Chili Cookoff!

Vote for your favorite. We liked No. 4 the best, upper right.  No.8 was more appealing, and good too.

"I Can't Believe It's Not Badder" is the name of the Korean Rabbit 
Hole restaurant concoction. -- Not very good-looking and a bit muddy.
We gave it a 4 on a scale of 10.

While waiting for the new shelves drying in a closet upstairs, the painter checked out the Midtown Global Market today to see just what the line was about. It was a competition to see who makes the best chili. A dozen restaurants and food vendors vie for top honors.
Get in line, fork over $5 and sample away.
About half of the concoctions were predictable, but there were some surprises as well.
Jakeeno's Trattoria had the best-looking offering, a Smoked Chicken and White Bean Chili that stood up nicely.  Pham's Rice Bowl produced an Aztec Chicken chili and got a "7 Rating" from your taster.
But the best all around honors went to the Sabbai Cuisine's Beef Red Curry Chili, an outstanding mix of heat and body with a sweet surprise popping from kernels of fresh corn that gave just the right balance of sugar and spice.
Other notables included the Eastlake Craft Brewery's unimaginatively named Eastlake Chili and an outstanding entry from Fresco's Italian Pasta Bar and its "Italian Chili" that rated a seven.
Sampling a dozen chilis is a bit of a challenge to the palate and, eventually at least, to the stomach.
We do it so that you don't have to.

Paint was dry by the time the chili was finished and judged. Back to work on a full stomach.
(Where does Dan keep the Tums?).