Half a Century of Half-Smokes

Posted by Bruce Bilmes and Sue Boyle , August 23, 2008 17:08

Bill Cosby eats free.  All others pay cash.  Mr. Cosby told the Washington Post about Ben’s Chili Bowl half-smokes: “You can describe it the same way a wine connoisseur would be able to tell difference between a pinot noir and a merlot."  Ben’s Chili Bowl celebrated 50 years of half-smokes this week with a show Thursday night at the Lincoln Theatre in D.C. featuring Mr. Cosby and Roberta Flack.  And yesterday, there was a block party celebration in front of Ben’s with Mayor Fenty and Ben’s founder Ben Ali.  Read all about Ben’s Chili Bowl in The Washington Post.  Here’s a companion piece in the Post.  And here’s a Washington Post photo gallery of Ben’s.  And Aamer Madhani here writes a post-block party ode to Ben’s for The Swamp, the Chicago Tribune’s Washington blog.

See the Roadfood.com reviews of Ben’s Chili Bowl.

A Canadian’s View of D.C.’s Ben’s Chili Bowl

Posted by Bruce Bilmes and Sue Boyle , July 11, 2008 23:41

With the intense and detached scrutiny of an anthropologist observing the daily activities of a little-known Andean community, Andrea Lee of CBC News writes about her visit to Ben’s Chili Bowl, a Washington D.C. landmark.  It makes for fascinating reading.

That’s Ben Ali, founder of the Chili Bowl, in the photo above, from Michael Stern’s Roadfood.com review.