Mike's Chili Parlor

Ballard, Seattle · Diner · $$

The chili parlor was a working-class American format that mostly died out west of Chicago, and Ballard has kept one running since 1922, when the Semandiris family opened near the shipyards. The chili is meat only, simmered to a recipe four generations have declined to revise; beans exist, but they go in the bowl underneath rather than in the pot. Take it over spaghetti, or on a burger, and sit at the bar.