Ben's Chili Bowl

1213 U Street NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 667-0909
Website

Sometimes there is a landmark (or two) that you feel the need to eat at because it's (they're) famous. Ahem. Other times the place is a landmark AND it's just that damn good. We are dealing with the latter in this case. Ben's Chili Bowl serves up the finest half-smokes you have ever seen. Not fancy, not expensive, not for those on blood pressure or high cholesterol medication. It can be both a bit stressful, and a bit greasy. I love it.

This is a tight space to wait, and you need to find the line and get in it. The bar is the best place to sit, as usual, and you can check out all of the action. While you stand in line, you get a glimpse of the food to come. It will definitely make you re-adjust your order.

Look at these BEAUTIFUL half-smokes on the flat top. Having to watch these brown is no mistake on their part. I doubled my original estimates.

This encased meat maestro was working this grill like he was born in the kitchen.

The menu is small and sausage/chili focused. ALTHOUGH you could order a veggie burger if you wanted. Although they may laugh you out of the store. And I wouldn't blame them.

The bag is a throwback to simpler times, much like the food.

A tidy meal, this is not. Below is an order of chili cheese fries, and a chili cheese half smoke (one of two I ate). The fries left a bit to be desired, but they stayed surprisingly crispy throughout the seconds that made up their short lives.

The star, by far, was the half smoke with chili. Good lord. Half beef, half pork, coarsely ground and smoked. This is comfort food at its finest. Charred on the grill, smothered and covered, this beats about any hot dog around.

The snap on this sausage casing adds a perfect texture to offset the soft chili and bun. The combination of salty, smokey, fatty, and crispy makes for a sensual overload. This is not fancy, but your taste buds will be wearing an overcoat made of grease. This may be the best and/or only thing worth going to DC for . . .

...well, partial take back: Rumor's (an Eagles bar) will be another repeat on my list for next time.

Shiprock Pop-up

Navajo Frybread Tacos
At Garage on Passyunk
March 17th 2014

After the success of last year's frybread pop-up at 12 Steps Down, the proprietors of Shiprock and famous Philadelphian & food illustrator Hawk Krall (see hoagie drawing at right) brought it all back to Garage for a second run.

Shiprock is made up of two masterminds (seen below): Marcos Espinoza and Lucio Palazzo. Marcos is a blogger over at Fidel Gastro and Lucio is the chef at Taqueria Feliz in Manayunk (formerly of La Calaca Feliz on Fairmount). And that's pretty much all I know.

Well, that and that Hawk is pretty much the coolest illustrator I know.

Garage has a little cart inside that can be used by food industry folks, by request, to sell their munchables to nearby drunks, like myself. This is the first time I'd seen it in use.

This night they were offering a twist on the traditional fry bread taco by throwing some chili dog action in the mix. No doubt this was influenced by Mr. Krall. The other recommendation came from all three of the purveyors and it was to try the goat birra. This was a no brainer, so I put the order in.

Hot and fresh from the fryer. (the bread is all Marcos)

The tacos are made with love, each one assembled carefully at the hand of Lucio.

The goat meat looked mouthwateringly delicious and I couldn't wait to dig in.

They hooked me up with a little extra jus, so there was no way to pick this one up with my hands. This slopfest called for a knife and fork. The goat meat was tender and juicy, with a mild spice and more of a beefy flavor. It didn't really taste like goat or lamb. It could have been some beef short rib for all I knew. Whatever it was, it was the most delicious component I had that evening.

There was a lot going on with the toppings, a bit too much at once and it was hard to discern one ingredient from another. The fry bread got soggy from all that delicious jus, which was fine with me. It just didn't have much flavor of its own.

Next up was the hot dog. This was more easily handled as a taco, I could pick it up without fear of it falling apart.

Here again, lots of ingredients, but little in the flavor department. A pretty big meh on the hot dog all around.

All in all, I love the idea of the Navajo fry bread taco, but I also love the idea of a more flavorful vessel. Think funnel cake without the sweet and with little salt to steer it the other direction. Here's to hoping the next Shiprock pop-up packs a flavor punch to match their colorful and attention-grabbing illustrations.

Freddy's Steakburgers (and Frozen Custards)

2084 Sproul Road
Broomall, PA ‎19008
(610) 325-6725
Website

Attention Shake Shack & In-N-Out – you have been put on notice. Freddy's is my favorite fast food burger spot.

I didn't expect too much, given the "steakburgers" slogan, but I heard from some reputable (at least food-wise) sources that it was worth it. They were right.

It's a pretty basic format, you order at the counter, and they call your number when it's ready.

The one secret weapon that will make me a believer every time is a place that throws down some fry sauce. I spent half a decade in the Mountain West, and that stuff is everywhere, and delicious.

