Hard Times Chili Spice Company offers the best quality chili spice mixes like Terlingua Chili, cincinnati chili mix, chili vinegar. Our blends give you a direct connection to this uniquely American tradition. Browse our wide range of authentic chili products at an affordable price. Fred and Jim Parker – brothers and Hard Times Cafe’s founders. In the mid 1960s, Fred and Jim Parker discovered the Texas Chili Parlor of Washington, D.C. on Pennsylvania Avenue. The place only served straight chili, chili with beans, chili dogs and chili mac. That was it. Open until 3 a.m., it was a favorite hangout for cabbies, policeman, reporters and other folks working the graveyard shift. The Texas Chili Parlor also had a high-profile clientele: David Brinkley was a regular, as was President Truman.