Fifty years old

Fifty years ago on August 22, 1958, the doors opened to the new Ben's Chili Bowl, a simple, unpretentious lunch counter on U Street. In the ensuing decades, Ben's has become an iconic institution in the District with an international reputation for chili, chili cheese fries, and D.C.'s traditional "half smoke" sausages.

Thursday night, they had a special star-studded gala concert hosted by none other than Bill Cosby, and earlier today at lunchtime they had a big street party with the mayor and live radio and television broadcasts. Knowing it would be crowded, we avoided the four-hour-long "party" and popped in to Ben's late this afternoon. Still, though, it was jam-packed crowded, with a line running out the door, around the block, and down the alley. Nevertheless, I managed to get inside the place for some photos and a little snack.

Happy birthday, Ben's!

Historical food help

Any early American food experts out there? I need some assistance planning a menu.

My lodge has its annual "Founders' Day" coming up next month, and I have to plan and cook suitable food for three dozen-plus people. This is a special Founders' Day, since this year is the semiquincentennial (250th anniversary, for those of you who don't do Latin) of the birth of our first master (president), James Hoban, and I'd like to do something in tribute to him.

It just so happens that Mr. Hoban is an early Washington Irish-Catholic celebrity. Born in County Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1758, then going to Dublin for architectural studies, he immigrated to the United States, first to Philadelphia about 1786, then to Charleston in 1791, then to Washington by October of the next year. What brought him to Washington? He was selected as the architect and building superintendent for the White House. Along the way, he also took over as supervising architect of the Capitol's construction, then after the War of 1812, he oversaw the restoration and reconstruction of the White House.

The lodge was founded in 1793, and Hoban stayed in Washington until his death in 1831. Nearly all the early members of the lodge were Irish and Scotsmen who were working on the White House and Capitol projects, so we've a strong Irish connection. This all gives us a broad range of menu options, with forty years of early Washington/American culinary history from which to choose.

Here's what I've got so far, with some explanation as to why I've picked it:

Salt Pork and Hominy Chowder
a common one-pot supper for Irish workers of the 1790s

Tavern Meat and Pork Pie
this recipe comes from Philadelphia, where Hoban first immigrated from Ireland
Virginia Ham with Fried Eggs
pork and ham were the predominant meat in early America
fried eggs graced the table of many dinners in the Adams and Jefferson White Houses
Cornmeal Fried Oysters
oysters from the Chesapeake Bay were cheap and commonly eaten back then
Colcannon
a traditional potato and cabbage dish from Ireland
Mushy Peas
mentioned in a 1771 Valley Forge commissary return
Bacon Spoonbread
George Washington’s favorite
Kilkenny Irish Ale
beer originally made in Hoban's county of birth

Huguenot Torte with Whipped Cream and Pecans
this apple dessert comes from Charleston, where Hoban lived before coming to Washington
Assorted Irish Whiskeys for Tasting
what would an Irish dinner be without whiskey?
Coffee
No tea. Duh!

Yes, I know that three entrées is a lot of meat, but that was the common practice back then (actually, there would have been even more!). I also thought we should do four courses (my Oxford training harping in the back of my mind! LOL), but I don't know what to fix. I'm thinking, though, that I might be able to find a cheese from County Kilkenny, and if so, we can have a cheese course or use it in some sort of amuse bouche.

Questions? Comments? Stray thoughts? Your suggestions are appreciated!

Il Mulino New York, Washington, D.C.

A few of the participating Restaurant Week establishments opt to extend their special menus for an extra week, some through the end of the month, so that gives us the chance to go a few more places this go round. One of the extending restaurants this time is Il Mulino New York, and Joel and I managed to get reservations last week for lunch there today.

Il Mulino—"the mill" in Italian—is a small, exclusive, international chain, concentrating on contemporary Italian-American-themed fine dining. It's a formal, white tablecloth kind of place (the waiters even carry table crumbers with them) with professional career waiters, a nice low noise level, and it definitely caters to the expense account crowd.

Joel started off with a glass of the house cabernet sauvignon. Interestingly, the single glasses are $10 at dinner, but only $7.50 at lunch. I perused the wine list. I got through the first page of Americanized by-the-glass things and flipped to the bottles of Italian reds.

As I looked at the prices, my first thought was, "Is this in lire?" but then I realized that the numbers were too small since the old lire were running about 1,000 to the dollar, and Italy's using euros now, anyway. They had $1,000 bottles of wine on the menu, and quite a few in the $700, $800 range. I saw a $3,000 bottle, too, but, it was actually a jeroboam (equivalent to four normal bottles). Afraid to order anything, I stuck with water for the meal.

As soon as we placed our food orders, an assistant brought us a basket of breads—including some excellent olive bread and some country wheat—and a plate of marinated eggplant, which I believe was intended as a spread on the bread. Eggplant is one of my food allergies I actually have to avoid, so I left it all to Joel to taste and consume. He said it was good, with the eggplant marinated in olive oil.

Our first courses arrived. Joel got the prosciutto è melone, both of us expecting it to be thin Italian ham slices wrapped around pieces of honeydew melon. Instead, he got a plate with many thin slices of the ham, all surrounding a little bowl with honeydew melon balls, blackberries, and raspberries. He liked the ham with the honeydew, but he commented that the prosciutto just didn't go well with the berries.


