Dcist: Update on New Venue at Ben’s Chili Bowl
Ben’s Chili Bowl on U Street NW recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. It now has the next-door space and will open a new restaurant there. (Image: Luis Gomez, One Photograph A Day.)
From today on Dcist:
Native Son To Helm “Next Door” Kitchen
The Post reports that Rahman “Rock” Harper — former “Hell’s Kitchen” winner and an Alexandria native — will return to the area to run the show at Next Door, the new U Street space neighboring Ben’s Chili Bowl.Next Door is slated to open in time for the Inauguration. Harper, who in 2007 managed to skirt Gordon Ramsey’s caterwauling long enough to win $250,000 and a job at Green Valley Ranch Resort in Vegas, was previously the Executive Chef at B. Smith’s in Union Station. Harper’s arrival also signals a slight change in direction for the space — Next Door had been looking like a long bar featuring little more than Ben’s staples. But with Harper at the helm, the space is looking at installing tables and significantly upping the menu selections.
