Washington's most culturally essential restaurant — a U Street institution since 1958 that survived urban riots, the crack epidemic, and the gentrification of its neighborhood to remain the gathering place of DC's Black community, the restaurant where Barack Obama ate a half-smoke on the night before his inauguration, and the only place in the city that serves a leading version of DC's signature food.
Why It Belongs on the List
Ben's Chili Bowl has been a U Street institution since Ben Ali and his wife Virginia opened it in 1958, in a former silent movie theater on the block that was then the heart of Black Washington's commercial and cultural life. When the 1968 riots following Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination burned much of U Street to the ground, Ben's stayed open — one of the only businesses that did — serving free food to emergency workers and serving as a community gathering point through the disorder. Ben Ali ran the restaurant for decades; his son Kamal runs it now. The half-smoke (a DC original, a half-pork, half-beef smoked sausage served in a steamed bun with chili, mustard, and onions) is the dish that defines the institution. On the night of January 19, 2009 — the evening before Barack Obama's inauguration — Obama stopped at Ben's Chili Bowl for a half-smoke in the most politically significant takeaway order in the restaurant's history. The photograph of Obama at the counter is on the wall; the event is part of the building's documented history. Bill Cosby's photograph is no longer displayed.
What Stands Out
- Operating since 1958 on U Street: survived the 1968 riots (one of the only businesses that stayed open), the crack epidemic, and gentrification
- Barack Obama's inauguration night half-smoke: the most politically significant restaurant order in DC history, January 19, 2009
- The half-smoke: DC's original food — half pork, half beef smoked sausage with chili, mustard, and onions on a steamed bun
- U Street cultural institution: the gathering place of DC's Black community for seven consecutive decades
- Still family-owned: Ben Ali opened it; his son Kamal runs it today — the continuity is part of the institution's meaning