clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Watch: Tasting a Spicy 'Bowl of Red' at Austin’s Texas Chili Parlor

According to Texans, we’ve been doing chili all wrong

It's hard to imagine Texas without chili. On this week’s episode of Dining on a Dime: Austin, host Lucas Peterson dives deep into a classic "bowl of red" — chili that leans heavily on roughly chopped meat and spicy chilies. Any true Texan will tell you that other ingredients in a bowl of chili are superfluous, and that real chili doesn’t require anything as fancy as beans or corn that would pull the focus away from the hearty meat and chilies.

The Texas Chili Parlor, located on Lavaca Street in downtown Austin near the state’s capitol, has been dishing out true Texas chili for decades. It’s a funky restaurant and dive bar which once served as a film location for Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, among other movies, and attracts locals with its cheap drinks and good food. Watch Peterson sample some of the Parlor's hot and spicy wares , including the three grades of chili, up to "XXX" level of hotness. Will he survive and make it out with his tastebuds intact?

More episodes of Dining on a Dime | Subscribe to Eater on Youtube