Ben's Chili Bowl

[MadamMillie]

The Bottomless Bowl of U Street

By Debbi Wilgoren

There seemed to be no empty buildings along U Street back in 1958,

when Ben and Virginia Ali first started serving chili dogs and chili

burgers at their red-and-white storefront next door to the Lincoln Theatre

in Northwest Washington.

Instead, there were doctors and lawyers and funeral homes, shops and

theaters, barbershops and clubs -- all owned or operated by African

Americans who in the dying days of segregation had little access to other

areas of downtown Washington.

"This was black folks' Main Street," said Butch Snipes, 68, a lifelong

neighborhood resident. "This was where everything happened."

Now 45 years have passed, and U Street has changed, and changed and

changed again.

The bustling storefronts became scarred shells -- some abandoned when

integration opened up opportunities elsewhere, others shuttered when

riots and crime descended on the street after the assassination of Martin

Luther King Jr. Later, scores of buildings were bulldozed to make way

for the construction of Metro's Green Line, and workers tore up

stretches of U Street, keeping out many of those still willing to walk past the

drug dealers.

Revival eventually took root. A few crumbling structures -- the

Lincoln Theatre among them -- were restored to their original grandeur. Some

more-modest spaces reopened as chic shops and cafes. Makeovers for

dozens more are on the drawing boards.

The wide-open parcels left by the Metro construction are buzzing with

crews and equipment and sprouting new offices, shops and high-end

apartments. Condos are selling faster that they can be built, for $300,000,

$600,000 and more.

Through it all, the Ali family has kept the grills going at Ben's

Chili Bowl, sustaining a landmark eatery known throughout the area and --

thanks to celebrity fans including Bill Cosby -- the world.

Tomorrow, the city will close the 1200 block of U Street for an

all-day anniversary party, with live radio broadcasts, speeches and visits by

politicians and special guests (yes, Cosby is expected), and the taping

of a documentary: "Ben's Chili Bowl -- A Story of the Nation's

Capital."

The mood will be festive, but there will also be an undercurrent of

concern. It buzzes almost constantly among the old-timers on U Street

these days. They know that Starbucks and Quiznos will soon open across the

street from Ben's, and they can't help but notice how often new faces

outnumber familiar ones, on the sidewalks and in the Bowl's red,

vinyl-upholstered booths.

"It's just, I guess, a gut uncertainty, because the neighborhood has

gone through so much already," said Nizam Ali, 33, the youngest of the

three Ali sons, who runs the restaurant with the middle son, Kamal.

He hastens to add that he is thrilled to have new patrons on U Street,

most who seem to enjoy the artery-clogging food at Ben's as much as the

generations that came before. The nostalgia, however, remains.

"You look at a community that's been there, and now that community is

gone. And that's unfortunate," Ali said. "It's kind of like saying

goodbye to an old friend . . . or an old memory."

A half-smoke (a plump pork-and-beef sausage) went for 20 cents in the

early days. A hot dog cost 15 cents. The sodas were O-So brand, orange

or grape, served in the bottle. Despite the restaurant's name, when it

opened Aug. 22, 1958, Ben's spicy chili was served only atop hot dogs,

half-smokes or hamburgers.

Bowls of chili came later, and such menu items as vegetarian chili and

turkey burgers showed up only in the past few years.

From the beginning, the booths and the stools at the counter were full

at lunchtime. In the evenings, the orders for carryout piled up.

There were always some white customers -- music lovers who came to U

Street to hear Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and other greats perform at

the legendary clubs and staff members from Children's Hospital, which

back then was located around the corner.

But mostly, U Street and Ben's Chili Bowl were filled with black

Washingtonians. The atmosphere, Virginia Ali recalled, was like a

never-ending family reunion. She couldn't run down the block to the drugstore

or

to the bank to make a deposit without being stopped by someone she

knew.

"It was a very close, comfortable, friendly neighborhood," she said.

She had met Ben Ali, an immigrant from Trinidad who had dropped out of

dental school at Howard University, while she was working as a teller

at the Industrial Bank of Washington, at 11th and U.

When he launched his restaurant at 1213 U St., in the old Minnehaha

silent movie theater that most recently had been a pool hall, she quit

her job to help out. They were married a couple of months later.

Virginia converted to Islam, her husband's religion. She worked the

day shift; he worked evenings and nights. Haidar was born two years after

the Chili Bowl opened; Kamal two years after that. By the time Nizam

was born, in 1970, the restaurant was 12 years old.

