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. Weenie Beenie in Arlington claims to predate Ben's by a few years, but the chili-half-smoke template at Ben's remains the canonical DC dish.
Where to eat in Washington DC:
- Ben's Chili Bowl
- Weenie Beenie
- Ben's Next Door