Where the Obamas ate on date night
The Obamas enjoyed a rare evening out at Blue Hill, a restaurant known for using “local, seasonal, organic," and "humane” ingredients.
President Obama and First Lady Michelle recently ate at New York’s Blue Hill restaurant on a well-publicized date night, said Frank Bruni in Nytimes.com. The Obamas enjoyed a rare evening out. But, given that the First Couple have their own White House garden, the occasion also had to send out the “proper message” about how to eat “green”: Blue Hill is known for using ingredients that are “local, seasonal, organic, humane.” Of course, Blue Hill is also an outstanding restaurant, located in a quiet, dimly lit townhouse.
“And yet,” Blue Hill was almost too predictable a choice in a city filled with adventurous dining options. As the president sat down to dinner with his wife, “it would have been interesting to watch him bust loose” and dig into a New York strip steak at Minetta Tavern, an oyster pan roast at the John Dory, or a plate of fatty lamb at Resto. Instead, a man with a reputation for being “almost joylessly disciplined” around food chose a restaurant whose pleasures are “more like a hushed foreign film with subtitles” than a freewheeling Brian De Palma flick. Blue Hill’s food may be gorgeous, but it’s also often sexless, making you long for some charred skin or messy fat. Blue Hill is a restaurant for the brain, “not for the heart, not for the viscera.”
75 Washington Place, (212) 539-1776
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'Make legal immigration a more plausible option'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
LA-to-Las Vegas high-speed rail line breaks ground
Speed Read The railway will be ready as soon as 2028
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel's military intelligence chief resigns
Speed Read Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva is the first leader to quit for failing to prevent the Hamas attack in October
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published