Contestants chow down during a Ben's Halfsmoke eating contest at the 2014 H Street Festival
You've probably noticed the sign outside the new Ben's Chili Bowl location on H Street. The lights are up, the chairs are in, and they are ready to go. If you're around at 11am on Wednesday you can even watch them cut the ribbon.
Ben's will keep the same extended hours they do at the original location (opening at 6am every day and closing at 2am on weeknights and 4am on weekends. Only the first floor opens on Wednesday, but look for the second floor and rooftop to open in the coming months.
10 comments:
How long before they scale back those hours? 24 hour Ginat? Nope. I love H st but there is no foot traffic at 1am on a Tuesday to justify staying open. Ben Ali would have never opened on H. His kids are squandering daddy's hard earned money. I guess Ben's truly is a Washington institution after all.
So I guess nothing happened to them after they had agreement to preserve the historic facade at George's but then tore it down? So much for Ben's respecting history on H Street.
while I agree they probably won't continue that schedule for long, i don't understand how they're allowed those hours to begin with -- I thought all of h was limited to midnight on weeknights and 2 am on weekends (except with special exemptions for holidays).
great, now we can get sub-par food at another location. Blows my mind how people think this place is any good. just like it blows my mind how people think 2 amy's is good pizza
I agree 2 amy's pizza is not good...but Ben's is the best I've been waiting for them to open for a year...great location for me to get some great food.
You are confusing the requirements of a restaurant with an Alcoholic Beverage License as opposed to a non ABC licensed establishment. No such restrictions apply to a non ABC licensed establishment.
The new structure comes not without controversy after the historic building on the site formerly home to George’s Place–a men’s clothing store that had been a neighborhood institution–was razed despite initial plans to retain the building.
An investigation later determined that Ben’s had “deconstructed,” not demolished, the building and was not in violation of any building permits or historic preservation standards; the historic pieces will eventually be reconstructed and incorporated into the new building.
In a letter to the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission, Zoning Administrator Matthew Le Grant advised:
“I have determined that there has not been a zoning violation, and the construction and demolition activity to date under building permit #B1301584, issued for the addition and establishment of the restaurant use, is being carried out consistent with that permit and approved plans.”
The deconstruction was deemed necessary because of the unexpectedly poor condition of the old building, according to a report in Capitol Community News.
Look closely at the bricks the form the entrance to the building. Those are historic bricks as they are the only thing that was used from the original building.
"The following eat for free at Ben's: Bill Cosby. President Obama. Zoning Administrator Matthew Le Grant."
Amazing, the "reconstruction" of the "deconstructed" building seems 50% taller and new brick...
Cosby may eat for free, but, he better watch what he drinks.
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