Happy 2015 to you, too! 2014 had some big shoes to fill after everything that happened in 2013, and I’d say it far surpassed expectations. Obviously and without question, the arrival of Wesley singlehandedly outdid the entire previous year. On top of that I started a new job at an incredible company. To celebrate the end of a fantastic year, I revisited Goldbely to order something special for Ev and me (sorry Wes).
During our time in DC we made the rounds at all the must-eat restaurants. However, only a handful of those places still remain memorable. One such restaurant, NAY, institution is Ben’s Chili Bowl. It’s been around since forever (1958) and is best known for the “chili half-smoke”. It’s a beef / pork sausage covered in their superdeliciousspecial spicy chili. I jumped on it the second I saw they were available on Goldbely, on sale no less! In the box came 8 half-smokes and a pint of chili.
And to really celebrate the close of a great year, we were invited over to our neighbor’s house to meet their 10 day old daughter. So we cooked up some half-smokes, packed everything up (including wine and dessert), and walked across their front yard to ring in the New Year (at 8:30pm, because babies).
We made some sautéed kale to have some semblance of a balanced meal and assembled our chili half-smokes. The traditional toppings are mustard and onions, but because onions are onions they were correctly and appropriately omitted. The spicy chili on the juicy half-smoke in the soft bun brought back all the memories of the original in DC. A great reminder you don’t need to eat fancy to eat good.
To finish off a delicious meal with our neighbors, we picked up another Skull and Cakebones Mutha Fudga cake. I cannot properly express my fondness for this cake. So. Much. Chocolate. I can only tell you to grab one if you see it around Austin.
It was the perfect finish to 2014 as we welcomed our newest neighbor to the block and look forward to what 2015 has to bring. Happy New Year!
Semi-shameless plug, if you want to sign up for Goldbely, use this link and we can each get $15!