No one but the employees knew about Ben Ali’s death.

The managers of Ben’s Chili Bowl had told their employees this morning that Ben Ali died in his bed last night, but they didn’t want their customers in the restaurant to know yet. So there was nary a clue at the landmark U Street eatery. No signs. No weeping employees. Only a Web notice for those who had somehow checked it before arriving.

The only thing at Ben’s that might have tipped off an attentive diner was the music. It was soul music, the mournful variety. “Never Can Say Goodbye,” by the Jackson 5 was playing softly in the background, the band’s lead singer just a memory now, too.

“The mood is very somber,” said Sonya Ali, wife of Kamal Ali, one of the two surviving brothers who now run Ben’s. “The music is even somber.”

Sonya Ali said the entire family was gathering at Ben and Virginia Ali’s home in North Portal, including Sage, an artist and musician who lives in California.  Sage’s wife, Sonya Ali noted, is a publicist and will help the family plan a public announcement and figure out how to honor the man who founded what has become, courtesy of Bill Cosby and President Barack Obama, D.C.’s most famous restaurant.

Read More “Despite Founder’s Death, It Was Business As Usual at Ben’s” »

The traffic is outrageous on Vermont Ave. during rush hour!

No one needs to tell you, least of all Y&H, that in this blog-eat-blog, 24-hour news-cycle world everyone is required to have an opinion. But, really, shouldn’t everyone wait until the object under criticism has actually opened?

I’m speaking about the new FreshFarm Market by the White House, which the busy non-profit opens today with guest appearances from First Lady Michelle Obama, Mayor Adrian Fenty, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.  Last month, Mother Jones was first out of the block in predicting dark things about the market:

[I]f this idea becomes reality, the Obamas should be careful to make it a sustainable market for local farmers rather than a kitschy tourist attraction bogged down by pins and t-shirts that say “Yes We Can Farm” and “Change We Can Grow In.” But let’s face it, due to the massive security detail the market would require and the overwhelming draw for Washingtonians and tourists alike, the latter is more likely.

(Just for the record, Capital Spice has an excellent run-down of the vendors, none of which appear to be hawking pins and t-shirts.)

WTOP continued the early hand-wringing with a story about potential rush-hour traffic snarls:

Read More “White House Farmers Market Draws Criticism Before Its Opening” »

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack explains the USDA’s local farm program.

UPDATE, 5:52 p.m. Weds.: The Los Angeles Times has more details on the market here.

As part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food campaign, the White House will launch a farmers market tomorrow in the 800 block of Vermont Avenue NW. It’ll run every Thursday from 3 to 7 p.m. until Oct. 29.

The Chicago Tribune quoted USDA Undersecretary Ann Wright as saying that the market and other programs to support local farming are “very much a part of the president’s initiatives to bring more healthy food to underserved communities and children.”

According to Y&H fave Obama Foodorama, the opening of the White House market will also coincide with another KYF2 initiative: Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan “will announce farmers market promotions program grants for markets in the northeast corridor…”

Read More “White House Farmers Market to Open Tomorrow” »

The Obama beer meeting was last night, and by all accounts nothing happened. (Although WaPo’s Dana Milbank did totally hijack the Lagerheads’ titular pun for his own use.)

But my favorite post-summit coverage so far comes from Canada’s CBC, which came up with not one but two entertaining animated graphics: “Beer Diplomacy” (in the intro) and the even-better “The Suds That Soothed.”

Read More “Oh, Canada: Obama and ‘The Suds That Soothe’” »

The question of the week — Have we stopped caring about the Obamas‘ restaurant visits? — has apparently been answered. That would be a big  “no.” A Y&H item on that question was the most-read blog post this week, barely topping another item about Frank Morales‘ surprising departure from Rustico.

