All eyes are on political leaders’ every move, from the policies they enforce to the people they network with. Where and what they choose to eat is no exception either, as is evident in the public’s knowledge of Kamala Harris’ favorite South Indian breakfast foods and how Woodrow Wilson put Chef Boyardee on the map. But there’s special interest in the restaurants our presidents can’t seem to get enough of. Particularly lucky establishments have been deemed worthy of being visited on multiple occasions by some of America’s most important figures, and they haven’t shied away from making that known.
Whether it’s Bill Clinton’s hankering for Indian cuisine or George H. W. Bush’s craving for Chinese food, these presidents’ love for their favorite restaurants has surely increased the buzz surrounding them. And customers are in luck because most of the eateries listed here are still open for business. This means the general public and elected officials alike have a chance to enjoy a taste of the same meals.
Read more: How Restaurant Steak Tricks Your Tastebuds
Joe Biden Lets His Guard Down At Fiola Mare
The current President of the United States and the First Lady have become known to try several different restaurants in Washington D.C. But the eatery the pair has visited more than once is Fiola Mare, an elegant Italian establishment that offers stunning views of the marina it sits on. In 2022, a picture posted to the @POTUS X (formerly Twitter) account showed President Joe Biden eating ice cream at the restaurant while accompanied by his wife, French President Emmanuel Macron, and his spouse, Brigitte Macron.
2021 was a more notable year for President Biden’s experience with Fiola Mare, though. The eatery became the center of controversy when the president was spotted leaving the restaurant without a mask on. This occurred after the city’s mayor had already reinstated the indoor mask mandate that declared coverings are required whenever someone is not actively eating or drinking. It seems the heated headlines that followed didn’t do much to hinder the Bidens from returning, though, and creating more positive associations with the restaurant not too long after the incident.
George Washington Paved The Way At Gadsby’s Tavern
As the first President of the United States, George Washington set precedents in more ways than one. That includes eating habits, too. Washington often frequented a Virginia restaurant called Gadsby’s Tavern, where his favorite dish consisted of a roasted half duck and a glass of Madeira wine. Other known political leaders, such as John Adams, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson, followed in Washington’s footsteps and dined at the establishment.
Offering fine dining since 1770, Gadsby’s Tavern still serves food today. Guests can eat in one of its colonial dining rooms and try a variety of traditional meals, from a thyme-roasted half chicken to Meatloaf a la Daube. The restaurant is now considered a national historic landmark, as it even houses a museum. There, visitors can take a guided tour of the taverns, attend commemorative dinners and musical performances, and experience what life was like during colonial times.
Theodore Roosevelt Has A Room Named After Him At Keens Steakhouse
It’s not every day you have the President of the United States frequent your establishment, but in the case of New York’s Keens Steakhouse, it was common enough. Along with other influential names like Albert Einstein, Babe Ruth, and J.P. Morgan, Theodore Roosevelt was a member of the steakhouse’s Pipe Club. It checks out considering Keens is home to the world’s biggest collection of hard clay churchwarden pipes, making it a highly frequented smoke spot for not only presidents, but playwrights, producers, and publishers as well.
Keens Steakhouse is still in operation. You can no longer smoke there, but you can still feast on the eatery’s most popular dish — mutton chops (which, yes, is different from lamb). And if you really want to experience how it feels to eat like a president, you can make a reservation to dine in the steakhouse’s Bull Moose Room. It’s named after Roosevelt and is best suited for “executive or private dinners, small cocktail parties, and wine tastings.”
Bill Clinton Has His Own Platter At Bukhara
One of the legacies left behind by Bill Clinton is having led the country during a time of unmatched peace and economic wellness. But to the employees at Bukhara, a restaurant located in the ITC Maurya Hotel in New Delhi, India, the former president is also viewed as an esteemed customer they’ve been honored to serve at least six times so far. These visits were enough for the establishment to create what’s called the “Clinton Platter.” Later on, the “Chelsea Platter” was even added to the menu for Clinton’s daughter.
