funfriends, are you joking? Some of the nicest people I've ever met work at Ben's. What on earth are you talking about?

oh, but it do, spookiness... it do.

What's wierd about Ben's is that, while their chili is perfectly suited for hot dogs, burgers, fries etc., I think you would shit for a lifetime if you ever actually ate a pure bowl of the stuff.

It's only been 20 years since they last cleaned the bathroom.

"Anal piss-inducing food?" A ringing endorsement from SCL:

"Ben's Chili Bowl: Halfsmokes so good, you'll pee your own ass."®

re: the comment from Spookiness -

I find it very amusing that the Ben's backlash has gotten big enough to even encompass people who have never actually eaten there. That may well win a prize for the Least Useful Opinion of All Time (or at least run a close second to this sentence).

People who turn their nose up at dingy dives need to pickup a copy of George Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris and London." Behind the starched tablecloths and polished facades of most hoity-toity upscale slopshops lies a fetid, sweat-stained hellscape of overworked prep cooks and dishwashers dripping with B.O. and worse. The last thing on their mind is how clean their fingernails are. Yet they continue to peddle the illusion that their food is clean and their service impeccable. And gullible morons continue to buy in at $120 a plate.

At least Ben's makes no pretentions about what it is.

See, now you gotta be hatin on Chuck Brown? Don't hate!

What's this town come to? I tell you, Sailor. This whole world is wild at heart and weird on top.

Oh, and the only thing close to Ben's that I can think of off the top of my head, when it comes to greasy goodness, is Mario's in Clarendon. That grill too, has goodness soaked then that you only get the authentic way.

on the ergonoics... on. not one. See? I make no sense all the time.

I believe what's being referred to above as "anal-piss inducing" is what's know in the common tongue as "buttcoffee." The condition is typified by one's lower intestinal tract essentially becoming a "percolator" twenty minutes after consuming a particularly greasy meal. Within half an hour, you're in the bathroom and your hind quarters have become a "cappuccino machine" blowing hot black liquid and steaming, bubbling froth. This phenomena is not limited to dive-ier joints like Ben's, but crosses all cuilinary styles and pricepoints.

The year is 2002. The place: Galatoire's in the French Quarter. The meal: eggs sardou, brabant potatoes, crabmeat maison, all washed down with hot lashings of cafe brulot. I didn't even make it back to the hotel. Ahi tuna tartare and cavatelli at the Four Seasons? I'm sure I broke Maurice Green's record 60m bathroom sprint. And my colon still hasn't forgiven me for eating an entire Peter Luger porterhouse for two. Point is, into every life, some diarrhea must fall. Just remember that your bowels aren't organs, they're muscles. You gotta work 'em out. All this will be documented and copiously illustrated with woodcuts in the second installment of my Sea of Pee tetralogy, Chronicle of a Poop Foretold. It's the odyssey of an anonymous online troll who decides to eat and defecate in every Waffle House on the I-95 corridor. Jack Black has already optioned it, but I always saw Chris Burke playing Monkeyrotica.

Ben's is what it is.

Those that claim it's horrible should just eat elsewhere (but they do have a good point about the filthy bathrooms).

Those that claim it's some sort of Holy Site should really get out more.

But what ever happened to that special tax dispensation the city was going to give Ben's? Did that ever happen? If so, can any business apply for that, or is it only for special people?

Really? We are that jaded that we have to go after Ben's? I see Ben's as just what it is: a late night hot dog joint. It happens to be open late, which is something of a rarity in this city, especially prior to the last 4 years, so it did a lot of business. I'd say half the "mythic" reputation could have been attributed to just that. When I moved here, I lived on 13th and U and it was simply the only place to go late, so it became a go-to location. But to be honest, one of the main reasons I kept coming back was the super kind service. Service I don't think I or you could have mustered (no pun intended) in the face of the drunk-ass, d-bag clientele.

It's hardly the best food in town. I had to give it up after growing my Ben's 15 (living around the corner will do that), but let's not forget the reason it is being celebrated. 50 years. On U St. The perseverance to keep the doors open and the business going over that time is remarkable and commendable. No other business in that area can boast such a record. In a city that seems to only respect the establishments and histories of the buildings on the Mall, we should celebrate this true landmark of our (speaking for me, and probably many of you) adopted home.

I lift my cherry milkshake to you, Ben Ali and Virginia: quite an achievement.

Big deal, floor sweeping hot dogs with chili.

Jeebus, don't get started on AV. There's so much hate in this town for AV, you'd think the place was run by Mussolini's grandkids.

Hillman - Ben's got the special tax credit; their DC taxes went from $435k to $1.1 mil in 2005. God knows what they're paying now. Good for Ben's, not so good for every other small business that's getting screwed to the floor on taxes. The Council only budgeted a measly $11 mil in credits to small business, the backbone of downtown commerce. Thanks to this fiscal shortsightedness, the only businesses that can prosper downtown are chain restaurants, high-end boutiques, and $16 burger joints. My dreams of a Korean fried chicken shop/colonic irrigation clinic have been dashed. Again. What am I gonna do with all this kimchi?

Well, Mojotron hated the place, as well as a bunch of clowns in Penn Quarter. Anyway, like Ben's, AV was an unpretentious, love-it-or-hate-it kinda place in a town that feeds on pretentiousness. You gotta go with what sells.

The CP kicks in on the idea:

http://washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=36021