The founder of the most famous DC eatery, and the #1 ranked chili in America returned to his Lord
Bill Cosby and Ben Ali
President Obama at Bens Chili Bowl
From God we come and to Him we return….
Mahaboob Ben Ali passed away Oct 7th in Washington DC. Ben founded ‘Ben’s Chilli Bowl’ in DC in 1958 which was perhaps the best known eatery in the Metro area. Celebrities and politicians ate along side common folk in an establishment that saw the ups and downs of a DC neighborhood.
Ben was born in Trinidad to family that hailed from Northern Indian, and moved to DC to study dentistry at Howard University. He missed the spiciness of his Caribbean island and decided to open a restaurant to showcase the culinary tradition he grew up with. He created his own chili reciepe which is still a closely guarded family secret. When it opened U Street was known as ‘Black Broadway’ and regulars included such famous names as Duke Ellington and Red Foxx . Through the years the neighborhood had its ups and downs (riots, drug addiction), but Ben never moved locations, he was committed to the neighborhood and would see it through thick and thin.
Bon Appetit magazine ranked Ben’s Chili as the best in America, and it has remained a location where celebrities such as Shaquille Oneal, to Bill Cosby to President Obama have frequented.
Ben was an American Muslim, and in his life he manifested many noble qualities that we can all learn from.
He moved into the inner-city, and instead of opening an liquor store (sadly many in the inner-city are Muslim owned), he opened a restaurant where people could eat food that was prepared with care and love (and no pork products were ever on the menu). He helped to improve his neighborhood, in that way he was part of the solution not part of the problem.
He married an African American lady (who became Muslim), in doing so two constituents of the American Muslim experience, African American and Immigrant, were united in the most intimate of bonds.
Ultimately Ben was an entrepreneur, a neighborhood advocate and an American Muslim who rose to become nothing less than a DC institution we can all learn lessons from.
District Councilman Kwame Brown called Ali a civil rights pioneer and entrepreneur.
“Through the best times and the worst times in our city’s history, Ben was eternally optimistic,” Brown said in a statement. “It was 51 years ago, with the sale of Ben’s first hot dog, that a place was created that to this day transcends cultural, racial and political divides.”
