Despite the fact that they've lived in the Washington, DC area for years, a couple of my coworkers had never eaten at Ben's Chili Bowl. This was a travesty that could not go uncorrected, so today a group of us enlightened these poor, misguided souls by ushering them over to U Street with us for lunch. I'd never been to Ben's for lunch before. Normally when I'm eating there it's because I'm grabbing dinner on my way to a show at the 9:30 Club. Boy does it get packed there at lunchtime.
We all ordered chili half-smokes and then split a few orders of cheese fries. Half-smokes are the only thing I've ever eaten at Ben's. One of these days I'll have to try some of their other fare. In case you're unfamiliar with DC gastronomy, a half-smoke is a small smoked sausage that you eat on a bun like a hot dog. It's a local delicacy and Ben's has the best.
When we got to Ben's we plunked our butts down at a table that we didn't realize had been reserved. The waitress let us keep it though and said they'd just shift the reserving party to another table and besides, they weren't due to arrive there for a half-hour yet and the odds were we'd be done and gone by then. In case you hadn't deduced it, the service is very fast at Ben's. Within minutes of placing your order you're trying not to dribble chili all over yourself as you slip into bliss.
We were just finishing up our lunch when we noticed a group of guys standing over along the wall waiting to be seated. Turns out they were the party who's table we'd bogarted and then someone pointed out that Steve Largent -- NFL Hall-of-Famer, former Seattle Seahawks receiver, former member of the House of Representatives, and current high-priced telecomm lobbyist -- was among them.
Take that, Steve Largent! We just intercepted a table intended for you!
(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)
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