Real Chili Is the Real Deal

Real Chili. Photo by Cari Taylor-Carlson.

If you haven’t been to Real Chili by Cathedral Square Park for a bowl of its hearty chili, it’s time to visit this downtown diner. I have to confess, I was a newbie to Real Chili when I came twice for lunch recently, and am ashamed to admit I waited so long to dig into the menu.

First, the nuts and bolts of this little neighborhood diner. Its original home was located on the Marquette campus when Francis Honish, a chili aficionado from Green Bay, brought his recipe to Milwaukee in 1931. That was 95 years ago, and Real Chili is still cooking on the campus at 1625 W. Wells St. In 1975, the E. Wells St. location opened and soon became a popular venue for a quick daytime meal or a late-night post-bar-time snack.

On my first visit, my companion ordered his regular order, the Marquette special. This basic bowl combined spaghetti and beans and was topped with medium-heat chili. Like all the bowls, if you wished, you could add chopped onions, sour cream, jalapeños and/or finely grated cheese. The special, like all the chili bowls, came with a handful of oyster crackers on the side.

When you order your bowl, you can choose mild, medium or hot. My companion’s medium Marquette bowl had a slight kick. When you order hot, the chef adds extra chili to ramp up the heat. The chili, made with finely ground meat, had a complex, rich flavor that was unlike the more familiar tomato-based chili that many of us make at home. Because the chili was all meat, it was so thick that my companion could almost eat it with his fork. For extra punch, he requested a dish of pepper-infused vinegar to drizzle on his chili. The woman behind the counter described it as “warm, but not so much heat that it burns.”

They make the chili daily at the Marquette location, while the beans and spaghetti are made daily at the downtown restaurant. The grated cheese, which we thought was especially melty and delicious, was grated off a 40-pound block and delivered fresh daily.

The recipe for the chili is, of course, secret. My companion found a copycat recipe online that supposedly mimicked Real Chili’s recipe. It included chocolate, cinnamon and vinegar.

Vegetarians and vegans can order the vegetarian chili and know there were no animal products involved. They use avocado oil and a 100% combination of vegetables to make the vegetarian chili. It was thick and had the exact same flavor combinations as the meat chili.

In addition to serving it in a bowl, there are many other ways to have your chili, and here are a few: in a taco; in a Frito pie; in nachos over tortilla chips; and in a walking taco with Fritos. Or you could do what my companion did and order a chili dog, an all-beef hot dog topped with lots of chili and an optional mound of grated cheese.

If you want a hot dog but you don’t want the chili dog, order the Chicago, an all-beef dog in a steamed poppy seed bun. My dog, topped with relish, chopped onion, tomato, sliced pickle, mustard, sport peppers and a touch of mustard, was perfection in a bun, and it will satisfy the most discriminating Chicago hot dog aficionados.

Real Chili is a Milwaukee classic and a neighborhood gem. It’s your barebones, fast eats, counter service joint, where you know you will get something delicious.

On the Menu

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The Rundown

• Location: 419 E. Wells St.
• Phone: 414-271-4042
• Hours: 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Mon-Tue, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Wed-Thu, 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Fri-Sat
• Website: https://realchilimilwaukee.com

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