I can't say I disagree with them. Chili should be served righteously in a bowl and placed at their spots at the table. Condiments like hawt sauce, beans, cheese, sour cream and etc should be placed within reach of them......
I've been walking this Earth dang near a half century. I've had......and made....tons of good chili. The best of which was made with Gebhart's chili powder.
Other:
Chunked chuck, ground beef, and a small amount of lean ground pork. I also blend my own chili powder to my personal taste liking. Beans don't matter to me, for the most part, I add some, but I also make batches without beans for chili burgers, chili dogs, and for use on nachos and such.
I prefer coarse ground beef w/beans. Don't get me wrong, i can make a good Texas red with chunked smoked brisket or chunked chuck, but i prefer the coarse ground beef with homemade dried chili paste and rough chopped stewed tomatoes. Its important to add the stewed tomatoes in the last 15 minutes of the simmer. Otherwise they cook too far down and its no longer chili.
Years ago marlboro sent me a recipe book called 50 greatest chili recipes. There's one called sedona sunset chili. It has beans and ground beef. I love it. I tend to shy away from recipes that have a ton of ingredients as all of them in this book do. Sedona sunset has the fewest. It's very hardy and filling, although some may say it's more of a stew than chili.
Even though I voted for beef, ground beef and beans, my favorite is ground beef with no beans. But, if i'm making something for me to eat, it will always be green chile stew with round steak, lots of hot green chile, potatos, tomatos, etc. The other stuff is for frito pie or hot dogs imho. p/s without beans, that's a separate side.