Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Here We Go! (Oh and a Chili Bowl)

Yesterday we had a family friend drive us to Northern Virginia and drop us at the hotel.  We got here at about 330 and proceeded to make a strange pilgrimage to Ben's Chili Bowl, one of our favorite mom-and-pop food eateries in the USA.  We talked about hamburgers recently, and I love them, but I'd easily prefer Ben's for his half smokes toped with chili, or Willa Mae's Scotch House in NOLA for the best fried chicken in the world, or Duke's BBQ in Orangeburg SC for some amazing BBQ, or if you want more amazing hot dogs then Dat Dog in NOLA.

The public transportation to and from Ben's was 90 minutes each way. A hotel shuttle followed by a bus followed by two subway rides. But the food was amazing. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera at the hotel so we don't have pictures of the Half Smokes (covered with onions and chili) nor the chili cheese fries nor Kepa chowing down and (literally) dancing in his seat in time to James Brown. The best we can do is a single stolen picture:


This place has been there since 1953 on U Street and the food is amazing (and I'm not a huge chili eater). In the 80s the neighborhood got so bad they couldn't let customers in the store (passing food out the window). Ben Ali (the owner) was offered big money to move to a safer neighborhood. He refused to abandon his neighborhood. By the late 90s the neighborhood had become the Greenwhich Village of DC. It is safe, property values are sky high, and Ben's is a landmark of the community. Made famous in part by Bill Cosby (who talks about Ben's every time he is on Letterman) and by Barack Obama's visit in 2008, the restaurant is one of "the" places for people from all over the city.  Well worth a pilgimage. The food was super cheap as always (this is our third trip to Ben's in our lifetimes), but the metro crazy expensive.  Check out a halfsmoke:


As for our REAL pilgrimage, we fly at 250 PM today, arriving in Madrid tomorrow morning at 9 AM (via Miami). We have some worries as the bloggers are claiming that this is the busiest May anyone can remember on the Camino--making races for beds--and Brittany has been having a bit of a shoulder/nerve thingie for a week--not caused by carrying anything, she hasn't, but from sleeping on it wrong. That said, our hotel in DC was much nice so we are taking it as a sign of good things to come. Away we go!

PS: Pardon any typos in this post, or henceforth.......typing with limited time on a hotel computer.  And expect less and less text and more and more pictures in future posts (which will be sporadic, computer avaliability depending)

4 comments:

  1. I can't believe you're off! Have a wonderful trip, and I can't wait for more posts!

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  2. You are seriously brave for doing this and eating chili before an international flight ;) good luck!!!! Shaney

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