I'd started to order that same appetizer, but to be different, I got the calamari fritti. I thought it was good. It came wrapped up in a white cloth napkin with a cheesecloth-wrapped lemon half on top and a little bowl of delicious, warm, spicy, marinara sauce for dipping. The squid was cut into rings and lightly breaded, and they'd been cooked expertly. Twas quite a large serving, too—it would be good for two people to split at a larger lunch.


For his main course, Joel ordered the pasta primavera, expecting something very simple in the way of spaghetti and a fresh red sauce, but he ended up with a big, beautiful bowl of pasta topped by a plethora of just-al dente cooked fresh vegetables with mushrooms and raw tomatoes, all in very light olive oil and melted butter. When he emailed me after lunch, he wrote, "Exceptional pasta."


I got the pollo fra diabolo, or "chicken in the style of the devil." This was a nice meal of tender chicken chunks braised in a tomato-based sauce with onions and peppers, and the spicy "devil" was provided by a huge amount of Italian sausage chunks in the dish. In fact, there was more sausage than chicken! While I didn't need it, I was a little bit surprised that the chicken didn't come with any pasta, and we were both surprised that the waiters weren't going around to the tables offering grated parmesan cheese for the dishes.


For dessert, I ordered the tiramisu and Joel ordered the chocolate cake, but the waiter took it upon himself without asking first to bring us a big dessert sampler plate to share that included the tiramisu and chocolate cake, plus Italian ricotta cheesecake, coffee-scented mascarpone cheese and cream, thick zabaglione, and a couple of pirouettes, all drizzled in chocolate and lightly dusted with powdered sugar. I suppose that was fine, and Joel really liked the variety, but I would have appreciated being asked first. I didn't like the chocolate cake, as it was too dense. The tiramisu was standard. I thought the ricotta cheesecake was good. The mascarpone cream was just the stuff used in making tiramisu, so that wasn't a big deal. I really liked the zabaglione, which had a nice alcohol tingle to it.


After dessert, Joel had a double espresso (into which he dumped the entire pitcher of milk allegedly to "cool it off") and I had an espresso macchiato. I like their coffee roast, which is strong and rich without being unduly bitter.



So, that was our Il Mulino experience. It was a pleasant lunch with excellent food and top-notch, professional service. One thing I did notice is that you can get the Restaurant Week-type menu there year-round, though they charge $22.95 for it instead of the $20.08 R.W. price—still a good deal, though. The place is definitely on the "recommended" list.

Florida Avenue Grill, Washington, D.C.

Robert came over for dinner, but the place we'd planned to go wasn't open. It was late and we were watching the clock so we wouldn't miss the last subway train home, so, instead of wandering around looking for a fun and different restaurant that was still open, we just went to a place we knew was open, Florida Avenue Grill. Robert likes the breakfasts there.

He had the Virginia ham with fried eggs, grits, and biscuits. Looked good. I had their French toast, which turned out to be surprisingly good and nicely cooked (sometimes French toast is either undercooked or burnt). It was dusted with powdered sugar, but I put syrup on it anyway. I noticed both the ham and the French toast were fried on the grill with presses on top of them.


We also got glasses of their "famous" brewed sweet iced tea, but I can only drink two glasses of it due to all the sugar before I have to convert to straight water.

Dunkin Donuts, Washington, D.C.

Remember the other day when I popped in to Dunkin Donuts for a single doughnut and got forced to eat two doughnuts instead? I won a peel-off coupon on my iced coffee for a free flatbread sandwich, so I cashed it in on my way home from Mass yesterday.

I got the "southwest chicken" version, the most expensive on the menu. It was okay, but it's not nearly as good as the turkey, cheddar, and bacon version they have. The turkey sandwich also has the virtue of being fifty calories less per serving! Dunkin Donuts continues to have the best (and the cheapest!) iced coffee from amongst all the coffee shops and chains in the neighborhood.

RedRocks Firebrick Pizzeria, Washington, D.C.

Had dinner with the neighbors at our neighborhood gourmet pizza joint, RedRocks Firebrick Pizzeria, just up the street a couple of blocks. It was an interesting evening, since they brought their 22-month-old daughter along, and also we happened to get a waiter who was on his second or third day of employment, so every time we asked a question, he had to go ask someone for the answer.

Joel, of course, started off the evening with some new beer they called "Golden Monkey." It had a pretty bottle.

James and Ian got a salad of mixed greens to split. Their daughter tried some of it, too, but she doesn't like salad if it has dressing on it.

Everyone got pizzas but me. Joel got his usual, the pizza salsiccia. Ian got a pineapple and sausage creation, and James (sharing with Julian) got a three cheese pizza, both going with the "create your own" option. I assume they were all good, since there was no left over pizza.

I got a meatball and fontina cheese sandwich. It was on a split chunk of thin, chewy, French baguette. The meatballs themselves were rather bland, but roasted red pepper on the sandwich added flavor interest.



Afterwards, James and Joel decided to brave dessert. Both of the desserts were rather unusual, and our waiter didn't really know enough about them to fully explain them, so what arrived was rather a surprise. Joel asked for the Black Forest cake. I tasted a corner, and it was a simple chocolate cake with whipped cream and cherry pie filling. James got the three berry pie, but it was quite a hybrid, seeming almost like a riccotta cheesecake in a pie shell topped with three different types of fresh berries. Both of them wanted their desserts à la mode, and our waiter made the interesting decision to bring the cake and pie with scoops of chocolate gelato!