Donald Trump is very particular when it comes to food. The former president’s diet is far more defined in the eyes of the American public than his overall policy ideas. Trump likes steaks well done (with ketchup), loves Diet Coke to appear at the press of a button and he thinks fast food is a luxury that college football players have never experienced.
We’re still very much in the fallout zone of Trump’s presidency, even though he’s been in exile in Florida for weeks while the Biden administration gets underway. But we’re also starting to hear some extremely colorful stories from Trumpworld as people no longer tethered to him for employment or healthcare give new details about what it was like during the Trump presidency.
On Friday, The Washingtonian published a fascinating story about Trump’s Old Post Office hotel and its central role in Washington, D.C. over the last four years. All the major players you’ve known from Trump’s orbit are there, including Rudy Giuliani literally making the hotel’s restaurant his office:
Perhaps the most notorious VIP was Rudy Giuliani, who had a regular table in the restaurant’s downstairs dining area. “It was pretty much his office. He was doing more paperwork there than eating,” Williamson, the chef, says. “Some days, he’d be there all day.” At one point, someone made it official and created a black-and-gold plaque that read RUDOLPH W. GIULIANI PRIVATE OFFICE. The restaurant would keep it behind the host stand and place it at his table before he arrived.
“The biggest pain in my butt was Giuliani,” says the former manager who dealt with an annoyed Hicks and a sauce-covered Schwartz (and who asked for anonymity to avoid blowback from future employers). “He was constantly in the restaurant. And I complained about it. The guy would come in, expect a table for ten at a moment’s notice at, like, 2 pm, when we’re not fully functioning. We don’t have the staff. But he’s the President’s lawyer, and what am I supposed to do?”
The article includes a visual of the nameplate they had made for Giuliani, which is an incredible touch. There are many small moments that hold weight when you know the players, like Rand Paul denying one employee’s claim that he used Scotch tape to affix his mask to his glasses “leaving it flapping over his mouth and nose.” But the biggest details are about the extensive guidelines for employees when Trump was at his private table. That included a seven-step method for presenting him his beloved Diet Coke:
As soon as Trump was seated, the server had to “discreetly present” a mini bottle of Purell hand sanitizer. (This applied long before Covid, mind you.) Next, cue dialogue: “Good (time of day) Mr. President. Would you like your Diet Coke with or without ice?” the server was instructed to recite. A polished tray with chilled bottles and highball glasses was already prepared for either response. Directions for pouring the soda were detailed in a process no fewer than seven steps long—and illustrated with four photo exhibits. The beverage had to be opened in front of the germophobe commander in chief, “never beforehand.” The server was to hold a longneck-bottle opener by the lower third of the handle in one hand and the Diet Coke, also by the lower third, in the other. Once poured, the drink had to be placed at the President’s right-hand side. “Repeat until POTUS departs.”
There’s a similar anecdote about Trump’s favored steak condiment: ketchup. He’d ceremonially get a fresh bottle each time he showed up, with employees told to make sure he heard the “pop” of the glass bottle to know it’s fresh. It’s a lot, and the amount of information people working at the restaurant needed to know about its customers is really impressive. But perhaps the funniest story in the piece detailed what happened when Trump thought someone he ate with got a bigger steak than he did:
“It was the same steak. Both well done. Maybe it was a half ounce bigger or something, I don’t know,” says Williamson, who had previously run the kitchens of DC staples Birch & Barley and the Riggsby. The chef had always prepared a bone-in rib eye or filet mignon for Trump. After Steakgate, he switched to a 40-ounce tomahawk. Trump would never again gripe that he didn’t have the greatest, hugest, most beautiful steak.
There are a lot of little things you learn about Trump’s family: Melania hates garnishes and sent a garnished plate back once. The kids were not nearly as much trouble as you might think. And Trump had a hilarious rider-like list of junk food he wanted on hand at an extremely fancy restaurant:
One more thing. Don’t forget the snacks. A tray of junk food needed to be available for every Trump visit: Lay’s potato chips (specifically, sour cream and onion), Milky Way, Snickers, Nature Valley Granola Bars, Tic Tacs, gummy bears, Chips Ahoy, Oreos, Nutter Butters, Tootsie Rolls, chocolate-covered raisins, and Pop-Secret.
It’s not all bad for the employees there: they said they made a lot of tips from people who thought bribing workers Mafia-style would get them a spot at Trump’s exclusive table (it did not). But there are a lot of little things about working for Trump that were clearly bizarre. There were stories of scowls on the subway and wondering whether it will be OK to put a Trump hotel on their resume in the wake of the MAGA coup that happened weeks before Trump’s tenure ended.
The whole piece is a fascinating look into a world that already no longer exists, where well-done steaks and gummy bears were the key to power in Washington D.C.
[via Washington Post]