Clinton is not the only political figure to enjoy Bukhara. After visiting three times, Barack Obama has also had a dish named after him at the restaurant, which consists of items like kebabs, tandoori jhinga, machli tikka, and more. Ivanka Trump, the daughter of Donald Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, have also dined at Bukhara, though a platter has yet to be officially named after them or Trump.
Harry S. Truman Is The Reason Dixon’s Famous Chili Has Its Name
Both Harry S. Truman and the restaurant he loved so much benefited from their relationship with one another. The 33rd president of the country was deeply fond of Dixon’s Chili Parlor in Kansas City. Since the 1920s, he had been ordering chili from the eatery to his suite at a nearby hotel. Stephen Steffes, the current general manager and great-great nephew of the establishment’s original owner, Vergne Dixon, said Truman loved their chili so much because it resembled how beans were made in the military, bringing the president back to his days in the army.
But of Truman’s many times indulging in the parlor’s offerings, it was his visit in December of 1950 that garnered the most attention from paparazzi and the public. Photographers captured a picture of Truman seated at a table in the parlor, which ended up becoming a widely circulated spread in LIFE Magazine. The number of customers doubled as a result, according to a letter Dixon wrote to Truman thanking him for the recognition. This new notoriety led to Dixon’s Chili Parlor being renamed Dixon’s Famous Chili. And even after Dixon passed away in 1964, the new owners would send a container of chili to Truman as a birthday gift each year.
Barack Obama Stayed True To His Hawaiian Roots By Dining At Alan Wong’s
Hawaii is home to countless unique and imaginative food items, from spam musubi to unique Puka Dogs. It’s also the home state of former President Barack Obama and his once-favorite restaurant, Alan Wong’s. To the dismay of Obama and other fans, Alan Wong’s unfortunately closed in 2020. The Honolulu eatery’s reputation still lives on, though, for having taken locally grown farm ingredients and turned them into a fusion of innovative Asian and American cuisine. One of these dishes includes soy-braised short ribs, which was Obama’s personal go-to order.
Alan Wong’s closure during the pandemic was a loss felt by many foodies, including Obama considering it was the place the leader had eaten at the most during his presidency. However, Obama has managed to find several other restaurants to frequent more than once, particularly for date nights with the former First Lady. These joints range from places as casual as Shake Shack to as luxurious and trendy as Nobu.
Donald Trump Is Loyal To His Own Hotel’s Restaurant, BLT Prime
Donald Trump is known to be less adventurous when it comes to trying new food. So where did that lead him during his presidency? To BLT Prime, an American steakhouse in his own hotel, of course. The location on Pennsylvania Avenue is now closed (the restaurant and the hotel, which has been reimagined as a Waldorf-Astoria), but it seems to be the only D.C. restaurant Trump dined at during his time in office. Two locations remain — in New York and in Miami.
It was right after his inauguration in 2017 that Trump’s order at BLT Prime became somewhat of a debate. The former president shared jumbo shrimp cocktails as an appetizer with his family and other political leaders as well as ordered fries and a well-done steak for himself. Many who learned of the meal were thrown off by Trump’s request for the $54 dry-aged steak to be cooked all the way through. However, it was his pairing of ketchup with the protein that especially dumbfounded people. Everyone who loves a good steak knows the secret to grilling it is all in the preparation, but for Trump, what seems to do the trick is tangy condiments and longer cooking times.
Jimmy Carter Often Ordered In From Bonita’s Restaurant
Carter lives only a mile away from a casual dining spot in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. He often turned to the carry-out place called Bonita’s Restaurant to get his usual order of fried catfish for himself and a baked version of the same fish and a side of veggies for his now-late wife, Rosalynn. Because the establishment opened in February of 2020, shortly before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, Carter never actually stepped foot in Bonita’s; he always had the meals regularly delivered to his home.
