Tune Inn Restaurant, Washington, DC (March 2011)

The third stop in our DC burger adventure was just behind the Capitol building, the Tune Inn Restaurant.   In the same family since 1955, the thing that struck me most was the note on the menu that they hold the District of Columbia's second oldest pouring license, dating back to 1947.   This place is a bar.   Not a restaurant, not a diner.  A true dive.

This is another place that I found in the original edition of Hamburger America.

When looking to see if they have a website, I see on yelp that they are currently closed due to a fire.  Looking in from the door, you get a feel for the place, but it's only when your sitting at your table, right between the 

the beer-swigging bear and the "deer ass" that you get a true feel for the place (this is actually the view above, and to the right of our table.

What they seem to be most known for, at the moment, subsequent to an appearance on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, is their "Beer Battered Burger".  You take a griddled burger, dip it in beer batter and then deep fry it.   Kind of like a chicken-fried steak burger with cheese, but not quite that good.

Ben's Chili Bowl, Washington, DC (March 2011)

March was a great burger month.   I headed up to DC on business for three nights and managed to squeeze in three burger joints.  The first was Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street.  We took a cab up from where we were staying, giving the cabbie the address.  We wandered around for quite a bit, with him looking for the address.  When we finally got there, he said, "Why didn't you just say you wanted to go to Ben's?"  Who knew??

  
We went inside and found a spot at the counter.  Opened in 1958, the menu hasn't changed much, although the hours have expanded considerably.  The crowd was mixed, business people, folks from the neighborhood, politicos and a few tourists.   

 

We ordered burgers and fries (and a chili dog for me).   Like we've seen at a couple of spots in the past few years, the fries and drinks arrived first.  Check out the stack of chili dogs on the waitress' left arm!  Really tasty burger and a really good chili dog.  In retrospect, I should have ordered the Chili Smoke...

Side Note:  Sitting at the counter, we could see a 8 x 10 computer printed sign down behind the counter with five words on it, "The Obama Family" and "Bill Cosby".  Couldn't figure that one out.   As we checked out, you could read the entire sign:

Nobody eats free here, 

except for

The OBAMA FAMILY

and

BILL COSBY

Hilarious!