Barack Obama

While my colleagues here at Endless Simmer are focusing on the President’s restaurant choices, I’ve become a bit preoccupied by another food-related Obama item.  In the heady, post-inauguration days of January, I was somewhat bothered by the fact that his first ride on Air Force One included a medium-well hamburger.  But I was prepared to chalk it up to a severe hangover that ruled out a nice piece of bloody red meat. So it was with great sadness that I listened to the radio this morning and heard about the little POTUS/VPOTUS burger run that transpired yesterday at Ray’s Hell Burger in Arlington (which  espressodog shouted out to us earlier, and again, none of you guessed!) So what did the ‘bam eat this time? Medium-well.  Again.

They say that three times makes a trend, but I’m going to go ahead and put my foot down after two…Mr. President, you’re absolutely killing me.  Don’t you know that people are looking up to you?  In these difficult times, we must all be living our lives in a manner that reflects positively on our country and our values.  By perpetuating the unfortunate and offensive notion that medium-well is an acceptable burger choice, you are hurting the children of America.  Mr. President, please think long and hard about your choice before you order your next burger. And don’t be afraid of a little blood.

On to the smörg, which will always order its burger medium-rare — at most!

– Is that Guy Fieri at a Kansas City Royals game.  Ha, actually it isn’t. And your first clue should have been that this television host can’t seem to string together an entire sentence.

– Here’s one from the “condecending to women” file:  Boulud and Keller weigh in with their favorite female chefs.  But I’m happy because both include TVFF’s favorite kitchen goddess, Lidia Bastianich.

After the jump…a Hollywood story from the Chicago food scene, a list of award winners that doesn’t include me and Bobby Flay plays the ponies.