Cinner's does chili just like Cincy likes it

A red glow emanates from a storefront on a quiet Ravenswood side street, a place where you can order a 3-way, a 4-way, even a 5-way.

Get your head out of the gutter and your bib on, this is Cinner's Chili Parlour and Cocktail Lounge 4757 N. Talman. It's the latest outpost for Cincinnati-style chili, a dish that involves a bed of cooked spaghetti, dressed with a thin-but-meaty, cinnamon-and-cumin-infused chili sauce, all practically hidden beneath a mound of finely shredded cheddar cheese. This is the original 3-way chili, as owner Tony Plum tells it.

A 4-way involves adding red beans OR onions to the original dish, and a 5-way adds red beans and onions to the mix.

It's the stuff Plum grew up on, being a Cincinnati native and his family even has its hands on a recipe from one of the Queen City's most storied chili parlous.

"My great-grandfather was a [Cincinnati] cop in the '20s, when the Empress Chili opened on 5th Street. He used to stop in there to eat. At one point he asked the guys -- the family story goes -- for the recipe so my grandmother could make it at home. And they gave it to him," he said, understanding that such recipes are top secret. "It was also the '20s and a cop was asking for a recipe, so that might have been why," says the affable Plum.

With recipes on the Web, and available on hotpads at any tourist shop in Cincinnati, Plum offers only recommendations for making the chili sauce -- the heart and soul of the dish. He suggests using ground beef and to not brown it beforehand, instead letting it slow cook for six hours with the sauce and spices.

Plum had been in the bar and restaurant scene until he took a detour to California. Eventually, he decided he wasn't a West Coast guy, so it was back to the Midwest, this time to Chicago.

He knew he would open up a bar and restaurant here, but what started as a novelty item on his menu turned in to the cornerstone of a Cincinnati-themed restaurant -- thanks to the feedback he got from transplanted Cincinnatians around the Chicago area.

Today the red-walled Cinners is not just a home away from home for Cincinnatians pining for a 3-way. It's also become a new destination for neighborhood residents looking for a place to grab some beer and comfort food.

The uninitiated can be spotted a mile away, he says. They'll come in to his place asking for a bowl of chili. He warns that he'll oblige, but not before explaining that this chili is more like a sauce -- soupy rather than chunky.

Of course there are other restaurants offering Cincinnati-style chili, including the stalwart Chili Mac's 5-Way Chili, 3152 N. Broadway. Ed Debevic's, in Chicago and suburban Yorktown, offers a "Windy City Chili" whose version not only includes macaroni but also has a 6-way -- the sixth ingredient being sour cream.

Curious about an unusual edible or kitchen tool? Want to share some mysteries in your own cabinets? E-mail the Food Detective at ldonovan@suntimes.com.