JC’s Just Chili

In short, I tried 2 different types of chili. At a price of $ 12 per cup for frozen chili, I figured this chili has to be out of this world! But it is just OK. Not a taste that you just crave for more. Ultimately the $ 12 price for one cup, and it’s frozen. I would expect more for that steep of price.

I wanted to like this place, I really did. I went in and was blown away at the high prices. We’re talking twice as expensive as any other soup offerings — and they are served only cold.
Buying in bulk also doesn’t offer any savings somehow.
Chili was good, so two stars… but wow, disappointing. Owners super nice too, so hopefully they can take this advice and turn it into a place people will go once a week.

Such great service and delicious chili and coney sauce! Baked goods are awesome!!! Had a great time while in there today! You can’t afford not to stop in and try free samples!!! Definitely ON THE LIST!

Wonderful little chili place, with delicious chili and friendly people. The corn bread is awesome, as are the baked goods, and the chili and gazpacho soup were great. The prices are a bit high, but we will definitely be back! Love the free samples and extremely friendly owner as well!

Being a Texan I’m picky about chili. This was the best, better than mine. We purchased every item they had and enjoyed them all. The vegan was even good and that comes from a big fan of beef. We took the frozen chili home and had it heated and ready to eat in five minutes. Will certainly be back. Great friendly people and great food.

Welllll, I’m not sure exactly where to begin except to say that my excitement about this place crashed and burned pretty hard when I got home and made my chili. I didn’t realize that my 8oz beef chili was frozen solid, and when I put it into my bowl to microwave it, I realized how small 8oz actually is. When I make chili, I guess I normally eat about twice as much. So basically, a full bowl of frozen chili would end up costing me $ 12.50!!! The $ 6.75 8oz portion was enough to make me really hungry when I finished it.
Next problem: the taste. The sample I had in the store was decent enough. Not very spicy, but it had a decent flavor. I don’t know if something happened in the freezing process, or it was just because it’s cooked in small batches, but my ½ bowl of frozen chili was completely flavorless.
The saving grace was the cornbread. It was moist and delicious. Please just get your chili game together, guys. I’m not trying to knock a small business that you’re obviously working very hard on. I’m hoping this review helps you get better.

Found JC’s on Unilocal looking for something to grab for lunch and thought Chili sounded fantastic. I overshot the location because it’s in a hard to notice corner of a C-​shaped strip of tiny storefronts, right at the corner of North Star and W 5^th. Having only glanced at the listing, this just isn’t what I expected.
Walking up, the first thing that struck me was that there was no seating whatsoever. Once inside, this made sense as it was explained that they currently only offer their chili refrigerated or frozen. I was told the ability to serve hot food would have cost them «$ 25,000 in plumbing upgrades». We have plenty of commercial grade microwaves at my work, so this didn’t really dismay me.
What did turn my head, however, was the price. A single serving of chili was only $ 6.50, about on point for most fast meals around the city (but a tad more than you’d pay for a bowl at most restaurants). But if I’m buying it cold and have to heat it anyway, I may as well buy enough for later too, right? Well, I bought a full quart — and that set me back 22 dollars!
Frankly, it’s crazy. Rather than spend $ 25k more in start up money so you can serve hot food, you have made the decision to sell cold food that I have to cook. This means your competition is my grocery store. Why on earth should I spend this kind of money on a meal I have to prepare myself when I can buy 8 pounds of chili for that price at the grocery (I’m thinking of Amy’s organic chili here, so arguably better quality)? The price break for buying large quantities should be much larger.
The chili itself wasn’t bad, but if you’ve ever been to a chili cook-​off, you’ve had better. I wondered to myself about what has to transpire for someone to think that their chili is good enough to mass produce and sell, and I thought «this person must have all kinds of people telling them how good this chili is», but I just don’t get it.
I realize people pour their hearts into starting a small business like this, and I am sympathetic to that. I also hate to come in here with however many hundreds of reviews and 60 Unilocal fans, laying down the hammer on a new business with just a handful of reviews, but your money is seriously better spent elsewhere. I feel like a host on American Idol or something. JC’s just got it wrong. I imagine the idea was serve cold, build a following, make money, then upgrade plumbing and serve hot food. But I don’t see it happening. Kudos to them if they prove me wrong.

Be warned — this place is TAKE OUT ONLY. The chili comes in prepacked containers to take home cold (They have 4 pots of their heated chili for free sampling, though).
This is GREAT chili, and worth the visit. I will tell you why:
1) The food. They have 4 styles and some baked goods (different cornbreads, cookies, etc.) All 4 styles were really good, but the I was especially impressed with the classic beef chili. The beef is not ground meat like most chili, but instead cubes of really tender steak. I’ve heard that this makes chili less fatty, but also not as tasty. In this case it was DEFINITELY full flavor and I loved it. I wish I could put this on a sandwich it was so good. The Coney sauce (no, they don’t have hot dogs yet) was my favorite and it was thicker/​less greasy than the types I’ve had before. Chicken and Vegan were also very well flavored, with the Vegan tasting a bit tangier/​sweeter than the others.
2) The philosophy. They aren’t part of the «farm to table» movement and they probably have some room to improve how they communicate their healthy angle, but they CLEARLY believe in transparency as evidenced by their prominent display of all the nutritional facts and ingredients in large letters on their menu. The gentleman at the counter also talked to me for a while about their recipes, and while I’m not Food Babe it sure seemed to me like they were using the healthiest sources available for their ingredients. When we were talking about the steak cubes and Vegan soy crumbles, it was also obvious to me that making the chili as low-​cal as possible while still achieving great flavors was very important to them.
3) They’re friendly. I’m sure people will not go to a take-​out-​only chili place for the great service, but it’s still appreciated when you feel welcome and encouraged to try as much of their food as you want. The owner talked to me for close to 10 minutes and was completely transparent about everything they do to their food. He seemed genuinely happy to be serving people and after trying the food I hope this place is a success.
I, for one, will be back for more and I hope to see them offering some kind of catering deals during tailgate season. Bread bowls anyone?

I ordered the Beef chili and it was full of cubed sirloin steak pieces, diced peppers, and beans. This chili is extremely meaty and hearty. $ 6 for 8oz, $ 12 for 16oz. It seems pricey but you really get a quality meal. In addition to the beef chili they also have chicken, vegan, and cony sauce. They also sell cookies and jalapeño corn bread. I’ll definitely be going back.