The DC Restaurant Where Genre-Defining Black Jazz Artists Found Community

If you look back on history, you're likely to notice that food and drink often accentuate many significant events. Only a few facets of human life are constant, and the need to fill our bellies is one of them. Food's necessity has made it a powerful sociological force throughout history, and that continues to be true today. 

Though you may not be aware, any time you dine out, you could visit a place that has — or will one day have — some sort of cultural impact. For example, two fast-food drive-thru restaurants are considered historical landmarks. At El Floridita in Havana, Cuba, guests drink mojitos in a bustling atmosphere because that's where famed author Ernest Hemingway enjoyed his mojitos. At a restaurant in Washington, D.C., diners had the chance to chow down on chili dogs alongside some of the biggest legends of American jazz music and bear witness to monumental historical events.

When Ben Ali, a Trinidad-born immigrant, decided to enter the food business by opening a hot dog joint, it's unlikely that he could've predicted his restaurant becoming such an important landmark. After all, he was opening Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington, D.C., one of the most historically significant cities in the country with so many landmarks already. Nevertheless, Ali found himself right at the center of major historical movements.

The restaurant opened in 1958 on D.C.'s U street, known at the time as Black Broadway. There were numerous music venues on the street, and when jazz legends like Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole, exhausted from a passionate performance, stepped out to find a filling dinner after their shows, they sometimes wound up at Ben's Chili Bowl. Ben's soon became a fixture of the D.C. community and would play an essential role in the culturally tumultuous years that were to come.

When the city filled up with activists during the March on Washington, Ben's Chili Bowl provided the protestors with food. In an interview with DCist, Virginia Ali, the late Ben Ali's wife and Ben's Chili Bowl's co-founder, often used the word community to describe her restaurant's role in the D.C. area. It is precisely this sense of community that allowed the restaurant to transform into a safe haven during a historical tragedy.

On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Over the next several days, riots rocked Washington, D.C., and social activist Stokely Carmichael convinced the city to allow Ben's Chili Bowl to maintain its hours, despite a new citywide curfew. Public servants responding to the crisis could enjoy a warm meal in a safe spot at Ben's Chili Bowl, and protestors were similarly welcome.

But Ben's Chili Bowl isn't just a historical landmark. It also serves up a pretty darn good dog! A Half-Smoke Dog, topped with diced onions and mustard before being smothered in the restaurant's original recipe chili, has been named the best hot dog in Washington D.C. and, arguably, one of America's best hot dogs.