“He lived a full life and put a lot into the business,” says one member of the family.
Ben Ali, the man who put the Ben in Ben’s Chili Bowl, died Wednesday night at the age of 82. He and his wife of 50 years, Virginia, established Ben's Chili Bowl in 1958 on the U Street corridor of Washington, D.C. Since its inception, Ben's or "The Bowl," as it was fondly dubbed, has been a hangout spot for Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, Redd Foxx, Dick Gregory, Martin Luther King Jr. and Bill Cosby. President Barack Obama had a bite at Ben’s in the days before his inauguration—the place is central to both the social and political life in the nation’s capital. The alley adjacent to Ben's Chili Bowl was officially named Ben Ali Way, revealing the recognition of the restaurant as a city staple.
Ben’s grew into its renown. It was built piece by piece by the Alis and the community they served. It is a place, an idea, really, that endured. It survived the death of U Street as the “Black Broadway.” It survived the death of downtowns in the wake of white flight and the malling of America. It survived the riots of 1968—after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
It even survived the health food movement: A Ben’s Chili Bowl “half-smoke” with everything is no joke. It’s rampant cholesterol loading, a dining experience so spectacular it crushes guilt into submission: “Half-smoke with everything, chili dog with onions, jumbo beef dog with cheese and chili”? Now you’re talking Ben’s talk, and you better be talking loud. That’s what Ben’s is all about, and Ben Ali, along with his wife and their children did just that.
Compiled by The Root Staff