulled out our phones to see who was still open that late there was one shining beacon that could not be ignored. Pleasant Ridge Chili. They closed in an hour and a half and were 1.5miles away. Even upon leaving the Fowling Warehouse we mentioned to someone we were getting food and someone shouted across the lot “PRC gravy fries are the best drunk food EVER!” The deal was sealed.

Upon pulling in their lot we were greeted by a giant sign announcing that we have arrived to the promised land. A smaller sign boasted that they serve the best fries, cheese and gravy in town. It seems our fellow fowler was onto something. I couldn’t help but be confused though as we were going to Pleasant Ridge CHILI not gravy house. What was I walking into?

As we entered the building we were met with a very cozy and dated dining room. It looked exactly as I would expect from an authentic and historical chili restaurant in Cincinnati. A few sets of booths lined each wall with a small row of two tops went down the middle leading into a bar with room for about 6 people. I knew we were in for one hell of a meal.

Before we dive into the food I want to take a second to look back at how this little place started 58 years ago (at the time of this writing.) Pleasant Ridge Chili was founded by Greek immigrants Charlie and Tony Sideris and is still in the family to this day. Local 12 news did a cool little piece back in 2014 for their 50th birthday which is worth a watch. 

I know I keep bringing up these gravy fries so you know that’s on the menu for sure, but I can’t skip out on some form of chili. If I did could you say this was part of my Cincinnati Chili Joint series? I decided to grab a few coneys for good measure as well and they were only $2 bucks a pop in 2022! The full order of gravy fries and cheese was only $6! These people are coming in well under the behemoth chains like Skyline and Goldstar on pricing even though I’d happily pay a little more for some family owned chili and gravy.

I might have had beers earlier, but the chili and gravy fries were top notch! I can see why the locals we chatted with say that’s the only chili they would eat. The buzz around the gravy was even louder. I just couldn’t get over it! Gravy?! Yes, gravy. Honestly I couldn’t decide what the gravy was all about. It seemed to be a simple brown gravy you would slop all over your mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. Regardless, it was the perfect type of food served up in the perfect situation. It was drunk food on steroids.

My buddy Chris messed up. See, he too wanted to experience the gravy, but he realized his misstep when the server put his first plate down in front of him. Chris ordered Danny’s Special which seemed like an inconspicuous steak hoagie with onions, gravy and swiss. What he received was this.

A full fledged steak hoagie floating in a bath of the thick delicious gravy.

To add insult to injury he had also ordered the gravy fries because he didn’t want to miss out on the gravy. So much gravy…so so much gravy. We’re gonna need a bigger boat.

I want to thank the amazing staff at PRC for making my first visit so awesome. Everyone there was great, the food was awesome and even the other people hanging out and getting some grub were cool.

I’ve been toying around in my head if I want to rate these chili joints, but I don’t think I want to. Who cares about adding a value to how good or bad I think a place is. I want it to be more about the experience, the story, and then you can decide if you want to check it out. I do want to start taking better photos of my trips. If you remember from my first post of my new blog I really want to get better at taking my camera with me to more places. Phones only get you so far.

With that said, may the gravy gods smile upon you.