| sad 'n' empty |
[Sep. 15th, 2016|04:42 pm] |
Just try and eat Vietnamese food without chile sauce. You will feel sad and empty inside.
[Karen Solomon: Asian Pickles]
One Sunday morning I got a call from our hostess.
You better come in, she said, the president is here.
I was confused. The president? Of what?
The president of the United States, she said.
Oh.
This was during Bill Clinton’s presidency, when Chelsea Clinton was attending Stanford. Chelsea had heard of the Slanted Door, so they decided to stop by before going to a ballgame later in the day.
By the time I got to the restaurant, the whole street had been cordoned off. There were Secret Service agents inside the restaurant, a sharp-shooter on the roof, and still more black SUVs pulling up at the curb.
As soon as the president arrived, the agents put on pins to identify themselves. Suddenly the kid who looked like a punk rocker with headphones on is standing tall on official duty, and you realize just how many agents had already been embedded in the restaurant. An agent also watched over all the food that was being cooked. Chelsea was a vegetarian at the time, so I think they shared some vegetarian spring rolls and a few other entrees.
After the meal President Clinton came down to shake hands and take pictures with our staff. The presidential party had brought their own photographer with them, and they actually gave you the roll of film to develop. They also gave you a white credit card with the presidential seal on it to pay for the meal. To this day, I’m still not sure if I ever ran the card or not.
[Charles Phan: The Slanted Door] |
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