Another thing to add is that they crush both the East and West Coast burger-cult chains with their fries. In-N-Outs fries just aren't that good. They are always kind of limp. Shake Shack's fries are a damn joke. Frozen crinkle cut? Get out of the middle school cafeteria. These are thin, especially crispy shoe strings, and they come with house seasoning AND fry sauce. For the win.

Perhaps the best part, however, is that the burger at Freddy's is a thing of gluttonous beauty. The patties are fresh pressed so thin that the edges are basically a generous drape of crispy, fatty ground beef bits. Every time. It's unbelievable. I went back and checked quite a few more times to make sure I was reporting accurately. These burgers are the truth. And the long, crispy Claussen-like slices of pickles? Amazing.

The Chicago dog is a pretty decent offering, but it is missing some key ingredients, namely neon relish and a poppy seed bun. The casing on the dog has a beautiful snap to it, the side effect of a roll on the flat top.

Above all, get a burger and fries. They are delightful. Both the burger and fries are better than anything else in the area, in my never humble, expert opinion.

Underdogs

1205 S. 9th Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 551.8080
Website

So, you have been drinking, it's late, and your friends from out of town want to hit the two most overrated cheesesteak shops. You can make a bad decision or a good one. Though I am no stranger to bad decisions, I would recommend walking a bit further north up 9th street and hitting Underdogs. (Also applicable if you are in Center City, if you are near their 17th street location.)

I went with the Chicago dog, chili cheese dog, and some fries.

One thing I really like is that they don't use a giant hoagie roll that completely dwarfs the encased meat, but rather a hybrid hoagie/hotdog roll that allows the fillings to really shine.

The Chicago Style was not quite authentic, but it was more of an interpretation. No neon green relish, no poppy seed bun, no Chicago dog. Nevertheless, it was a delicious substution. The thick dog with its snappy casing did wonders for this offering.

The Michigan style dog came with beef chili, cheddar, chopped onions, and spicy mustard. Again, this was a nice frankfurter, with tried and true toppings.

The fries were the surprise hit of the meal. These fresh cut, crispy fried spuds had just the right amount of salt and grease. A wide variety of dipping sauces were available, the fry sauce being my personal favorite.

If you don't feel like supporting the pretension for a cheesesteak around the corner, some fries and a dog is a safe bet at Underdogs. And they are open till 3am on the weekend. Perfect.

The Dapper Dog

Food Truck | Special Event
Moore College of Art & Design
Website

I don't know how many people are familiar with Parking Day, but it occurred all over the world on Friday, including Philadelphia. To celebrate being part of the action, The Galleries at Moore hosted an event focusing on urban greening through a 'parklet' design competition and they invited The Dapper Dog to cater the event.

They're usually posted up at their small, stationary unit at 3rd & Poplar in Northern Liberties on the weekends, but for special occasions, there's a mobile unit that was recently put into action. Owners Harry & Seth:

The truck is outfitted with some fresh, killer artwork by local illustrator, Adam Smith.

For this occasion, they offered three menu items: a Coney dog, a Chicago dog and an Italian sausage. Because it was a catered event, there were no prices - the host set up the contract for 100 dogs and paid the invoice in advance. In order to recoup something, they sold food tickets for the wallet-friendly cost of $3, which got you a dog + drink.

The Chicago dog had fresh tomatoes, relish, pickled sport peppers, chopped red onion, a dill pickle spear and yellow mustard. Although this wasn't truly a classic Chicago dog, it was pretty delicious. It was missing the bright green sweet pickle relish, which lends an extra pop of (fake) color that I love – not to mention that tangy sweet flavor. Also, red onions? They have too much punch when raw, and in this situation, were a bit aggressive.

The buns definitely make their presence known in these constructions, and although they're quite good, it was difficult to get a bite that contained beef AND toppings. It was either one or the other. Maybe splitting & grilling the dogs would have taken care of the distribution issue. That said, all of the ingredients were high quality and well worth the struggle. Next stop, Coney Island.

Sort of. Dapper Dog's take on the Coney consists of an all beef dog, beef chili (Coney sauce), shredded cheddar and sliced green onion.

Again, they're really exercising their artistic liberties in the interpretations, but that makes it interesting, right? I really liked this dog, but it could use some more contrast in textures. Maybe the definitive crunch of chopped onion... but with all of the onion on the Chicago and given the limited menu, I can understand their decision in differentiating the two through varying ingredients.

I had no interest in the Italian sausage, but I'm sure it was also pretty good. All in all, the dogs were definitely dapper in appearance. The consumption part – not so much. Sloppy eating aside, they're tasty and worth consideration, especially for an affordable, catered event when you're looking for a gourmet spin.