The spirit of the original chili queens of late 1800s San Antonio was renewed at the Bonham Exchange on Fiesta’s first Sunday — but with a distinctly different flavor.
The 16th annual Chili Queens Chili Cook-Off and Tackiest Queen Contest took place next door to the Alamo, where chili queens of old once plied their spicy trade and introduced the rest of the country to what became a ubiquitous Tex-Mex food staple.
At the LGBTQ-friendly nightclub Bonham Exchange, four groups of contestants, each represented by a gaudily dressed drag queen, vied for top honors. The queens touted their group’s recipe while also competing for the Tackiest Queen award.
Organizer Thomas Moore, son of Bonham Exchange owner and official Chili Queen Commissioner Joan Duckworth, told of the history of the chili queens selling their wares in Market Square and Military Plaza and said the event is meant to honor their legacy.
“We just expanded on what it means to be a queen,” Moore said.
Moore’s first cook-off experience was in 2007, when he entered as a contestant. He didn’t win first place, but the following year he played both roles as chili cook and tacky queen and won both contests. Trained in the culinary arts at St. Philip’s College, Moore said the secret to his recipe was adding “a very dark chocolate,” to add richness and an “almost mole feel to it.”
Moore took on organizing responsibilities, and within five years Duckworth successfully campaigned for the Fiesta Commission to add it as an official Fiesta event. Like other events during the “party with a purpose,” as the 10-day-long citywide festival is colloquially known, all proceeds from the cook-off go to nonprofit organizations. Annually, chili cook-off beneficiaries are the San Antonio AIDS Foundation and Fiesta Youth.
Moore said the purpose of the cook-off is to join the Fiesta celebration, to honor an important San Antonio historical legacy, and to have some tasty fun. But the underlying goal is to benefit the community, in the spirit of Bonham Exchange founder Arthur P. “Hap” Veltman, an important figure in the San Antonio LGBTQ community.
“If we’re not doing something to benefit the community, then we’re off message,” Moore said.
Papel picado and peppers
At least 200 revelers crowded the Bonham’s backyard patio, resplendent with papel picado fluttering in the late-day breezes. Attendees made hungry by wafts of savory chili aromas lined up at four tents as cooks and their assistants — family members, in most cases — busily spooned their steaming concoctions into tasting cups.
Robbie Rodgers in the first tent usually works as the chef of Corazon Ministries, a nonprofit headquartered at Travis Park Church that provides support to people experiencing homelessness. On Sunday he started at 9 a.m. roasting pork butt rubbed with French roast dark coffee grounds, salt and pepper before adding it to his piquant mixture of pasilla, ancho, morita and pickled piquin peppers garnished with pomegranate fruits and juniper berries.
In the second tent, six-year cookoff veterans and onetime second-place winners Paul and Alicia Rodriguez prepared bowls of fragrant steak and Kiolbassa sausage-centered chili, intent on taking first place this time.
The third tent maintained a significant hype presence with multiple supporters chanting “No. 3!” repeatedly, their energies centered around first-time competitor Katy Rose Delgado’s collaborative chili recipe made with the assistance of her father Robert Stevens, who insisted that chili was not proper chili without a touch of beer — though he politely declined to divulge the brand of Mexican beer used to flavor their recipe.
The fourth tent was a family affair, at once celebratory and grieving for the loss of family member David Van Os, whom spouse Rachel Barrios-Van Os said was her biggest fan and supporter throughout their marriage — and chief enjoyer and encourager of her chili-making — before his death in January.
Barrios-Van Os said the signature tanginess in her recipe derived from a special preparation: “I chopped my garlic yesterday and kept it in a jar of organic olive oil overnight, and it really absorbed.”
Daughter Maya encouraged her mom to create a vegan version alongside her usual chili, both recipes rich with a mix of pinto and black beans and the addition of hominy, which some revelers recognized as an unusual but tasty ingredient.
Texture, flavor, tradition
Moore assembled a panel of five chili judges, among them Fiesta royalty Isidor “Izzy” Herrera, Visit San Antonio’s River Walk King 2023, and Shining Nathan, a TikTok creator on the verge of attracting his 1 millionth follower.
During the judging, Herrera divulged that his favorite was the chili cooked by Barrios-Van Os, in part because of the hominy’s toothy texture.
Outside, attendee Brandon Brewer said he discovered the event on the Fiesta schedule and came because he loves chili. After sampling, he said his people’s choice vote would go to the Rodriguezes’ chili for its inclusion of beans and spicy flavor.
Kat Burke sat smoking a cigarette at a yellow-painted picnic table on the patio, regarding a tall stack of empty tasting cups. “We tried everything twice to make sure,” she said.
Her vote also went to the Rodriguez tent. She appreciated the mix of meats and the offering of cornbread to go along with the chili.
“It had a little of everything and I thought it had the best flavor,” she said. She appreciated Rodgers’ presentation with its elaborate garnishes, and Barrios-Van Os’ chili was her second choice, but the meaty dish cooked by the Rodriguezes had the chili taste she looked for.
“I would go back to No. 2 over and over again,” Burke said.
Can’t say no to grandma
The judges agreed.
After a series of local drag queens lip-synched along to driving popular songs to energize the awards ceremony — collecting cash bills in copious amounts for the event’s designated charities — emcee Elena Marquez awarded the Tackiest Queen sash to Lyn-Z Andrews, who represented the Rodriguez team as a garish, maraca-shaking abuela, saying “you can’t say no to grandma.”
Moore then took the mic and told the boisterous crowd that Paul Rodriguez had been reluctant to enter the competition until informed that the winner would receive a rhinestone-studded wrestling-style championship belt, in addition to the $150 award.
Belt in hand and beaming, Rodriguez embraced Alicia and held the glittering award aloft. They dedicated their win to their mom, April, who was also celebrating her birthday.
Barrios-Van Os took the second place trophy and $100 dollar prize, surrounded by friends and family giving well-wishes as she wiped emergent tears from the corners of her eyes.
The recent death of her husband had her a little off her game today, she said, but “in his heart, I’ll always be No. 1.”
Barrios-Van Os hopes one day soon to open her own food truck to offer her chili to whoever might appreciate her tangy mix of herbs, spices, olive oil-soaked garlic and hominy. Amid the rising din of a celebratory Bonham Exchange crowd, she regarded her second-place trophy and said, “This is an inspiration for me to keep on trying.”
