When the president dines out
In the kitchen, there’s close scrutiny but no official tasting.
“There was one Secret Service agent in a black suit assigned to me, like my shadow,” says Scott Drewno, executive chef at the Source. “He watched everything I cooked for them. He was also a chef, so he knew his way around a kitchen.” The chef/agent expressed culinary interest in the food but declined offers to eat anything, Drewno says.
As with any VIPs or friends who dine at the Source, Drewno sent signature items to the Obamas’ table: tuna tartare cones, squares of suckling pig, tandoori Arctic char. The first couple make a point of having those items added to the bill. (We clearly travel in different circles.) Drewno made sure to take the beets off that Arctic char dish because the president doesn’t like them, a tidbit he had known beforehand.
Blowback
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Squares of suckling pig?
[insert witty comment here]
fossten on March 17, 2011 at 11:46 AM
ICK – none of that sounds good at all.
gophergirl on March 17, 2011 at 11:47 AM
While the rest of the country dines on mac and cheese.
Democrats. The Party of the Rich.
CurtZHP on March 17, 2011 at 11:48 AM
All that sacrificin’ they do. It just breaks my heart.
Alana on March 17, 2011 at 11:48 AM
I guess the wh chef must not be all that great since bho and mo eat out so often! Poor kids have to eat at home.
L
letget on March 17, 2011 at 11:49 AM
Cindy Munford on March 17, 2011 at 11:53 AM
Well we’re movin on up
To the east side.
To a de-luxe apartment in the sky-yy-yyyy.
Movin on up
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.
fossten on March 17, 2011 at 11:54 AM
I’m sure all of the food they eat is low sodium, low or non-fat, containing no artificial sweeteners or colors, is all locally and organically grown, has the proper amount of nutritional value, receives the proper amount of government subsidy, is all of proper portion size – as determined by the FDA, and served on recycled material and prepared utilizing ‘green’ energy.
If not,
THEN GET OFF MY BACK ABOUT EATING A FRICKIN TWINKIE EVERY NOW AND THEN!
catmman on March 17, 2011 at 11:54 AM
I am looking forward to 2012 for myriad reasons. But perhaps none more than the possibility, however remote, that I may finally be able to stop being exposed to constant barrage of insulting puff pieces about the Obamas. I have no interest in any of this shallow garbage—I care about how they’re ruining the country. Please report on that instead!
WesternActor on March 17, 2011 at 11:54 AM
No matter where you are, regular people food is far superior to rich people food. Give me meat and potatoes over suckling duckling or whatever it is any day!
p40tiger on March 17, 2011 at 11:55 AM
Meee’shell had to have the “low cal” tandoori Arctic char because her a$$ won’t fit it the car anymore.
VegasRick on March 17, 2011 at 11:55 AM
Who cares. Just one more article full of trivial stuff about these people who seem to only ever occupy themselves with trivial stuff. When they’re not working on the destructive stuff.
Missy on March 17, 2011 at 11:55 AM
Well that makes sense, why have a single motorcade when you can have two.
Bishop on March 17, 2011 at 11:56 AM
p40tiger@11:55,
LOL, ‘suckling duckling’?
L
letget on March 17, 2011 at 11:56 AM
So the beer summit was an aberration. Normally, Obama drinks $200 a bottle champagne and caviar?
KillerKane on March 17, 2011 at 11:56 AM
So he’s not muslim?
txsurveyor on March 17, 2011 at 11:57 AM
Redistribution of wealth
faraway on March 17, 2011 at 11:59 AM
Why is this news at all? I thought it was silly when they covered these sorts or trivial things when Bush & Clinton were in office and I may dislike it even more now. I really don’t care if the president dislikes beets or broccoli OR if he really really likes cilantro in his sauces.
We really need to separate the roles of Head of State and Head of Government rather than wrapping them all up into one executive office that feels the need to update us on what the presidents position on START treaties is in the same breath that the tell us what cheese he is having on his tuna melt.
dieudonne on March 17, 2011 at 11:59 AM
Well that’s big of them. How about paying for Michelle’s trip to Spain, did that make it onto the credit card?
Bishop on March 17, 2011 at 12:02 PM
Completely predictable. They’re the dates from hell. If they can’t order the most expensive thing on the menu Zero and Moochelle have the most expensive things imaginable added to their menu. During their most recent, of many, Hawaiian vacations they had some hideous yuppified, combination of foie gras, lotsa fat and probably ketchup. Throw in a few words like coulis, infused, then charge a few extra Franklins. The typical Hollyweird airhead won’t know it from Ken-L-Ration but that’s not the point. The point is Zero putting more zeros on the taxpayer’s tab while the gettin’ is still good.
viking01 on March 17, 2011 at 12:06 PM
Obama feels our pain.
csdeven on March 17, 2011 at 12:09 PM
This is a WaPo story, dumbass.
fossten on March 17, 2011 at 12:09 PM
Obama is starting to make Carter look like like Lincoln. Seriously, any random McDonald’s manager would be more competent and decisive than this empty suit.
RadClown on March 17, 2011 at 12:20 PM
+1!
surrounded on March 17, 2011 at 12:20 PM
FIT FOR A KING AND QUEEN. So appropos.
NJ Red on March 17, 2011 at 12:22 PM
I gotta agree.
