Boehner Family May Give Heartburn To More Than Dems: His Little Brother Dishing Cincinnati-Style Chili In Rural Georgia



Greg Boehner In Macon Telegraph Photo

 CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The GOP House leader's younger sibling, Greg, runs a couple of mom-and-pop eateries -- one is a cinder block joint -- outside Macon, Georgia.  They are not fancy places.  He's trying to introduce Cincinnati-style chili into a region where grits, pulled pork barbecue and banana cream pie are favorites and skyline means big buildings towering over Atlanta.  Three way?  That is something entirely different in the South than a Cincinnati chili restaurant.   If you ask a waitress for a three way in Georgia, you might get slapped and tossed in the street.  Or you might get a wink and have the time of your life.  Greg Boehner, 53, has been in Georgia longer than John has been in the House of Representatives.  His cafes are called the Front Porch.  He is one of 12 Boehners, and the only one who didn't stay in the Cincinnati area.  Jim Gaines, a writer at the Macon Telegraph, stopped by the Front Porch and found Greg Boehner working on drumming up interest in Cincinnati chili:

"The original Front Porch sports a few picnic tables and rough wooden steps on a street corner by the railroad tracks next door to Farmer Browns Odds & Ends & Stuff.  'Hi Joe,' Boehner called out Thursday afternoon from his perch at a Front Porch table.  Joe, a white-haired man walking a dog, stopped to make a salty comment about current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi."

You can read the story here. Greg Boehner has an Ohio State sign on the kitchen door, and it is pasted over a John Boehner political sticker.   Some Georgians have never forgiven Ohio's Gen. Sherman for marching through their state during the Civil War.  If Greg Boehner isn't just whistling Dixie, Cincinnati chili should go down easier.

Hillary Stumps In Cincinnati Chili Parlor: How Will Them Beans Play Deep In The Heart Of Texas?

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Sick of NAFTA? Then how about a debate over chili to spice up the presidential election? Chocolate and cinnamon are mixed into the sauce Cincinnatians call chili and serve over a plate of spaghetti noodles covered with grated cheddar. It's a regional dish with its roots in Greece and Macedonia. And it wouldn't be recognized out in the scrubland and buttes of cowboy and chuck wagon country where Terlingua holds the world's biggest chili cook-off.

So, did Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland steer Hillary into the chili wars today? He escorted her into a Cincinnati Skyline chili parlor for a campaign rally. Ohio has its presidential primary on March 4. Also, Texas -- where some critics for years have viewed Cincinnati's concoction as a usurper and fraud.

Just glance around the foodie forums on the Web, and you'll see debate like this:

"Texas and Cincinnati chili are so different they probably shouldn't even be considered the same dish. . . My best friend and her DH moved to Cincinnati about six years ago, and I've been there to visit several times -- when I describe Cincy chili to people back here they're amazed at the idea of chili served over spaghetti. To me, Cincy chili seems more like pasta served with an elaborate meat sauce -- but, however you describe it, I really, really like it."

And things have gotten pretty lively on Roadfood.com, where some contend chili is a complete misnomer for the Cincinnati dish. Even those who enjoy it say its a sauce that bears not the slightest resemblance to real Texas chili. Indeed, purists note that Ohioans often pour Cincy-style chili on cheese coneys. Those are hot dogs presumably named for Coney Island in New York. Oh, the heartburn. It's enough to make a Texan die with their boots on.