For a little peek into my review process I want to share with everyone how I go about preparing for a visit to a restaurant. Like many of you, I type in the name of the eatery, look for the place’s website (If they have one), check out the various City Search, AOL and NWSource links and read the reader generated comments. I try to remain as objective as possible, taking in all viewpoints and just getting a general idea of what to expect from my upcoming visit. I like being as prepared as possible. In researching Mike’s Chili Parlor I came across one readers comment of, “as soon as I walked in I wanted to barf”. This struck me hard. I mean, I’ve eaten in some dives where the cleanliness was below fair but I’ve never been anywhere that, immediately upon entering, made me want to be sick. I’d driven by Mike’s, numerous times and, yeah, it’s not Canlis; it is what it is, a bar, but could it really be that much of a hole. As objective as I wanted to be I couldn’t help but be a little nervous as I parked my car and stepped across the street to the little brick building sitting beside the Ballard Bridge.

The corner upon which Mike’s Chili Parlor sits is something of an oasis. I say this because the rest of the block is, literally, missing. Around the sides and back construction is moving at a furious (And sometimes noticeably felt) pace. Mike’s is also an oasis in that it remains true to its roots in that it doesn’t try to be more than a bar that serves chili and sandwiches. Upon crossing the threshold, instead of being greeted by grease, trash and insect laden fly strips as my imagination had led me to believe I’d see, what I saw a near miniscule pub. A bar slash kitchen was placed to the left, a row of booths to the right, pool table and games to the back of the bar and stand-up counter down the middle of the room. I could imagine, back in the days before the indoor smoking prohibition, this space would be chokingly dense with smoke but today, the air was pleasant and cool. I choose a booth seat and almost as quickly as I sat down someone was at my elbow ready to take my drink and dinner order.

With none of Mike’s options being more than $7.50 I decided to take on a couple of selections. The obvious choice of Chili ($3.25/Cup, $4.25/Bowl) was one; the other was from the sandwich side of the menu, Grilled Cheese ($3.75). Not so much Texas chili nor is this chili Cincinnati-style, the “cup of red” you get at Mike’s Chili Parlor is more of an everyman chili. The bowl arrived meaty and slightly soupy with just a hint of a grease ring around the edge. Some people may be turned off by that but it’s a good sign that the ground beef has a good fat content and will not be dry or tough. And it was not, the meat had been slow-cooked long enough to turn it into fine particles that mixed with the somewhat sweet, slightly spicy broth and the low ratio of beans. To many from Texas the addition of beans is sacrilege but to those of us outside of the Longhorn state beans add a welcome counterpoint a bowl of spiced meat. The kidney beans in this bowl were nicely cooked with a bit of resistance to the tooth while at the same time being nicely tender. Mike’s chili comes with a few options, all of which I added to my bowl. Much like the minced meat the options come finely processed as well. The cheese has a fine grate that allows it to melt homogenously with the chili, tempering the spice and thickening it slightly. The onions give the bowl a fresh vegetal crunch while the jalapenos, with their pickled brininess, gave an added punch of piquant-ness and an interesting pucker from the pickling juice. While not made with exotic cave-aged Gruyere cheese but instead stuffed with several slices of, what I imagine was Kraft processed cheese, the sandwich was none-the-less fulfilling. The bread was grilled a beautiful shade of deep brown and was extra crispy on the edges, the slight greasiness from the butter giving me something to lick from my fingers once I’d eaten my way through the two halves.

So it turns out that, while not haute cuisine (obviously), Mike’s is not the nausea inducing spot that someone led me believe it was. What it is in fact is a long-time blue-collar BAR that happens to serve a mean bowl of chili. There are no frills, aside from each table having its own bottle of Tabasco ™ sauce, no fancy decor and no credit card machines (Though they do have an ATM - take cash). So Seattle, as the skies turn dark and the air fills with raindrops this Fall, take the time to stop into Mike’s for a belly warming bowl of everyman chili.