Half Smoke appears as a signature dish in 1 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Half-smoke · Washington DC
DC's defining sausage: a coarse-ground, lightly-smoked half-pork, half-beef link, split lengthwise on the griddle and tucked into a steamed bun under chili, mustard and onions.
The half-smoke was born on U Street. Ben Ali and his wife Virginia opened Ben's Chili Bowl at 1213 U Street NW in August 1958, in a former silent-movie house, and built the chili half-smoke into the city's defining sandwich. The link itself, larger and coarser than a hot dog and lightly smoked before being grilled, has been made for Ben's by Manger Packing in Maryland for decades. The U Street riots of April 1968 left Ben's as one of the few neighbourhood businesses standing; the room fed protestors, fire crews and reporters around the clock. Anthony Bourdain, Barack Obama and most US senators have eaten one. Weenie Beenie in Arlington has its own claim to predating Ben's by a few years, but the chili-half-smoke template at Ben's is the canonical DC dish.
Where to eat in Washington DC:
- Ben's Chili Bowl
- Weenie Beenie
- Ben's Next Door