I’ll have what the president's having

By Lauren Egan and Eli Stokols

Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice.  

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MATTHEW CUFF didn’t know what was happening on Jan. 4 when a swarm of men in suits descended on his Cincinnati restaurant and started turning over trash cans and looking under tables.

It wasn’t until those men walked inside Just Q’in BBQ with German shepherds — ignoring Cuff’s polite reminders that dogs were not allowed in the dining area — that he realized they were U.S. Secret Service agents. President JOE BIDEN, who was in town for a speech, was on his way over.

After Covid prevented him from interacting with the public at the start of his presidency, Biden has relished opportunities to get back out on the road. With those trips have come a handful of off-the-record, unannounced stops — like the one at Cuff’s fast-casual BBQ joint.

These restaurants get very little, if any, advance warning that the president is coming. Sometimes, Secret Service agents are the giveaway. Other times, owners get a 24-hour advance notice from a White House staffer warning that the visit will be called off for security reasons if the public learns about the plan.

During Biden’s 30-minute visit to Cuff’s restaurant, he was tailed by his entourage of staff and Secret Service agents and chatted up everyone from line cooks to restaurant patrons.

But perhaps the biggest — most pleasant — surprise came in the days following Biden’s visit when Cuff said customers flocked to Just Q’in BBQ hoping to get a taste of what the president ate (the brisket plate with sides of potato salad, macaroni and cheese, jalapeno cornbread and peach cobbler, for those curious).

“It’s been crazy, it’s had a huge impact on our business,” Cuff told West Wing Playbook. “I don’t know how long that will last, but the president stopping by a local restaurant is a big deal.”

Many other restaurant owners and managers said few things have boosted their business like a presidential visit. And it’s not just that fans of Biden want to eat in the same restaurant, it's that they want to recreate the same exact meal.

“I always get asked what the president ordered and they all want what he ordered,” said KELLY PHILLIPS, co-owner of Taqueria Las Gemelas, one of the first Washington, D.C. restaurants Biden visited as president. “I had someone say ‘If it’s good enough for the president, then it's good enough for me.’”

Phillips and her team now sell the president’s order — four tacos and two quesadillas — as “The Biden Bundle,” which Phillips acknowledged is “quite a bit of food.”

Biden seems to have a penchant for visiting Mexican restaurants. He made a quesadilla run to Tacos 1986 during an October visit to Orange County, Calif. But everyone who has worked for the president knows his true love is ice cream.

JONATHAN ROSATI, whose family runs Honey Hut Ice Cream in Cleveland, said they had to bring back vanilla chocolate chip after Biden made a surprise visit in May 2021 and asked for the then-discontinued flavor. Rosati, a self-described “political junkie,” said the encounter reminded him of the “Veep” episode when Selina Meyer visits a frozen yogurt shop out of nearly every flavor. Just watch the clip.

“All we were thinking was, ‘We’re going to have to disappoint the president of the United States today.’ I just imagined his team spiraling,” said Rosati.

Ultimately, Biden went with chocolate chocolate chip. “He was gracious about it,” said Rosati. “But I know deep in my heart it was not the flavor he actually wanted.”

Not all of the president’s culinary choices drive sales, though.

Customers at The Pearl Ice Cream Parlor in La Crosse, Wis., often ask for “The Biden Special,” a recreation of the president’s request during his June 2021 visit to the family-run shop, said AZIA THELEMANN, one of the managers. That is, until they hear the combo: strawberry and cookies and cream in a sugar cone.

“Some people think it's a weird combination,” said Thelemann.

Despite Biden’s dubious flavor palate, Thelemann called it a “big honor” to have the president visit her family’s shop. There’s just one problem. Thelemann says the White House promised to send them official photos of the president’s visit to hang on the parlor walls, but 18 months later, they still haven’t received them.

ADAM SCHULTZ, chief White House photographer, can you help with that?

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This one is from Allie. How much money did Congress authorize to pay for THOMAS JEFFERSON’s library?

(Answer at the bottom.)

EMHOFF IN EUROPE: Second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF began his six-day trip Thursday to Europe, where he’ll stop in Poland and Germany for Holocaust remembrances and to help fight antisemitism worldwide, ABC News’ MOLLY NAGLE and SARAH KOLINOVSKY report.

DID YOU LOOK UNDER THE COUCH?: The National Archives sent a letter to former presidents and vice presidents asking them to “re-check their personal records for any classified documents or other presidential records in the wake of classified documents discovered in the homes of former President DONALD TRUMP, former Vice President MIKE PENCE and Biden,” CNN’s JAMIE GANGEL, JEREMY HERB and ELIZABETH STUART report.

