Ben's Celebrates Chili Power

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Ben's Chili Bowl: A D.C. Institution

Since it opened in 1958, Ben's Chili Bowl has become a part of D.C. and is visited by neighbors, politicians and celebrities alike. The restaurant celebrated its 50th anniversary in August 2008.

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Cosby became a fan when he was in the Navy and stationed in Bethesda in 1958. During that time, he was a regular at jazz clubs on U Street. And he also took his soon-to-be wife, Camille, who was a student at the University of Maryland, to Ben's on late-night dates, where he would eat as many as six half-smokes at a time. Cosby likens a Ben's half-smoke, a plump beef and pork sausage, to a fine wine.

"You can describe it the same way a wine connoisseur would be able to tell difference between a pinot noir and a merlot," Cosby said in a telephone interview. "When you bite into a half-smoke, the skin and the way the texture and firmness and the toppings you can get on it . . . "

His voice trailed off, as if he was caught in the memory of the taste.

Aside from the food, what makes Ben's stand out, Cosby and others say, is that it's as if time stood still. Ben's has the same layout as when it opened Aug. 22, 1958, aside from an expanded seating section in the back and a kitchen put in five years ago. It has its original counters, booths and stools.

Ben Ali, an immigrant from Trinidad, met his wife when she was a teller at nearby Industrial Bank. When Ali opened the restaurant, Virginia joined him in the venture. They were married that October.

Now 75, Virginia Ali finishes her husband's sentences and fills in the holes in stories she has heard him tell so many times. Until recently, she served as a waitress and a greeter. Lately, she spends most of her time at home caring for Ben, who is 81. The two act like love-struck teens as Ben Ali pinches, teases and whispers in his wife's ear and she giggles and lightly swats his arm.

Ben Ali came up with the idea for the restaurant when he saw how Americans loved to smother their french fries with ketchup. With his Caribbean taste buds, he thought that American foods were bland and that there was a market for spicy American dishes.

He tears up when he talks about his restaurant and his three sons, who all share the middle name Ben. "My whole life has been one happy life," Ali said, removing his glasses and wiping tears from his eyes.

For a restaurant to become such a landmark in the District is rare, and at times, it seemed that Ben's wouldn't survive. In 1968, many businesses were torched during the riots after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. But Ben's remained opened and untouched, thanks largely to Stokely Carmichael, head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which used the restaurant as a meeting place.

As the years passed, the area became riddled with crime and drugs. Faithful customers told Ali that they couldn't go to the restaurant anymore because their cars kept getting broken into. The construction of Metro's Green Line from 1986 to 1991 made it difficult for customers to venture into the area, which caused a lot of businesses to close. Then things began to turn around.

"We had the community support, and we survived. We didn't want to go to any other part of the city," Virginia Ali said.

Ben's is like a popular barbershop or beauty salon where regulars gather to gossip, laugh and joke. "It's very much like that, where a janitor sits next to a judge, who is sitting next to a junkie. Just random people having random conversations," Nizam Ali said.