If you had never had Cincinnati Chili and followed anyone’s homemade recipe you would have absolutely no idea whether you are tasting anything similar to the road food chili parlor commercial varieties. I do find the addition of the onions directly in the sauce confusing because they are also an added optional condiment as is the cheese. I don’t remember onions as part of the Skyline Chili sauce (maybe because I smothered it with chopped onions) so would think maybe the addition as an optional uncooked chopped onion condiment would satisfy those that wanted it but would not change the chili experience itself. But the garlic and tomato sauce are integral to the recipe. I suspect without the tomato sauce you might be getting closer to a Loosemeat experience. Then what’s the point? It thus would not be Cincinnati Chili.