This column originally appeared in our May 13-26 print edition. Check out the edition online here and find where you can get a print edition near you here.
Thanks for joining me again for another issue of The Heart of The Queen City. Last time, we dove into the story of Pata Roja, a team that is writing the next chapter of the Cincinnati culinary experience. Today, I want to tell you about a group that started the book.
Now, let me start by saying, I pride myself on being a certified Cincinnati chili hound.
From the day I was old enough to eat anything beyond baby food, our family was loading up the car for Skyline’s “kids eat free” Wednesday. In the summers of my middle school years, children from the neighborhood and I would count the pennies from our summer jobs and make the pilgrimage to Empress Chili in Alexandria for its “all you can eat 3-way” special. In retrospect, riding your bike home in the 95-plus-degree heat after eating your body weight in noodles, chili and cheese may not have been the best life choice.
All that to say, Cincinnati chili is in my veins. Probably literally at this point. The only white whale I had left with the parlors in town was Camp Washington Chili. So naturally, I loaded up my trusty Honda Civic with my buddy Phil to remedy the issue.
The first post-smell green flag of Camp Washington was its bartop, which appeared to be straight out of 1955 yet somehow remained in pristine condition. Seating options like that don’t come around every day, so naturally, we spun two swivel stools and settled in. I placed my order (a 3-way and a cheese coney with light onion — the only proper first order at a chili parlor. Yes, I will die on this hill) and we were in business.
Then came Johnny.
As we sat waiting for our food to arrive, an older gentleman stepped out of the kitchen area with a bowl of chili and a salad on a tray and asked if he could join us for his lunch break. I obliged his half-joking request, and he introduced himself as Johnny Johnson.
“You’re about a month early for Opening Day, you know,” Johnny joked — a comment on my Reds sweatshirt. Seeing a guy decked out in Reds gear in June is business as usual, but it’s a noteworthy sight in February.
We sat and discussed the specifics of the upcoming season. The expectations that we had for certain players and the hope we had for another playoff birth. Hope that had been few and far between in my lifetime, but that was not the case for Johnny. In fact, his time as a Reds fan came complete with plenty of championships, including those won by what might be the greatest baseball team of all-time: The Big Red Machine. Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez and plenty more men who have plaques outside of the Great American Ballpark today. “There was nothing better than those days back in the late ’60s. We’d work the morning shift here and cut out to catch the back end of a doubleheader at Crosley for only a couple bucks.”
As it turned out, Johnny was far more than the sweet gentleman we had the pleasure of breaking bread with; he was also Cincinnati chili royalty. He had been in the chili business nearly his entire life and was no small part of the reason it has become such a Cincinnati staple. As we sat captivated, he gave us a few of his best stories over the last several decades of business.
We consumed our coneys with more laughs than I could count, bade Johnny adieu and headed south toward Kentucky with one consensus thought: “That could not have gone any better.” The space, the food, and, of course, Johnny. Sadly, Johnny Johnson passed away in October last year, just a few days after his 90th birthday. As much as he will be missed, I’m certain he is proud to see the business continue to thrive thanks to his family members, who are continuing the tradition exactly as he built it.
That day was the only time I ever spent any real time with Johnny, but I’ll never forget it. To see a man with his character build such an incredible business was nothing short of an honor. If there’s anything I want to get across in this Heart of The Queen City series, it’s this: There are some fantastic individuals in this town who want to give you an experience you won’t find anywhere else. Let’s find them together.
This article appears in May 13-19, 2009.