Jan 10th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
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January 10th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
The dirty secret about BCB is that their milkshakes are better than their chili.
January 10th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Are they jew-owned? Ben is a Jewish name.
I think we should boycott. Pro-Chili is pro-Israel.
January 10th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
British State of Play was quite enjoyable — early James McAvoy. No chile though. Is Ben’s chili good? I’m in Washington most of this week and could stomach a bowl of good chili
January 10th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Okay, I gotta say it. Folks here will hate, but I came from the West (Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico) and BCB sucks. I’m sorry. It’s true. DC has terrible chili and BCB only perpetuates the myth that DC can do chili.
Flame away, but there it is.
January 10th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
oh yeah, I saw a trailer for USA State of Play, Russell Crowe is in it. That may not be a good sign — he’s getting like Al Pacino: nobody around him has to do anything because Crowe is acting enough for everyone else in the frame.
January 10th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Okay, I gotta say it. Folks here will hate, but I came from the West (Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico) and BCB sucks. I’m sorry. It’s true. DC has terrible chili and BCB only perpetuates the myth that DC can do chili.
Go to a bunch of shitty bars on U Street ’til the wee hours, then make for Ben’s afterward. Then talk to me. Unless and until you have that experience, you high-falutin “western” opinion is for shit.
January 10th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
@ed
No thanks. I’ll go ahead and pass. If I need to get drunk on shitty beer before I can enjoy the food, than your food is for shit. Thanks for proving my point for me though.
January 10th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
nobody around him has to do anything because Crowe is acting enough for everyone else in the frame.
Judging from the trailer alone, having Helen Mirren in the Bill Nighy role could turn out to be inspired casting, even though feature-length constraints seem to have squeezed out the roles played by McAvoy and Amelia Bullmore. The BBC series was part of a definite tradition of deep-state drama, with a tip of the hat to Edge of Darkness, and the American equivalent is different enough to require a competent translator. (Unfortunately, Mel Gibson’s just finished a remake of that absolute classic.)
January 10th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Asked by a member of the traveling press pool about the signficance of his visit, Obama said, “it means I’m going to get a hot dog.”
Dry as old sticks in the desert. The Village press pack is going to fail to get the joke very very often in the months to come, especially after eight years of towel-flicking frat humour from Bush.
January 10th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
No thanks. I’ll go ahead and pass. If I need to get drunk on shitty beer before I can enjoy the food, than your food is for shit. Thanks for proving my point for me though.
It’s about the experience, dumbfuck. Thanks for proving my point, dickforbrains.
January 10th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
Was State of Play the one that starred the guy from Brotherhood ?
January 11th, 2009 at 1:57 am
Kilo: you’re thinking of The State Within, which was the BBC trying to do deep-state drama with a dash of 24. State of Play starred John Simm, who went on to play Sam Tyler in the original Life on Mars.
Entertaining in a low-budgety way (decent British and American actors, corny effects, Toronto stood in for DC), but not a patch on State of Play, which is as much about the British national press — the Guardian offices were actually used for filming, and Simon Hoggart had a nice cameo — as it was about politics.
January 11th, 2009 at 1:59 am
Nope, apparently that was “The State Within”…
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770652/
January 11th, 2009 at 1:59 am
Ben;s is seriously foul shit. ahem, dickforbrains. why argue over it? If you’ve ever been in a city that had decent food, you’d know ben’s is shit. Like pasta mia is shit. like lauriol plaza. like every piece of shit dining spot in this city that has a fucking name is over fuckin rated.
January 11th, 2009 at 2:31 am
Good. Now how about pushing for statehood, or at least voting rights?
January 11th, 2009 at 9:01 am
The point of Ben’s chili bowl isn’t the chili alone– it’s the use of the chili as the topping of a half-smoke.
January 11th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Ben’s isn’t good chili, but its a fun place. Pasta Mia isn’t good, but it’s good for the low price. Lauriol plaza is just bland and not great. But DC has good food. Ethiopian, Ecuadorean, Korean, Thai, and a couple fancy restaurants. It’s not a great culinary town or anything but it compares pretty favorably with every other town that’s about the same size.
January 11th, 2009 at 10:08 am
BCB is good for what it is. It’s not authentic chili and you could get better chili at several dozen places in and around DC. In fact, Ben’s chili tastes the same as Hormel’s chili out of a can–except it is a bit spicier. But BCB has become an institution; it’s more about the experience than the merits of the food.
January 11th, 2009 at 10:32 am
i>Obama said, “it means I’m going to get a hot dog.”
When Obama says that he’s going to get a half smoke, we’ll know he’s been assimilated
January 11th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
If you’ve ever been in a city that had decent food…
Spare me the pretensions, you pretentious fuckwit.
January 11th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Everyone who condescendingly dissed Ben’s is an asshole
Everyone who defended Ben’s is an asshole
You are all assholes – every fucking one of you
DC food does suck – Ethiopian is dog food with a boiled egg in it.
GO STEELERS!!!
January 11th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Some penetrating work being done in the comments section today, Matt.
Anyway, someone who thinks that chili must be “authentic” to be good is probably the same type of guy who complains that they screwed up “Iron Man” because Pepper was hot.
I was going to make the observation about the “Who eats free” sign changing, but it seems the Post did it for me. But from what I can see of that picture, they really must have cleared the place out. Can you imagine the next Prez trying to squeeze through the line they get in there at lunch time?
January 12th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I love Ben’s, but agree the chilli isn’t the draw for me (not that it’s bad). I love the half-smokes, and the cheese fries. Mmmmm…
I don’t know the name of the film, but I can confirm that a film crew was definitely shooting Russell Crowe across the street from Ben’s last spring. I saw them on my way to work (late) catching the green line at U street.
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