State of D.C. power lunches is strong

Featured in politico March 23,2009   

By ANDIE COLLER

Breakfast is too early, dinner is expendable, but don’t mess with lunch.

That’s the verdict of Washington’s power-lunch set, who say economic downturn be damned — some conversations need to be had over a white tablecloth, or at least accented with some fresh-ground pepper.

It’s not that people aren’t cinching their belts a bit inside the Beltway. But even those whose companies are reining in expense accounts or who are painting on a more prudent public face are not quite ready to brown-bag it at midday, when there are friends to be made and people to influence.

“The three-martini lunch is out, but the power lunch is still on,” says Republican strategist and consultant John Feehery.

According to the management at some of the favorite grazing grounds of the power elite, Feehery has it right. While Washington may not be entirely recession-proof, top restaurateurs in the District say they have been weathering the financial storm better than their peers in other parts — largely because of their loyal lunch crowd.

At The Palm on 19th Street, for example, manager Tommy Jacomo says business is off “a little bit” — but not nearly as much as it is elsewhere in the country. “Instead of a $150 wine, they might order a $100 bottle, but other than that, it’s pretty much status quo,” he says.

Paolo Sacco, owner of Ristorante Tosca on F Street, concurs that high-end wines are harder to move but says that the regulars are still coming in. He has noticed some thinning of the dinner crowd but says that lunch is still strong: “We really haven’t seen a significant drop in business,” he says.

“Business in Washington still has to take place,” says Dan Festa, general manager of Morton’s The Steakhouse on Connecticut Avenue. “You definitely can sense that people are watching their money,” he says, “but we haven’t really seen a drop in business.”

The assessments offered by food purveyors and their loyal patrons may err somewhat on the sanguine side. At 1:30 p.m. on a recent Monday, Charlie Palmer’s airy, cherry-blossom-filled dining room had topped out at about half capacity for lunch. The Palm had more full tables than empty ones, but the likenesses of former President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama were left without dining companions — as were all of their confreres along one wall.

Still, Cafe Milano hasn’t lost lunchtime luminaries like retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones, Haddad Media founder Tammy Haddad, former Clinton White House social secretary Capricia Marshall or current White House social secretary Desiree Rogers.

And although one Palm poster boy, Democratic operative James Carville, is in Louisiana these days, lawyer and former Clinton adviser Vernon Jordan still drops by when he’s in town. And on an average day, you might see White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel; Democratic strategist Paul Begala; former DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe; attorney Bob Bennett and his conservative-pundit brother Bill; or media types like George Stephanopoulos, Sam Donaldson, Charles Krauthammer and Tucker Carlson.

Lynne Breaux, president of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, says her group doesn’t have hard numbers. But anecdotally, she believes that Washington’s restaurants have been “more fortunate than a lot of jurisdictions.”

“Maybe it’s not waits for tables,” she says. “There’s some softness here and there, but lunches are strong.” Read the full article.