Alana on March 17, 2011 at 12:31 PM
I’ve heard that Obama has been eating as many as three meals per day during the crises in the Middle East and Japan. I guess he’d rather be eating at restaurants instead of saving people from being murdered by Qaddafi or dying in an earthquake/tsunami. Disgraceful.
Proud Rino on March 17, 2011 at 12:31 PM
I’m not a PETA fan, but eating a suckling pig = eating an infant pig.
Two and six weeks. Kind of disgusting, in my opinion. It is a “rich person food” (as p40tiger mentioned) simply because it is such an expensive waste of an animal.
strictnein on March 17, 2011 at 12:38 PM
This shtick is getting really boring, fast. And, in this case, I do think he’d rather dine at fancy restaurants than do his job.
strictnein on March 17, 2011 at 12:41 PM
Doesn’t matter the source of the story – it’s something that shouldn’t be a story – any more than W’s BBQ’s with tons of cilantro, Clinton and his peanut glazed ribs, Bush Sr. not liking broccoli – this should not be a issue of any public scrutiny for a Head of Government.
I don’t care what they eat and think it’s enormously silly to write about it. And yet papers do this with president and president.
dieudonne on March 17, 2011 at 12:41 PM
strictnein on March 17, 2011 at 12:38 PM
I figured a suckling pig was one of those full roasts with an apple in it’s mouth that you see in movies. I didn’t know it was a baby pig. Weird.
Mord on March 17, 2011 at 12:42 PM
The Suckling President
faraway on March 17, 2011 at 12:43 PM
Lately, the WaPo stories have been stolen from the Arizona Republic. They’re becoming the Joe Biden of newspapers.
BTW “suckling pig” meanin nursing. So it’s a young ‘un. The lamb of pork albeit probably a bit younger since lamb is likely on solid food once sent to market.
viking01 on March 17, 2011 at 12:48 PM
meanin = meaning
viking01 on March 17, 2011 at 12:49 PM
VegasRick on March 17, 2011 at 12:52 PM
/nitpick mode
The only problem is that the fictional George Jefferson worked hard to create a profitable business handling other people’s laundry.
The all-too-real Obowma works hard destroying profitable businesses and laundering taxpayer money to his handlers.
Of course Biden is a lot like the idiot neighbor.
/nitpick off
reaganaut on March 17, 2011 at 12:57 PM
I’ll click the link after I get back from scraping out the bread remnants still caked onto the pan…
rogerb on March 17, 2011 at 1:16 PM
By now, you have all probably heard of Michelle O’s book deal re her championing the WH garden and home-grown food:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/262387/audacity-arugula-matthew-shaffer
Suggested titles for this new tome:
“How Green Was My Alley”
“You Can’t ‘Beet’ Fun”
“How Now, Brown Cow?”
onlineanalyst on March 17, 2011 at 1:17 PM
FIFY
catmman on March 17, 2011 at 1:18 PM
Very true (in so far as it being an opinion that I happen to agree with makes it true, of course).
Many of the signature/gourmet dishes from cuisines around the world were originally considered peasant food in their home countries.
JadeNYU on March 17, 2011 at 1:18 PM
I love this!
myrenovations on March 17, 2011 at 1:19 PM
No. We just need our President not to behave like a monarch.
See: George Washington.
Missy on March 17, 2011 at 1:24 PM
Wow, that’s pretty bad. What’s PETA’s stance on slaughtering and eating infants? We need some naked models suckling in protest of this outrage
ornery_independent on March 17, 2011 at 1:24 PM
Yep. Lobsters were once called mud roaches, fed to those in the poor house. And soldiers in the Civil War were fed on plentiful Maryland oysters.
onlineanalyst on March 17, 2011 at 1:25 PM
I only care about what they eat in the context of “Do as I say, not as I do…”
Farkin’ hypocites.
ornery_independent on March 17, 2011 at 1:26 PM
At Denny’s, this is called a pork chop.
Suckling Pig = $$$$$
Pork Chop = $
BobMbx on March 17, 2011 at 1:32 PM
What reckon that secret service chef-agent costs?
rogerb on March 17, 2011 at 1:41 PM
Except that we now object to things that George Washington would have done – and routinely expect our head of state to do things that GW might have turned his nose up at.
As we’ve grown in population and in international presence our Head of State is routinely expected to do things that would not have happened in the past and they increasingly – sometimes with great deliberation – distract from what our executive is supposed to do as Head of Government.
dieudonne on March 17, 2011 at 1:56 PM
Older members of my family back in Canada recall burying the lobster shells in their yard rather than putting them out with other trash so that people wouldn’t know that they were “reduced” to eating lobster and butter several times a day.
dieudonne on March 17, 2011 at 1:58 PM
Nice try, but Pappy Bush was taunted and ridiculed for not liking broccoli. Clinton was never ridiculed for his culinary habits. In fact, his addiction for Big Macs made him “more lovable” to his kneepads. Just like his addiction to young interns did.
Google “Bill Clinton Big Mac” and most of the results you get are pro-Clinton. There are “only” 268,000 results.
Google “George Bush Broccoli” on the other hand and you get
1,450,000 results. Results #2 and #3 are youtube videos ridiculing Pappy.
And one of the results is totally pathetic. From the LA Times, of course. It ho-hums Mooshelle’s dislike of beets by saying that Pappy Bush “banned” broccoli at the WH, when in fact he only banned it from Air Force 1.
In fact, Bush received the ultimate ridicule for his dislike of broccoli:
Del Dolemonte on March 17, 2011 at 2:07 PM