4-12-19 Champps – Eden Prairie, MN

Been off for a while so glad to be back. Have to say I’ve probably had this chili at Champps around 30 times. It has changed over time, a little for the worse. It used to have a lot more cheese and came out piping hot with the cheese melted under the broiler.

The chili this time was a hair on the bland side, no real hint of any spice standing out. There used to be a little hint of almost a cinnamon type flavor which gave it a real nice flavor profile. The overall consistency of meat/bean/sauce is excellent and a great value for $5.00, just wanted something more in lines of flavor. Maybe this was just an off batch so of course I’ll try again.

Overall taste 🌶🌶🌶🌶4/10

Spice Level 🌶🌶2/10

Heat Level 🌶1/10

IT Factor 🌶🌶🌶3/10

Value 🌶🌶🌶🌶4/10

4-1-19 Portillo’s Roseville, MN


Well…I went into this hearing the chili wasn’t great and that is what I felt too after eating it. It comes stock with cheese and raw onions and the onions were the highlight! First off the plastic spoon was absolutely terrible. Imagine cutting a small ball in half and that was about the shape. You couldn’t get your top lip to contort enough to scoop out so you kind of had to pour it in your mouth. I was just plain messy with that and the melted cheese strings. I was trying to come up with the flavor profile and it was akin to canned chili/burnt chili powder/bad beans. I assume it is made in some central area and shipped to restaurants? Maybe it was burned on the warming table? Either way it really lacked flavor, zip and any real chili qualities. Take the base of what you got and throw in a handful of paprika, ancho chili powder or jalapenos or something to amp it up

Overall taste 🌶🌶2/10

Spice Level 🌶🌶2/10

Heat Level 🌶1/10

IT Factor 🌶🌶2/10

Value 🌶🌶🌶🌶4/10

3-28-19 Revival St. Paul

Wow…this was good chili. “Brisket chili” as they say was just off the charts with flavor. It actually had a nice kick to it as well which I haven’t got in a while. Came stock with sour cream, cheese and cornbread croutons. The brisket was kind of like a pulled meat consistency, not cut into cubes like competition chili. Overall though this covered all the bases…great sauce, excellent chili flavor and other spices, heat, and a hint of tomato flavor. Just had a bowl and no cups as far as I could tell so this could easily have a been a full meal. They have a lot of great stuff on the menu but I’d definitely go back just for the chili.

Overall taste 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶9/10

Spice level 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶8/10

Heat level 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶6/10

IT Factor 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶8/10

Value 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶6/10

3/28/19 Dave’s Downtown – Minneapolis (skyway)

First time at this place and actually first time seeing it as I haven’t been at this particular area of the skyway system. Came on a recommendation from a friend. I was in the “wrap” section and saw they also had chili so of course I’m gonna give it a whirl. First off it was only $2.75 which was great and I got a dollar discount for not getting a side, so I guess it came out to $1.75. My diet Dew was $2.25 so obviously a nice value for a cup of chili.

I should have asked for no cheese to taste in it’s purest form but there wasn’t too much on it. First off there was a little kick, which was finally nice to get. There was a pretty even battle between that nice chili flavor and a tomato flavor. If I had to pick a winner I’d give the nod to more chili flavor which was very good. Hard to tell if this is some store bought brand but I’d say no based on the few big chunks of tomato in there. My only knock would be that some of the beans got to be a little mushy. Overall…very good marks.

Overall taste 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶7/10

Spice Level 🌶🌶🌶🌶4/10

Heat Level 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶5/10

IT Factor 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶5/10

Value 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶8/10

3-26-19 Scoreboard – Minnetonka, MN

Hey everyone! This one had me intrigued right away based on appearance. And, before I get into the chili, I have to say I really liked the spoon. Not sure what it was but it seems like the shape was a perfect fit for the cup.

Normally I wouldn’t put jalapenos on my chili but I tried as is. It took me 3-4 bites to figure out some of the flavor profiles. The jalapenos seemed to give it a little bit of a sweetness so I was wondering if they were marinated vs raw. They almost had a kind of green olive component. The gave the chili more of an “Italian” flare, almost bordering on a marinara/chili hybrid. Bottom line is I really liked it. It was different yet very tasty. The jalapenos didn’t give it a lot of heat at all. It could have had a tad more chili powder but I’m not splitting hairs. I would definitely get this again, maybe a bowl next time.

Overall taste 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 9/10

Spice Level 🌶🌶🌶 🌶🌶5/10

Heat Level 🌶🌶🌶3/10

IT Factor 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶7/10

Value 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶6/10 cup could have been a little bigger

3-20-19 Green Mill Shoreview, MN

Nice experience at Green Mill! For being a place that is more noted for pizza/Italian they came to bat with a solid chili. No sides except for a packet of saltines but I really wouldn’t have added any cheese or sour cream or onions.

Good thickness so it was pretty hearty. Adding saltines might have made it too thick. It had a great chili taste and good tomato flavor. As with most chain restaurants the heat level is going to be moderate but the flavor definitely outweighed that. Real nice mix of meat/beans. I personally like more meat than beans so this filled that need. Overall…2 thumbs up.

One caveat is that I’m guessing it might be something they bought and heated up instead of made from scratch but until someone tells me otherwise I’ll just say good job.

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3-19-19 Lucky 13 Mendota Heights

This one had me a little perplexed. At first sight I was pretty stoked with the cheese baked on top and a nice side of sour cream if I chose to us it (I didn’t). When I busted through the layer of cheese the colors looked like it was lacking paprika or chili powder or any type of tomato sauce or paste…so basically not a lot of that reddish, chili hue. There were nice sized chunks of meat, a few large pieces of tomato, kidney beans and what looked like black beans. I was tasting more of a cumin type flavor and not a lot of traditional chili flavor…then I got to a heavy dose of Frito taste. There was a lot of Fritos in there. Not sure if the were sprinkled on top then the cheese baked over it? Regardless, it overtook the taste of the chili. If the description on the menu said “Fritos included” I would have said no thanks. Outside of that it didn’t have much heat and there was some flavor but not what I was after. Value… $6.79 for a cup but it was pretty big, almost a bowl so very good bang for your buck.

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3-17-19 Lunds/Byerlys Frozen

Thought I’d start a category for products you can by at a store either canned or frozen or maybe a “chili starter” kit.

I’ve had Byerly’s chili a number of times and on occasion I’ve done some doctoring to jazz it up. For this review, just had it plain.

For a store bought, mass-produced chili I am giving this pretty high marks. The overall taste was solid, hints of tomato, a little sweetness, touch of chili powder flavor. It has a pretty good ratio of meat to beans and the sauce had a not too thick consistency. Most of the meat was smaller, not a lot of big chunks. I think this will please the masses but if you want to get some heat/extra spice have a few things on hand to add. I’ll usually add some extra chili powder or smoked paprika.

For value I recommend buying there when you can get the 4/5 for $10, which is a great deal.

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3-1-19 Oak Eatery

3-1-19 Hamel, Mn

Went here for breakfast and they were nice enough to make the chili for me even though it wasn’t supposed to be ready until lunch. I was really impressed with my cup! It wasn’t thick where the spoon stands up on its own, just liquid enough where you can dunk some bread 🥖 and get some good sauce. This had a good tomato, chili seasoning and pork taste. I have to say this was one of my favorite cups of chili in the past few years.

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