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State dinner for President Hollande of France

Alex

By Alex
in Food Media & Arts

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Alex

Alex

Posted
Posted (edited)

The four-course meal "celebrates the best of American cuisine," the White House said, highlighting "the talents of our nation’s cheese artisans, as well as the bountiful produce grown by farmers across our country."

-Caviar/Quail Eggs/Potatoes

-Merlot Lettuce/Petite Radishes/Baby Carrots/Red Wine Vinaigrette

-Beef Rib Eye/Blue Cheese Crisp

-Chocolate Malted Cake/Vanilla Ice Cream

-Mignardises (maple syrup fudge, lavender shortbread, cotton candy with orange zest)

The full story

Edited by Alex (log)

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

annabelle

annabelle

Posted
Posted

That's better than they usually do. I wonder why they are eating in a tent in February (!) when there are perfectly acceptable dining rooms in the White House?

judiu

judiu

Posted
Posted

Maybe they were going for the Haute Picnique motif? Maybe they just had the carpets cleaned? ;)

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"Commit random acts of senseless kindness"

annabelle

annabelle

Posted
Posted

I was thinking of the logistics of getting hot food up or down elevators and stairs and across the grounds. Those must be some heavy-duty cloches, in which case they'd weigh a ton.

Maybe it's just the riff-raff that's eating outside? What are they doing for a cloakroom? Entertainment? The poor staff that had to run the power cords out to the thing!

huiray

huiray

Posted
Posted (edited)

http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-state-dinner-menu-for-president.html

The massive white-walled pavilion is a rental, as is everything in it, White House officials said at a press preview on Monday. There will be no Presidential china used for the dinner, thanks to the number of guests; the formal State china sets are not big enough. And they are not used in tents--er, pavilions.

The pavilion can hold far more guests than either the State Dining Room or the East Room, where the President and Mrs. Obama have held their prior State Dinners. Social Secretary Jeremy Bernard hired Rafanelli Events to orchestrate the decor, as Bernard has done for each State Dinner since he was appointed to his post in 2011.

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Another link w/ video clips:

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/francois-hollande-state-dinner-menu-103339.html

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The White House has held other State Dinners (or the entertainment part) in a "tent" on previous occasions also. Here's what the "tent" looked like for the (1st) one for Manmohan Singh of India: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/6638529/Barack-Obama-to-host-first-state-dinner-in-huge-tent.html

Here's the inside of the "tent" for the entertainment part of the State Dinner for Mexico: http://photos.essence.com/galleries/2010-white-house-state-dinner?slide=39014#128819_39014

They had the one [in January 2011] for Hu Jintao of China in the WH with spill-over into the Red Room & Blue Room, though: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/01/state-dinner-review-the-obamas-got-everything-right-except-michelles-dress

The one for Angela Merkel of Germany was held in the open under the skies in the Rose garden:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/germany_state_visit.pdf

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/obama-and-visiting-chancellor-merkel-trade-pledges-of-partnership/2011/06/07/AGMjeCLH_gallery.html#photo=1

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/post/white-house-state-dinner-for-germany-more-restrained-than-past-dinners--an-aesthetic-or-budget-choice/2011/06/08/AGzz5ZMH_blog.html

The cost? Here's one article relating to this... http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/obama-state-dinners-top-1-5-million-article-1.1609458

(((Shrug))) I suppose the "tent" allows for more dramatic/varied decor or whatnot, depending on what they want to achieve or do on a particular occasion and how big the guest list is...(see the WaPo article for some numbers) (The official State Dining Room in the WH holds just 140 guests)

Edited by huiray (log)
dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted

Building Code, fire safety regulations may dictate occupancy load of a space which is considered as a "Public Assembly".

Exits, distances of travel, width of egresses, etc. are all to be considered for a dinning space.

dcarch

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