- The only restaurant President Donald Trump is known to have visited in Washington, DC, is the steakhouse at the Trump International Hotel, The New York Times reports.
- Trump’s absence in the Washington, DC, restaurant scene is in sharp contrast to the Obamas’ culinary passion.
- Instead, Trump is known to enjoy fast food.
Unlike the Obamas before him, President Donald Trump has been avoiding buzzy Washington, DC, restaurants.
Instead, the only restaurant the president and First Lady Melania Trump are known to have visited in Washington, DC, is the steakhouse at the Trump International Hotel, The New York Times reported.
“Mr. Trump, a proud and well-documented non-foodie, prefers fast food and overflowing bowls of ice cream to charred Brussels sprouts or shakshuka from Washington restaurants with wait-lists,” The Times reports. “Mrs. Trump, who does not share her husband’s eating habits – she is partial to fruit and fish, with an occasional weakness for pasta – has maintained Mrs. Obama’s White House kitchen garden, but it has not been the focus of East Wing events.”
In contrast, the Obamas were known for their culinary passion, both frequenting DC restaurants and meeting with chefs, and they held events in the White House vegetable garden. After leaving the White House, the Obamas have continued to make headlines for dining in New York City and visiting a buzzy Washington, DC, restaurant before it opened to the public.
Perhaps part of Trump's reticence to visit restaurants in Washington, DC, can be linked to a number of incidents in which members of his administration have been confronted by other diners. For example, in June, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave The Red Hen, a restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, because she worked for Trump.
Fast food over fine dining
The Times did not delve into whether Trump has continued dining at fast-food establishments.
Throughout the presidential campaign, fast food was a staple in Trump's diet. The president's go-to McDonald's order was two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and a large chocolate shake, according to former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and top Trump campaign aide David Bossie.
"Like an amazing professional athlete who has a routine that they do all the time when they're ready for a big game," Trump "would consistently do the same things," Lewandowski told Business Insider earlier this year.
Trump has previously applauded fast-food chains for their cleanliness.
"One bad hamburger, you can destroy McDonald's. One bad hamburger and you take Wendy's and all these other places and they're out of business," Trump said at a 2016 town hall. "I like cleanliness, and I think you're better off going there than maybe someplace that you have no idea where the food is coming from."
And, according to author Michael Wolff, ordering fast food allows Trump to dispel his fear of being poisoned, something that could play into his decision to avoid Washington, DC, restaurants.
Trump "had a longtime fear of being poisoned, one reason why he liked to eat at McDonald's - nobody knew he was coming and the food was safely premade," Wolff wrote in "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House."
