The Cheesecake Factory in Naperville, Illinois.
Timothy Hiatt/Getty Images North America
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Timothy Hiatt/Getty Images North America
Food fight!
This week, the Cheesecake Factory restaurant chain unexpectedly found itself in the political discourse.
At a campaign event in Ohio, former President Obama criticized President Trump’s affection for gold decorations, saying, “He makes the White House look like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory.”
Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, retaliated by lunching on a French Dip Cheeseburger at a Cheesecake Factory near the White House, telling reporters: “I had a good meal, I always have a good meal. I would tell the Martha’s Vineyard group to try it.”
But this latest partisan debate got me thinking. Why spend $600 million or more to build a new ballroom at the White House to host state dinners? Why not just host these prestigious events at the Cheesecake Factory?
Come to a state dinner, I’m told, and you somehow have to gulp down the yellow squash velouté or fava bean fricassee that a waiter slips under your chin.
But isn’t America all about freedom, choice, and options galore?
Cheesecake Factory restaurants offer more than 250 items on their menu. NOW It is America! Chicken and waffle skewers! Tex-Mex egg rolls! Pickle Fries!
What more does America say? Dover sole meunière, served with potato cobbler, spring ramps, snow peas and parsley oil, served to King Charles III at a state dinner this spring? Or Cheesecake Factory’s Buffalo Blasts: chicken, cheese and hot sauce stuffed into a spicy wrap, fried and served with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing?
“I’m absolutely drunk,” I imagine Her Majesty saying. “British troops in 1814 would never have burned down a cheesecake factory!”
When French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a state dinner at the White House in 2018, it opened with goat cheese cake. I’d bet that wherever French officials travel, the hosts push a goat’s cheese cake in front of them and say, “You’ll love it!” So French!
So I imagine a French president saying: “Forget the cake! I want Asian chicken nachos! Wonton chips, peanut sauce and cheese fondue? Yum!”
Move state dinners to a Cheesecake Factory, and foreign heads of state might even say, “Give me that plate of fried macaroni and cheese balls, and I’ll sign any tariff deal you want!”
Gn headline
