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August 10, 2005

ChefGate?

In March of this year I wrote about the campaign by superchefblog to get the first ever woman Chef hired at the White House. It never panned out. But now superchefblog is reporting the details of what might come to be known as ChefGate.

It seems that not only is Richard Hamilton one of America's premier chefs, but he's been the frontrunner for the job of White House Executive Chef for a number of months. And apparently he never applied for the job... they called him.

Naturally Hamilton was interested and proceeded with the vetting process one would expect for such an important job, including the stipulation that he not divulge any of the details or even that the White House was interested in him.

They go out after a chef with press and notoriety, and they ask you if you are willing to give it up. At some level you are. It's an honor. There are few White House Chefs in history; not too many people can do it. You are a piece of history -- not just Culinary History but History -- for maybe three or maybe 20 years. It's incredible -- or could be.

"Could be" turned into "could be longer." Richard returned to his restaurant and waited.

The first follow-up action pretty much killed his job at the Spiced Pear: Mrs. Bush sent a group of her friends to his restaurant to try the food. Someone in the White House party spilled the beans that Richard was on the shortlist for the White House job, and the restaurant management immediately started leaving Richard out of restaurant publicity, among other things. "The trust declines. The comfort wears off" when a boss finds out you're talking to others about taking another job. Instead of waiting for others to make a move, he quit the Spiced Pear and started consulting.

In early May, the White House summoned Richard back to cook three meals. He prepared a dinner for 12, a lunch for 12, and a cocktail for 40. Richard described the visit to superchefblog:

Lunch was interesting. All of Mrs. Bush's friend were there. One woman was adamant that no chef should be in the White House who wasn't from Texas. She trashed everything savagely. That led Mrs. Bush to think she needed to look again.

The only other chef on the White House's shortlist is Texas-based Chris Ward.

In a follow up invitation to cook again for the White House a month or so later Richard Hamilton was graciously and warmly received by the Bushes.

"The woman who had wanted a Texan chef wasn't at the second luncheon," Richard explained to superchefblog. And "if the search is about Texas chef, let's admit it." Otherwise, "if it is about culinary skills representing the country -- cooking all the different cuisines that are served -- let's make it about that." By this time, half a year had slipped by, and superchefblog noted in comparison how quickly the Supreme Court justice search had concluded.

But, apparently Mrs. Bush's friends from Texas have a lot of pull in the White House. It seems that someone in the White House has politicized the selection of an Executive Chef by talking to the press... namely to the New York Times. What's more, it appears that this person was trashing Hamilton by claiming that he'd made a long list of demands and that because of his demands he was no longer in the running, which came as a surprise to Hamilton. Not the least of which was because he'd only made one request: That the White House give him enough notice so that he could get his child enrolled in a local Washington D.C. school.

It can't be because of Hamilton's personal politics. According to superchefblog, Hamilton enjoys strong Republican support. So, it appears that this all comes down to him not being a Texan. Mrs. Bush either doesn't have the maturity to be upfront about the new Executive Chef position being open only to Texans or that her Texan friends are the ones making the decisions around there. Or maybe it's a little of both.

Posted by Kevin at August 10, 2005 08:44 AM