Yes, I was planning to check out another club/live music venue but due to extensive studying and the shadow of finals looming over us all (not to mention the threat of the dreaded F grade), I was unable to go to any such place. Instead I decided to head towards Ben’s Chili Bowl (*gasp*). I can see you all getting excited right now.
Yes, I know just about everyone and their mother and their cat has been to Ben’s Chili Bowl and reviewed it but I wanted to go somewhere that could be described as a ‘late-night hangout’ for people on U Street and it does fill the description.
my cat is craving some chili
Ben’s Chili Bowl is rather famous around the city (and outside of it) and it was definitely one of the most heavily hyped restaurants between students at my university. I had always wanted to go there, yet never found the time or the opportunity to do so.
It is certainly a place full of history as you can see when you take a look in the rooms that make up Ben’s Chili Bowl. It has been around since 1958 and it is one of the first black-owned businesses in the city. As I stepped in, I was thinking of all those famous people who visited this place before me: Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Martin Luther King Jr. and of course Obama himself. (benschilibowl.com) It is truly exciting to visit a place such as this as it is somewhat legendary.
At the time that I had gone there, the place was packed (going on a Saturday at 8pm was a big mistake). I realized immediately due to the diversity of the customers there, that Ben’s Chili Bowl is not directed towards a single demographic. It is the place with which U Street is identified.
You see people of different size, color and age going in and out, consuming half-smokes with chili and a lavish side order of chili cheese fries (my stomach hurts as I write this). The whole neighborhood comes together here to enjoy a great meal at a small price with jazz and soul playing in the background. While most places on U Street are targeted at a certain demographic, at Ben’s Chili Bowl everyone is welcome. It definitely felt like a very homely place.
Ben’s Chili Bowl has definitely been enjoying great success. Yet it has stayed true to itself and to its roots. I would definitely call it a sort-of landmark of African American culture in DC. It definitely reminded me of the first restaurant in Wicker Park described in Richard Lloyd’s “Neo-bohemia”, in that the people who work there are helping to make it into a “really interesting place”. While that restaurant emanated the funky, artistic vibe of the neighborhood, Ben’s emanates the cultural diversity of the neighborhood, its long jazz history and its continual evolution and growth
In all honesty, I found the food to be a tad overrated and far too greasy for me (my Mediterranean upbringing is to blame for that). But it was definitely a satisfying meal. The service is also mediocre but I didn’t mind that much since it must be hard working there all day. I recommend playing spot-the-celebrity while enjoying the food as the walls are filled with pictures of celebrities who have visited Ben’s.
It is definitely not just dinner or lunch or a late-night snack, a visit at Ben’s Chili Bowl is an experience due to its identity and its history. And this is perhaps true for many places in U Street, including the Black Cat and the Bohemian Caverns. Go to any of these places and you’ll find out new things about this street from each one. The hipster scene, the jazz scene and the black culture, all parts of the street’s past and future and they all somehow merge together in places like Ben’s Chili Bowl. In this street, there’s a place for everyone (even for a 21-year old from across the world!).
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