Washington food - better than Pittsburg?

I won't keep you in suspense.  Yes.   Yes the signature dish for Washington DC is better than the Pittsburg Sandwich.   Keep in mind that Pittsburg did not set the bar too high.   After doing some extensive research the Washington DC signature item was either the Half Smoke sandwich or the Chicken Wings in Mambo Sauce or Senate Navy Bean Soup.   In digging some more I found that the Wings in Mambo sauce seem to have lost their popularity in recent times and the Senate Navy Bean soup was more of a political statement than a dish of the people of the city.   So the Half Smoke it is.   And without doubt the consensus location for getting a half smoke is Ben's Chili Bowl.   So off we went to the original Ben's Chili Bowl.   To describe this place you need to imagine a storefront with with bright Red and Yellow signs set against the interior of White Linoleum and Formica table tops.   You walk in and the food preparation and order taking is on the right.   On the left side is a row of tables, and in the middle is a long line of people snaking their way along to get to the order counter and place their orders.   These are prepared and most often delivered to you at the counter before you are able to work your way down to the cashier.   Cash only in this place - I don't think they have gotten to the credit card era yet.   I am not altogether sure they have gotten to the electric toaster era yet.

All of this aside if you don't have your food by the time you pay, they ask you where you are sitting - basically this room, the next room (5 tables) or the back room (about 6 more tables) and they will bring your food out to you.

Now a half smoke for those of you who don't know is a smoked sausage on a hotdog bun with some chili on top.   Surprisingly it was quite good, which I would tell you explains why Ben's has been serving them since 1958, but given what we experienced in Pittsburg we know that longevity does not necessarily equate to good.   But, in this case we were pleasantly surprised as the food was tasty and filling and reasonably inexpensive.     Ben's claims to have about 25 items on the menu, but if you break it down it comes out as Sausages, Hot Dogs, Burgers (beef or turkey), Tuna Salad, Chili and Fries.  They just put them together in a bunch of different ways.  For instance one dish the Half Smoke.   A Sausage topped with Chili.  Another is the Rice Bowl.  It consists of Rice topped with Chili.  Another is the Salad Bowl.  It consists of Salad topped with Chili.  They also have burgers topped with chili, fries topped with chili,  a sub sandwich which is a sub bun topped with veggies and chili.     Get the picture?

Along with the half smoke we ordered an order of cheese fries and chili cheese fries.   The three sausages and two orders of fries proved to be more than the three of us there could hope to have finished.

 

Now as long as we were in the area we decided to stop in by Baltimore and check out the stadium there.   Now the Coach will do a detailed entry on the stadium in Baltimore as well as the FedEx stadium in Washington, but let me give you my impression.   Purple.  Purple with Purple accents and Purple lights and so much Purple that and pre-teenage girl would be in heaven.

As long as we were in Baltimore we decided to check out their signature dish.  There was no question here.  It was Blue Crabs.  So after doing some more research we ended up at LP Steamers.   We ordered a standard dozen of the critters and they bring them to you on a lunch room tray.  They don't give you the tray, no they throw them on a piece of paper on your table and hand you a wooden mallet and say - have fun.   And fun was had.  We banged and pounded and ripped and tugged and enjoyed a ton of great crab cooked in Old Bay seasoning.   We also had one of their crab cakes and it was outstanding as well.   The place is a little short on atmosphere.   It is basically a bar with tables, but they have really good crabs and that was the point of the whole expedition anyway.


So to sum up - Washington - Good, Baltimore - Good, Detroit (can't figure out their signature item, but the BBQ was good, Pittsburg - Bad.