The choices for after-midnight chow are diverse and easy on the wallet. Where to Feel Like a Local A guide to the restaurants that Washingtonians call home, year after year. Since 1958, Ben's Chili Bowl has been a gathering place and focal point for black Washington. It has witnessed the rise, fall and resurrection of U Street and is probably the only business on this strip that survived both the1968 riots and the construction phase of the Metro Green Line.
Chili is only one of the reasons people keep coming back year after year.
So do the red 1950s-style bar stools and Formica counters. Its kitchen is also extremely clean. Ben's attracts a diverse cross-section of Washingtonians. Lawyers, college kids from nearby Howard, folks en route a performance at the Lincoln Theater, musicians, you name it. Bill Cosby has been coming here for so long that he's even got a chili dog named after him.