Without further ado…

1. Have We  Stopped Caring About the Obamas’ Restaurant Visits Already?
2. Frank Morales Has Left Rustico Behind, But Not Beer-Friendly Food
3. Y&H Went Whole Hog at Poste’s Pig Roast
4. Homemade Twinkies at Wagshal’s Deli
   
5. Whole Foods Burrata: As Good As the Real Thing?

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

So Michelle Obama and the First Family’s defacto White House chef, Sam Kass, dined at Oyamel last week, and you know what? The local media didn’t Tweet their fingers to a pulp to report every last chip slathered with salsa that crossed the First Lady’s lips.

Eddie Gehman Kohan, the indefatigable blogger who covers all things Obama and food at (what else?) Obama Foodorama, thinks she knows why:

Read More “Have We Stopped Caring About the Obamas’ Restaurant Visits Already?” »

Shortly before the holiday weekend, a small shitstorm started brewing over the the elevated levels of lead discovered earlier this year on the White House lawn, site of the vegetable garden heard ’round the world. In a column for Huffington Post, Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, wrote that National Park Service tests found “highly elevated levels of lead — 93 parts per million.”

“It’s enough lead for anyone planning to have children pick vegetables in that garden or eat produce from it to reconsider their plans: lead is highly toxic to children’s developing organs and brain functions — however, it’s below the 400 ppm the EPA suggests is a threat to human health,” Kimbrell added.

As leader of the Center for Food Safety, a non-profit dedicated to fighting Big Ag and its anti-environmental and sustainable ways, Kimbrell figured he had cornered the devil living in the White House dirt: a commercial fertilizer called ComPRO, made from a wastewater plant’s sewage sludge, which the Clinton Administration apparently had agreed to spread on the lawn during its temporary stay at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It was a theory that Kimbrell borrowed from Mother Jones, which first reported on the possible ComPRO connection.

Kimbrell took this rare gift horse — a highly visible White House vegetable garden and a major commercial fertilizer with potentially harmful effects — and rode that sumbitch as far as he could go. He rode her hard:

Read More “A Tale of Two White House Vegetable Gardens: Toxic or Not?” »

It’s a short work week, and we at Young & Hungry Central have just the thing you need: beer and dining recommendations for the Fourth. We also have something for your reading pleasure:

The top blog posts of the week.

1. Obama Ate Here: The Working Map (with apologies and gratitude to BrightestYoungThings)
2. What Did Your $10 Ticket Get You at the Safeway Barbecue Battle?
3. On July 4th Weekend, Buy American Beer
4. Breadline Busted on 19 Health Code Violations, Ten of Them Critical
5. Dairy Godmother’s Owner Doesn’t Want the Obama Bump That Ray’s Hell Burger Got

Photo by cristinabe via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution License

Alex Nicholson over at BrightestYoungThings got bored and decided to put together a Google map on where the Obama family has eaten since they moved into the White House. As Nicholson writes, “If you tell your boss you are making an ‘Obama Ate Here’ Google Map, and she says it’s a good idea, it’s okay to do it at work.”

Read More “Obama Ate Here: The Working Map” »

In my wallet right now is a quartet of familiar faces: one Washington, four Lincolns, a Hamilton, and a wow, how-did-this-get-here Grant.

Although increasingly scarce in these hard times, the four still effortlessly come to mind when conjuring currency: the one-dollar Washington with that iconic wig (or is that really his hair?); the five-dollar Lincoln, with that craggy face and jawbone beard; the ten-dollar Hamilton, less recognizable because he’s less known; and the fifty-buck Grant, all save-the-Union stern with his just-this-side-of-Castro beard.

All four gaze out seriously in shades of faded green.

Also in my wallet is a fifth face, instantly recognizable, to be sure, but less familiar as far as greenbacks go. Everything is different about this guy. First off, unlike the others, he’s smiling. Second, unlike the others, his likeness is in color, his background a pale blue, his shirt white, his suit black. Third, very much unlike the others, he is not white.

Yes, we’re talking President Barack Obama.

Read More “American City Diner Is Printing Its Own Money!” »