Much had changed on U Street.

The Bowl was one of the few businesses to stay open as riots engulfed

the neighborhood in 1968, triggered on the bleak April night when King

was slain. Stokely Carmichael, head of the Student Nonviolent

Coordinating Committee, used the restaurant as an outreach center, and a place

where his activists could get something to eat.

As the years passed, Ben's continued to operate, even when drug

peddling became the main activity on the block and, after that, when Metro

construction dislodged even the dealers and the junkies.

The Alis stopped selling homemade cakes and pies during the worst

years of the drug epidemic, because the sugary treats drew addicts to the

restaurant, Virginia Ali said. They closed early, because even the most

faithful customers wouldn't come onto U Street after dark.

When dealers started making surreptitious sales inside the restaurant,

Virginia Ali said, she arranged for D.C. police to set up surveillance

through a window in the upstairs office. Several arrests later, the

young men retreated to the corner.

The Chili Bowl was the only business on the block to survive

construction of the Green Line, which dragged on from 1986 until 1991.

Customers had no place to park except the seedy alleys off V Street,

and only a sliver of sidewalk remained open outside the front door. But

the Reeves Municipal Building had opened at 14th and U, and the Alis

had faith that the corridor would come back.

But they never envisioned that the neighborhood once known as the

Black Broadway would become one of the most sought-after residential areas

for a new generation of affluent, young urban dwellers -- mostly white,

many gay and few with much knowledge of what U Street once was.

"I am just in awe of what's happening here, and the prices . . .,"

Virginia Ali said.

There are the Harrison Square townhouses, built a few years ago where

Children's Hospital once stood, which at first sold for about $200,000

but now go for $500,000 or more. There are two-bedroom condominiums

being sold for $400,000 and rumors that the penthouses in some of the

buildings under construction are on the market for twice that amount.

Virginia Ali said it's about time the area made a comeback. "This is

the nation's capital. It never should have been allowed to get run down

for 25 years," she said.

Yet she also worries about the poor residents who have survived all

these years, but now are threatened by skyrocketing real estate taxes and

rent. There are efforts to preserve affordable housing and mom-and-pop

businesses in the neighborhood, and to include a few lower-priced units

in new residential developments. But the gentrification is

unmistakable.

"I'm on the board of directors at FLOC," she continued, referring to

the nonprofit group For Love of Children, which offers after-school

programs and summer camps right up the road. "I am often wondering, who are

we going to serve in 10 years?"

The clientele at Ben's is eclectic and unpredictable -- black and

white, young and old, yuppie and working-class. The construction crews show

up for breakfast. The club crowd comes in after midnight.

"Sometimes you look up and the whole place is white," said Virginia

Ali. "And then 45 minutes later you look up and the whole place is

black.."

Now 70, she still spends many hours at the restaurant each week,

although Kamal and Nizam are in charge. Ben, 76, usually keeps his distance,

but he will be there for tomorrow's celebration. Haidar, a musician,

lives in California and will not attend. He is close to the family, Nizam

said, but not to the business.

A little-publicized fact about the Ali family is this: Their Muslim

faith forbids them to eat pork. "I've never eaten a half-smoke in my

life," Nizam said.

The restaurant has the same 1950s feel it has always had, although the

sodas come in plastic cups. The dessert cases are back but no longer

sit on the counter, and the jukebox features CDs.

Workers this week rushed to finish a rear addition, designed to

accommodate the tourist groups and large parties that the Alis often have had

to turn away (not always, however -- one loyal customer has had her

birthday party at Ben's for 20 years, insisting on bringing her friends

there even when Metro construction made access almost impossible).

Virginia Ali said she is talking with local historians about setting

up a photo gallery in the new room that documents U Street's history.

It is important, she explained quietly, that those who are arriving

here understand all that used to be.

[vicman]

i'm still feeling the effects of ben's chili bowel from 2 weeks ago.

[eggmok]

hey millie, remember dottie, she lived in those condos right by ben's chili bowl 2 years ago. she sold her place in a year and got double what she paid because the place is boomin. we used to go to bens all the time. ben's is such a famous landmark for dc and u street is comin back.

[MadamMillie]

hi eggy!! that rocks! drinks on y'all next time?

