Free chili at Philippe!

Two local icons are teaming up to give you free food. How cool is that? Actually, let’s hope it’ll be really cold Jan. 29, when Dolores Chili ponies up 500 servings of free chili for lunch at Philippe the Original. You can get it with beans, or without and even with onions and cheese, if you ask nicely. Plus, the first 200 people will get a door prize. (Maybe a double-dip for their French dip?)

Dolores Chili was founded in 1954 and is famous, or at least locally renowned, for its chili bricks. It was started by Basilio Munoz and his sons Augustine, Frank and Steve, who named it for his wife (that’s her fanning her face in the company logo).

Philippe dates to much further back. It was established in 1908 by Philippe Matthieu, who is credited by some to have been the inventor of the French dip sandwich (others credit Cole’s PE). It moved to its present location between Chinatown and Union Station in 1951.

Philippe The Original, 1001 N. Alameda St., is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.