Hard Times Cafe, Alexandria, VA

One of Leo's friends was starring in a play at the Lee Center for the Performing Arts in Alexandria last night, so we wandered down to Old Town to see him. After the play, Leo and I walked up to King Street, where we were in quest of an open restaurant at 11 p.m. We landed at a greasy-spoon looking place called the Hard Times Cafe, which, Leo tells me, is actually some kind of small chain with over a dozen cafes in the D.C. metropolitan area. Hard Times considers itself a chili parlor, and this particular cafe was decorated with old Oklahoma and Texas area photographs, flags, and memorabilia, with some Patsy Cline record playing incessantly on the jukebox. I heard the waitress tell another table they should go select something different from the jukebox if they didn't like that Cline song which was on perpetual repeat.

Since it was my first visit, the fun waitress brought me a little chili sampler—a special square, ceramic plate with four little wells to hold the different types of chili. And the chilis were interesting: a "Texas" chili made with ground beef and a little too much grease; a "Cincinnati" chili based on a rather sweet Greek recipe including cinnamon (my Tulsa readers will recall their trips to the originally-Greek-owned Coney Islander and the unique taste of their chili, which is a similar cinnamon-scented recipe); a "Terlingua Red" chili which was meatier and spicier than the "Texas"; and a "vegetarian" chili which was an abomination composed of mushrooms, onions, peppers, and peanuts.

I ended up with a Frito chili pie made with the Terlingua Red. It was a big bowl of Fritos (they forgot to crush them!) with a couple of ladles of chili, then handfuls of diced tomatoes, onions, and shredded cheddar cheese, with a big dollop of sour cream on top. Leo ordered an "authentic coney dog," which turned out to be a huge platter with two coneys and a mound of French fries, plus a pickle spear he gave to me to eat. Little squares of sweet, cakey, "northern-style" cornbread came with our entrees.

Many of you won't like Hard Times Cafe, but I like this kind of white trash food, so there's a good chance I'll be back. I want a big plate of chili mac (spaghetti and chili)! They also have racks of ribs. The food was good, the waitress was very friendly, and the kitchen was surprisingly fast.