An often overlooked corner of Washington, DC that’s full of history, public art, and so much incredible food.
The Explorer's Guide to U Street Corridor

Ben’s Chili Bowl is a U Street institution for many reasons. There’s the food, especially the signature “half-smoke,” a sausage that’s half-pork and half-beef, served in a hot dog bun and topped with Ben’s spicy chili sauce. There’s also a gorgeous mural just outside the restaurant honoring famous Black Americans, many with ties to the District.

Painted in 2017 by local Aniekan Udofia, the mural depicts figures chosen through a public voting process in which more than 30,000 people participated. The result is named “The Torch,” referring to the lantern Harriet Tubman is shining on the rest of the luminaries, including Dave Chapelle, Prince, and Muhammad Ali.

Founded in 1958 by Ben Ali (no relation to Muhammad) and his then-fiance Virginia, Ben’s Chili Bowl quickly became a neighborhood fixture and has served guests ranging from Obama to Martin Luther King Jr. It survived the riots that followed King’s assassination partly because it was given special dispensation to stay open, on the request of SNCC leader Stokely Carmichael, to serve police and protestors alike. The Ali family still runs Ben’s Chili Bowl.

The restaurant is open seven days a week. “The Torch” is located in the Ben Ali Way alley — watch out for cars.

Step past “Encore,” a statue of U Street hometown hero Duke Ellington, and enter the Howard Theatre. The Howard is regarded as the first Black theater in America — it was founded in 1910 to welcome Black patrons who were not allowed in other venues in the city.

Since then, the Howard has hosted performers ranging from Louis Armstrong to Kendrick Lamar, Billie Holliday to Aretha Franklin, Nat King Cole to James Brown, and of course The Duke himself. In fact, Ellington’s career started with him winning band contests at the Howard . Ella Fitzgerald’s ascent to stardom began here as well, where she participated in an amateur night. The Howard also hosted vaudeville acts, musicals, community programs, and speakers like Booker T. Washington.

The theater closed in 1980, but after renovations and being declared a National Historic Landmark, it reopened in 2012. History buffs can peruse cases of memorabilia and pictures from its storied past, and people who just want live entertainment can see performers like Ari Lennox, Talib Kweli, and Rachel Bloom.

Most shows at the Howard are standing room only, but seats can be reserved in the balcony, and booths can be reserved on the main floor.

Standing just across the street from the African American Civil War Museum, this is the first memorial dedicated solely to the Black troops who fought for the Union. To quote President Abraham Lincoln, “Without the military help of the black freeman, the war against the south could not have been won.”

After Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, he created regiments of Black soldiers in both the Navy and the US Army. Known as the United States Colored Troops, or USCT, these 175 regiments eventually consisted of more than 200,000 soldiers — about 10% of the entire Union forces. The men in the USCT faced discrimination from their own side, and special vitriol from the Confederate Army. Their names are now engraved on the Wall of Honor here at the African American Civil War Memorial.

The Memorial also features a statue called “The Spirit Of Freedom,” which depicts Black soldiers. At the museum across the street, visitors can look up their ancestors in the UCST, register as descendants, and can dress up in recreations of UCST uniforms.

The indoor exhibits at the African American Civil War Museum are open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., every day except Sunday.

Meridian Hill Park, known by locals as Malcolm X Park, hosts picnics, soccer games, and a drum circle. It also holds a statue of Joan of Arc that’s at the center of a long-running mystery: why do people keep stealing her sword?

At age 13, Joan had visions of saints urging her to fight for France in the Hundred Years War. When she was burned at the stake, she was only 19. Canonized in 1920, Joan of Arc is now a patron saint of France. This statue was erected two years after Jeanne d’Arc was made a saint. It’s the only statue of a woman on a horse in all of DC.

In her left hand, Joan holds a sword. Or, she usually does. Over the years, Joan’s sword has repeatedly gone missing. It first disappeared in 1932, only to be found in a nearby hedge. The sword was stolen in the 1970s and not replaced until 2011. Only five years later, the sword was broken off again. All of this is more puzzling — and more impressive? — considering the sword is 30 pounds and almost five feet long. The new sword is reinforced and will hopefully be harder to steal.

When the 9:30 Club opened in 1980, shows started at 9:30, and the club’s address was 930 F Street NW. (It was also so small that Public Enemy’s Chuck D thought the name referred to the venue’s square footage.) Shows at the 9:30 Club were packed and broad swaths of the audience had their view obstructed by huge poles. In other words: it was beloved.

Now-famous bands played the 9:30 Club before they became massive, bands like Fugazi, Black Flag, and even Nirvana, who wrote out their 14-song set list on a paper plate. After the last show in the microscopic space, concertgoers were encouraged to take home whatever they wanted; people left with bricks, with bar stools, even with toilets.

From that small room with a capacity of 199, the 9:30 Club moved to a space on V Street that can hold 1200, a space that used to be a music club owned by Duke Ellington. The Smashing Pumpkins played the new venue's inaugural show, and since then performers have included Radiohead, Foo Fighters, and Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan.

Capo Delicatessen is as classic as it gets if you want an authentic Italian sub piled so high with meat and lettuce that you’ll struggle to fit it in your mouth. It sells pasta salads, baked ziti, pickles, you name it. But if the red light is on next to what appears to be a freezer door, and if you’re on the list or you ask nicely, you can experience something a little more out of the ordinary: a backroom speakeasy.

The “secret” cocktail bar and lounge features elegant booths, a piano, a chandelier, and all-around great vibes for hanging with friends and enjoying live music. When it started, guests needed to know a friend of a friend or to be on a list in order to gain entrance. But now, entrance is open to all, as long as you know about the back room and ask. Sit and sip an espresso martini, or Capo’s signature “Fauci Pouchy,” a mix of vodka, elderflower, mint lemonade, and grapefruit.

Right Proper grew out of one man’s experiments in homebrewing. Nathan Zeender started propagating sour beers in his basement because it seemed easier to make good beer at home than it did to make good wine. He enjoyed the challenge, and eventually quit his day job in data management to create Right Proper in 2013. Today, Zeender still experiments, creating dozens of eclectic brews a year.

The artistry inherent to Right Proper’s brewing extends to the pub’s decoration: whimsical murals cover the walls, inside and out. Large paintings depicting the “History of Beer” and a “Beer God” liven up the interior. Outside, in an alley facing the Howard Theatre, Kate DeCiccio and Rose Jaffe have painted a pool room scene featuring DC jazz heroes.

Right Proper was named a Brewery to Watch by Bon Appetit and has repeatedly topped Citypaper’s Readers Poll for Best Brew Pub in DC. Right Proper Brewing Company is open seven days a week for classic pub food with a Southern flair, and of course, for fresh beer.

Dukem started out as a market and carry-out store in 1997. Tefera Zewdie’s friends enjoyed his cooking and encouraged him to start selling his food; it proved so popular that the store expanded and eventually became a sit-down restaurant. Today, Dukem is one of the best-known Ethiopian restaurants in the District. Throughout the day, incense burns and groups gather to share tasty food; at night, the restaurant offers live Ethiopian music, dancing, and drinks.

When you visit, try traditional dishes like lamb tibs and doro wat, a chicken stew. Or order a sample platter, with vegetables, lentils, or grilled meats served over a large circular piece of injera, the spongy Ethiopian flatbread used to scoop up the rest of the food. Wash everything down with a glass of mango juice.

One of the anchors of an area now known as Little Ethiopia, Dukem’s market still sells carry-out and injera, sauces, and spices. The restaurant is open late, but if you want to have a conversation, avoid going after 10pm, when it takes on a nightclub vibe