Carter’s patronage of Bonita’s has left a lasting impression on the restaurant owners and the surrounding community. Being a loyal customer in the years since it opened made it an emotional time for people like Bonita Hightower, the establishment’s owner, when she discovered Carter was entering hospice care in early 2023. In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hightower said that even with business increasing on account of media outlets visiting the former president’s hometown during the decline of his health, she wouldn’t want that success at the expense of Carter. However, it has now been over a year since Carter began end-of-life care, and he has even celebrated his 100th birthday, making him the longest-living president.
George H. W. Bush Was A Protected Regular At Peking Gourmet Inn
Imagine being such an esteemed customer that an establishment has bulletproof glass put in to protect you every time you visit. It’s not something George H. W. Bush had to picture; it was simply his reality as president. The 41st commander-in-chief and his family were regulars at Peking Gourmet Inn, one of North Virginia’s largest Chinese restaurants. They came so often that the owners of the eatery were asked to install the glass around the presidential family’s usual table and chairs. From the safety of their protected booth, the Bush family would enjoy their typical order of Peking Duck, Szechuan Beef Proper, and garlic sprouts.
In addition to being a repeat customer at Peking Gourmet Inn, Bush was also considered a friend by the owners. The president developed quite a relationship with owner George Tsui, who even made a trip to Texas to cater for Bush and his wife’s 50th wedding anniversary celebration.
Abraham Lincoln Gave His Compliments To The Chef At Delmonico’s
Without a way to directly talk to those who cooked their food, the phrase “give my compliments to the chef” has been a way for customers to let the professionals know how much they enjoyed their meal. Even the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, brought life to the saying when he used to dine at Delmonico’s, a restaurant in New York City. This upscale establishment is the first fine dining restaurant in America, and it still provides customers with prime cuts of beef today.
At the eatery, Lincoln used to meet with his Secretary of the Navy, General John A. Dix, and abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher. The former president’s favorite dish was said to be potato gratin. He seemed to have loved it so much that after dining, he once called over Lorenzo Delmonico, the founder of the restaurant, to say, “In Washington, where I live, there are many mansions, but no cooks like yours.”
John F. Kennedy Was A Patron Of Union Oyster House
Everyone from Bill Clinton and Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama and Calvin Coolidge have dined at Massachusetts’ Union Oyster House, but the place is best known for having served John F. Kennedy, one of the most popular U.S. presidents. It was during Kennedy’s time as a senator, however, that he began visiting Boston’s oldest restaurant.
Kennedy was said to have come to Union Oyster House almost every Sunday at noon to get his usual order of lobster stew. The senator would request to eat in the upstairs dining room since it allowed for more privacy and seclusion. Booth 18, where he would always choose to sit for his meal, is now called the “Kennedy Booth” and has a gold dedication plaque in honor of the president hanging on the wall. Even after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, his now-late younger brother, Edward Kennedy, kept the tradition somewhat alive by dining at Union Oyster House at least once a month.
Richard Nixon Was Exclusively Cooked For At El Adobe De Capistrano
How could you not favor a restaurant that exclusively cooks for you? That’s exactly what El Adobe de Capistrano did for Richard Nixon. Located in San Juan Capistrano, California, the unique Mexican eatery is now labeled a state historic landmark. The funny thing is, the restaurant didn’t originally serve Mexican cuisine. It just so happened that the chef there cooked Mexican dishes specially for Nixon, which the president loved so much that it inspired El Adobe de Capistrano’s switch from continental cuisine to only Mexican food.
This shift in menu items created a domino effect of other changes to the restaurant. According to El Adobe de Capistrano’s website, the building was renovated so that its furnishing and decor would create a Mexican-Californian ambiance. Even the kitchen received a new mesquite-burning grill in order to better incorporate steaks and seafood into the food spot’s offerings. So now, customers can find dishes like lobster tacos, prime rib burritos, and salmon a la brasa on the menu.
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