[pgiddy]

I don't even like chili, but there chili is out of this world. I even had it for breakfast, haven't been there in a couple of yrs though

[vicman]

i thought it was OK. nothing out of this world, i've had better chili.

[pgiddy]

maybe I was still drunk, it was a Sat. morning, but I thought it was out of this world. Like I said I don't eat chili so maybe that's half of it. So it was out of this world, the best I've ever had

[eggmok]

Originally posted by pgiddy

maybe I was still drunk, it was a Sat. morning, but I thought it was out of this world. Like I said I don't eat chili so maybe that's half of it. So it was out of this world, the best I've ever had

when i'm drunk and hungry, anything i eat tastes like it's gourmet . . .

[vicman]

Originally posted by pgiddy

maybe I was still drunk, it was a Sat. morning, but I thought it was out of this world. Like I said I don't eat chili so maybe that's half of it. So it was out of this world, the best I've ever had

a good texas chili beats the socks out of it anyday. i'm not a hardcore chili fanatic, but i've had few in my lifetime. i found ben's to be too mushy. couldnt really tell the meat from the beans from the tomato, from the onions, it just felt like mush.

[pgiddy]

Originally posted by eggmok

when i'm drunk and hungry, anything i eat tastes like it's gourmet . . .

my favorites are cold soup, tuna from the can, and last but not least raw hotdogs, yummm come over here Tiny and let me give you a kiss:kiss2:

[silvershoes]

Originally posted by vicman

i thought it was OK. nothing out of this world, i've had better chili.

true. but the cheese fries were very tasty.

[tinybutterfli]

Originally posted by pgiddy

my favorites are cold soup, tuna from the can, and last but not least raw hotdogs, yummm come over here Tiny and let me give you a kiss:kiss2:

[vicman]

Originally posted by silvershoes

true. but the cheese fries were very tasty.

it was all about the cheese fries.

[silvershoes]

Originally posted by vicman

it was all about the cheese fries.

but you ate too many. i think you should have left more for me.

[vicman]

Originally posted by silvershoes

but you ate too many. i think you should have left more for me.

lol. now you know. next time u take me out for dinner, it's a free for all, first come first serve

[pgiddy]

Originally posted by tinybutterfli

[tinybutterfli]

Originally posted by pgiddy

[rockyblue]

Originally posted by vicman

i thought it was OK. nothing out of this world, i've had better chili.

when it's 3:30am and you're , it's the best chili in the world. an the cheese fries are orgasmic.

[vicman]

Originally posted by rockyblue

when it's 3:30am and you're , it's the best chili in the world. an the cheese fries are orgasmic.

"orgasmic?"

[rockyblue]

Originally posted by vicman

"orgasmic?"

Main Entry: or·gasm

Pronunciation: 'or-"ga-z&m

Function: noun

Etymology: New Latin orgasmus, from Greek orgasmos, from organ to grow ripe, be lustful; probably akin to Sanskrit urjA sap, strength

Date: circa 1763

: intense or paroxysmal excitement; especially : an explosive discharge of neuromuscular tensions at the height of sexual arousal that is usually accompanied by the ejaculation of semen in the male and by vaginal contractions in the female

- or·gas·mic /or-'gaz-mik/ also or·gas·tic /-'gas-tik/ adjective

[vicman]

Originally posted by rockyblue

Main Entry: or·gasm

Pronunciation: 'or-"ga-z&m

Function: noun

Etymology: New Latin orgasmus, from Greek orgasmos, from organ to grow ripe, be lustful; probably akin to Sanskrit urjA sap, strength

Date: circa 1763

: intense or paroxysmal excitement; especially : an explosive discharge of neuromuscular tensions at the height of sexual arousal that is usually accompanied by the ejaculation of semen in the male and by vaginal contractions in the female

- or·gas·mic /or-'gaz-mik/ also or·gas·tic /-'gas-tik/ adjective

i dont know if a bowl of chili would make me ejaculate in a discharge of explosive neuromuscular tensions. . . but that is just me, i don't know about others . . .

[teriaki]

Originally posted by vicman

i dont know if a bowl of chili would make me ejaculate in a discharge of explosive neuromuscular tensions. . . but that is just me, i don't know about others . . .

You've obviously never had really spectacular chili.

[kken]

chili and cheese fries... boy can't wait to move to AM

[rockyblue]

Originally posted by kken

chili and cheese fries... boy can't wait to move to AM

expect many a drunken 3AM phone call.