# Chili size **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 15, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769 "2005-12-15T18:53:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/1 "2005-12-15T18:53:22Z")
Why’s it called that? A burger with chili is a chiliburger. But serve it open-faced, and it’s a ‘chili size’. ‘Size’ seems to mean ‘open-faced sandwich’ in this case. But we don’t say ‘turkey size’. (Unless it has chili on it?) So what does ‘size’ mean, and why is it called a ‘chili size’? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/2 "2005-12-15T18:57:36Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Why’s it called that? Where **is** it called that? I’ve never encountered the phrase “chili size” before. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/3 "2005-12-15T18:58:22Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Where **is** it called that? I’ve never encountered the phrase “chili size” before. Me neither. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/4 "2005-12-15T18:59:22Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Where **is** it called that? I’ve never encountered the phrase “chili size” before. Maybe it’s a Left Coast thing, then? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/5 "2005-12-15T19:05:38Z")
[I may have answered my own question](http://www.lincolnheightsla.com/bitsnpieces/): > [@](#): > > Was a 24-hour L.A. chili parlor with the wonderful in-your-face name Ptomaine Tommy’s. > He invented the chili size, a burger patty smothered in chili (chili burger), in the 1920s. > His real name was Tommy DeForest, and from 1913 to 1958, he was the major-domo of local burgerdom. > More than likely, DeForest, who claimed Mae West and Mary Pickford as regulars, was the restaurateur who popularized the ladling of a masa-thickened, beanless chili on a burger. > > Ptomaine Tommy, once proprietor of the largest and best known chili parlor in the city. Ptomaine Tommy served straight chili and a Southwestern variation, a hamburger smothered with chili. He had two ladles, a large and a small. When a customer ordered straight chili, he got out the large ladle. When he wanted the other, he usually said “Hamburger size.” So Ptomaine Tommy put up one sign that read HAMBURGER SIZE 15¢, and another that read CHILI SIZE 20¢. Other chili joints followed suit and before long chili was known throughout Los Angeles as “size”. They’d say, “Just gimme a bowl of size.” ---
**Author:** ![Pietro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@Pietro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pietro)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/6 "2005-12-15T19:12:42Z")
You guys ever heard of Google? A search for “chili size” will get you the etymology of this strange phrase (which, as a Northern Californian, I had never heard before either). See e.g. [http://www.chilicookoff.com/History/History\_Started.asp](http://www.chilicookoff.com/History/History_Started.asp) although it doesn’t really explain how the described dish came to be known as “chili size” rather than what would seem more obvious – “hamburger size.” ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/7 "2005-12-15T19:13:48Z")
Just got back from the left coast. After dozens of trips there, I finally learned about “The Hat”. When I hear “chili”, I think of The Hat now. Man, talk about slopping chili on stuff …they load it up! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/8 "2005-12-15T19:14:59Z")
Wow. I thought everybody knew about a “chili size.” It must _really_ be a Left Coast thing. But it does give me an idea for lunch! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/9 "2005-12-15T19:16:33Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > Just got back from the left coast. After dozens of trips there, I finally learned about “The Hat”. > > When I hear “chili”, I think of The Hat now. Man, talk about slopping chili on stuff …they load it up! Lucky you! “The Hat” is something that everybody should experience at least once. Did you try the chili cheese fries? Huge, they are. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/10 "2005-12-15T19:18:47Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Wow. I thought everybody knew about a “chili size.” It must _really_ be a Left Coast thing. But it does give me an idea for lunch! 😃 Or breakfast (five minutes ago). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/11 "2005-12-15T21:12:16Z")
> [@Pietro](#): > > You guys ever heard of Google? Thanks for the help – I didn’t know this either – but as a Guest, you should learn that a condescending “Ever heard of Google?” attitude won’t win you any friends here. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/12 "2005-12-15T21:22:29Z")
Plus, half the reason some of us ask questions like this is for the “value added” posts by others. It’s fun watching the twists a simple question can elicit. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/13 "2005-12-15T21:25:24Z")
OK what is “The Hat” and if you think that is goggleable you have better google-fu than me. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/14 "2005-12-15T21:36:19Z")
[The Hat.](http://www.thehat.com/) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/15 "2005-12-15T21:58:14Z")
More importantly, does the chili have beens in it? Is the stuff tomato based? These are the _important_ questions, daggnabit! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/16 "2005-12-15T22:09:40Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > More importantly, does the chili have beens in it? Is the stuff tomato based? These are the _important_ questions, daggnabit! I just called the Upland restaurant, and the answers to these vital questions are: No and No. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/17 "2005-12-16T00:53:22Z")
I knew exactly what a chili size is, I’ve been eating them from Ma’s Place in Puyallup for years. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/18 "2005-12-16T01:00:45Z")
> [@Pietro](#): > > A search for “chili size” will get you the etymology of this strange phrase (which, as a Northern Californian, I had never heard before either). Strangely, I never heard the term _until_ I moved to Northern California. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/19 "2005-12-16T01:34:48Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Lucky you! “The Hat” is something that everybody should experience at least once. Did you try the chili cheese fries? Huge, they are. Ate the chili fries at The Hat I did. With cheese. A meal within itself (but I had the Pastrami Dip, too). Dang good sodas, too. Chili don’t need no stinkin’ beans! ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769/20 "2005-12-16T04:40:29Z")
Hey, **Johnny** , thanks for asking about this. I’ve wondered ever since I moved to Pasadena for college in 1977. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/335769.md?page=2)