Extra spicy

In an otherwise insightful post on food policy and the incoming Obama administration, blogger Ezra Klein takes an off-the-mark pot shot at Ben's Chili Bowl.  "(One of DC's most overrated institutions, incidentally)," Klein remarks on Ben's.  I've waited to see if there would be a clarifying post, but none has come.  Ergo, it's on.  

This is wrong.  Horribly, horribly wrong.   Ben's is both symbolically and literally a significant marker of Washington in the post-war era.  Its history is real, and it is meaningful, even if some in the blognoscenti choose to ignore it.  Imagine if someone said that Katz's Deli wasn't a worthy New York institution, or Pat's could be skipped on a tour of Philadelphia.  They'd be laughed out of town.

 

To be generous, maybe Klein meant that the food at Ben's is overrated.  Still wrong.  Horribly, horribly wrong.  Maybe he doesn't like it.  That's fine.  But as one of Klein's commenters notes Ben's does chili dogs, cheese fries, and half-smokes,  all day and most of the night, come riots or construction.  No place else in DC, to my knowledge, hits this market--it's surprisingly hard to find a half-smoke on the street-- and while it's not haute cuisine, it's hot cuisine at affordable prices, even after the gentrification of U Street.  And nobody, to my knowledge, has ever claimed that Ben's was up for Michelin stars.

In the lingo of Bill Simmons, and one of the commenters, Ben's is properly rated.  The hype is big, for sure, but it backs it up.  

Shredded Cheese=Pro Move

Lost in the flurry of coverage of Barack Obama's "inaugural" trip to Ben's Chili Bowl yesterday was his order: a half-smoke with everything (mustard, onions, and chili) and a side of cheese fries, with shredded cheese-- "not the Velveeta," #44 specifically called for.  The fully-loaded half smoke is a great call, but even more impressive is the order for shredded cheese on the fries.  Now, I'm not sure about the plain cheese fries, but on the chili cheese fries served at Ben's on U (which, given its overflowing size, is easily one of the best deals in town), traditionally an enjoyable, yet of-indeterminate-origin, cheese sauce smothers the fries along with the signature chili.  However, at the the Ben's outpost at the new Nationals Stadium, chili cheese fries come with shredded cheddar, a step up on the culinary ladder (while a parallel move, health-wise), so I know that the Ali family doesn't have a moral objection to shredded cheese on cheese fries with chili.  Nevertheless, I've always been too intimidated to order the chili cheese fries with shredded cheese at the original Ben's--until now.  Perhaps they'll call it "Obama-style" cheese fries.

Spreading the Wealth, and the Chili

Courtesy of Jill, Bill Cosby's got company on Ben's Chili Bowl's list of those who dine for free: the Obama family.

What I would give to have a meal at Ben's with the Obama family.  Especially considering that, by all accounts, Obama doesn't like junk food.  More chili cheese fries for me.