4 months ago
WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- Ben Ali started his Chili Bowl back when Eisenhower was President, segregation was rampant and U Street was the Black Broadway.
Ali passed away last night at 82 from congestive heart failure.
His restaurant has served Presidents, movie stars and common folk -- and is still a Washington institution with a half century of memories.
Not even on the day after Ben Ali's death did his family think for a minute about closing. "No absolutely not. He would never hear of it," says his daughter-in-law, Sonya Ali.
Ali and his wife, Virginia, would have celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary Saturday, and they almost never closed.
"You're working 17 hours a day, no sick leave, no annual leave, no my back hurts leave, no nothing," says Marshall Brown, a family friend and the unofficial historian for Ben's Chili Bowl.
Ali came here from Trinidad. He was always looking for ways to spice up American hamburgers. He opened his Chili Bowl with $10,000 in savings. He was so broke, he almost forgot to buy a cash register."I decided I was going to bring taste to America and put chili on everything. We sell chili dogs, chili fries, french fries," he told 9NEWS NOW on the Chili Bowl's 40th anniversary.
It worked. Through the drug epidemic, through Metro construction, even during the 1968 riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Ben's Chili Bowl stayed open."They tore down U Street," says current manager Maurice Harcum. "But we survived. Everyone at that time already loved Ben, and they didn't bother Ben."
Ben's Chili Bowl was a fixture for rock stars like Bono, and superstars like Bill Cosby."I was there when they were 35 cents a piece," Cosby told us.
It's been a must stop for politicians, including President Obama, who asked "Y'all have some Pepto Bismal?" during his visit in January.But after Ali developed heart disease, Virginia asked her husand to stop eating chili dogs. "She said, I'm going to buy the Chili Bowl and burn it down."
Ben Ali had some kind of magic, some kind of mystical business sense -- that, and a secret recipe for chili. "Part of the secret is love," says Harcum. "But that's the only secret ingredient I'll give you."
DC's lost a man it loved, but his family promises the Ben's Chili Bowl will live on.
Ali and his wife were on a cruise over the weekend. He complained of shortness of breath and went in for a heart catheterization at George Washington University Hospital when they got back.
Last night, he demanded to go home. His daughter-in-law suspects he knew.
We're still waiting for word on funeral arrangements.
The website for Ben's Chili Bowl has the following statement posted:
The Ali Family and all of the Ben's Chili Bowl and Ben's Next Door Family want to thank Ben Ali for leading this legacy and allowing us to follow in his dream. We miss you and love you.
Written by Bruce Leshan9NEWS NOW & wusa9.com
