Rest in Power, Ben Ali of Ben's Chili Bowl
Ben Ali, who opened my favorite restaurant in the world – Ben’s Chili Bowl – passed away last night. When I lived a few blocks away, I used to this joint up late night at least every other week. Toward the end of my time in DC, I started heading up to grab lunch from Ben’s too.
It wasn’t just that the food was so magnificent, but that the vibe there was so welcoming. It was always packed, but somehow there was always a table free. It had the best jukebox in DC, and if you needed to tell someone how to get there, you could just say “Walk down U Street until you see bright lights and a line of people out the door.”
The man was a giant and will be missed. What was so great too was that nobody got treated special there – except Bill Cosby. Even this guy had to wait in line:
