"Chili masters" Fred and Jim Parker, the brothers behind the successful restaurant chain Hard Times Café, served up chili and cooking tips at a free seminar on Saturday, Jan. 29.
The Parkers, who opened their first Hard Times Café in 1980 in Alexandria, offered a three-hour chili-cooking seminar at the Springfield Hard Times, located in the Springfield Plaza shopping center. The free seminar showed the 60+ participants how to prepare step-by-step the original and "Terlingua Red" chili varieties, for which the restaurant has become nationally recognized. All participants took home recipes. The event was designed as a kick-off to the celebration of the restaurant's 25th anniversary this year.