WHAT’S TO COME: Eli, JONATHAN LEMIRE and ALEXANDER WARD break down what the next half of Biden’s term could look like as the U.S. gets more involved with the war in Ukraine that seemingly has no end in sight. “The punishing conflict appears poised to last long into the foreseeable future — shadowing Biden’s likely reelection campaign and testing Europe’s resolve in the face of compounding economic woes,” they write.

UNDER CONSIDERATION: Speaking of Ukraine, Jon confirms the president is “considering” a trip next month to Europe to coincide with the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion, though details around the trip are “very fluid.” The potential visit was first reported by NBC News.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: The latest economic numbers. WaPo’s ABHA BHATTARAI reports that “the U.S. economy grew by 2.1 percent in 2022, notching six months of solid growth despite widespread concern that the country might be on the brink of a recession. Those fears have been assuaged — at least for now. The economy posted another consecutive quarter of steady expansion between October and December, with economic activity increasing at a 2.9 percent annual rate.”

White House chief of staff RON KLAIN tweeted out the piece Thursday. And JESSE LEE, senior adviser for communications to the National Economic Council, wrote in a tweet Thursday morning that the figures show “a really strong economy even as inflation comes down.”

Our BEN WHITE also breaks down what the numbers mean for Biden’s presidency. We recommend you read the full piece, but Ben’s short answer is: “It’s good for him. At least for now.”

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: That despite the solid economic news Thursday, layoffs abound. WSJ’s CHIP CUTTER and THEO FRANCIS report that “Dow Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and SAP announced plans to cut thousands of jobs to prepare for a darkening economic outlook, as the current wave of corporate layoffs spreads beyond high-growth technology companies.…

“Unlike Microsoft Corp. and Google parent Alphabet Inc., which announced larger layoffs this month, these companies haven’t expanded their workforces dramatically during the pandemic. Instead, the leaders of these global giants said they were shrinking to adjust to slowing growth, or responding to weaker demand for their products.”

MA, PICK UP THE PHONE: Biden hit the road to talk up his administration’s economic progress before members of Steamfitters UA Local 602 in Springfield, Va. But before addressing the crowd, he made an important phone call — to someone’s mom, of course.

Biden rang up the mother of first-year apprentice MEGAN RUSSELL, who introduced the president before his speech. “I just got a chance to talk to Megan’s mom. I think I embarrassed her — I said, ‘Call your mom.’ So we just talked to her mom,” the president said. “I told her, as they say in southern Delaware, she’d done a good job on this one.”

PERSONNEL MOVES: AVERY MULLIGAN has joined the Biden administration as senior adviser for public affairs at CISA, DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. She most recently was press secretary for Sen. TOM CARPER (D-Del.).

— SEAN BARTLETT is leaving the State Department’s Bureau of Global Public Affairs, where he has served as senior adviser in the spokesperson’s office, Lippman has also learned. He is headed to the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. to become senior vice president of communications.

ANOTHER ONE GONE: USDA deputy secretary JEWEL BRONAUGH is planning to step down in a couple of weeks, citing family reasons, our MEREDITH LEE HILL reports for Pro s. Bronaugh is No. 2 in command at the department and has been in the post since May 2021.

TAI TRADE TALKS: In a speech Thursday, U.S. Trade Representative KATHERINE TAI defended the Biden administration’s trade policy, despite criticism of its strategy to avoid tariff cut talks, our DOUG PALMER reports for Pro s.

“Trade became a game of numbers, a race to the bottom — while a handful of corporations and elites reaped their profits, working families and communities were left behind,” Tai said. “But the ingenuity of our democracy is that it was not born perfect — it was designed to be perfected.”

ENTERING THE TINDER BOX: Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN is set to travel to Egypt, Israel and the West Bank this weekend, AP’s MATTHEW LEE reports. Though the trip has been planned, the timing is notable as violence rises in the area, after an Israeli raid that killed nine people at a West Bank refugee camp.

TANK DEETS: The U.S. announced it will be sending Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine, and our LARA SELIGMAN, PAUL MCLEARY and LEE HUDSON provided more details Thursday on the exchange. The supply will consist of the more advanced M1A2 configuration, rather than the older A1 version, the trio report. The 31 tanks slated to get sent to Ukraine will also not include the secret armor mix that makes the Army’s newest version so lethal.

Some Congressional Democrats Push Back on Biden’s Immigration Policies (NYT’s Eileen Sullivan)

Democrats have a problem with Black male voters. VP Harris is quietly trying to fix it (USA Today’s Francesca Chambers and Mabinty Quarshie)

‘A Hard Sell’: Can Biden’s DOJ really shatter Google’s grip on digital ads? (Politico’s Josh Sisco and Brendan Bordelon)

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Congress paid $23,950 for the contents of Jefferson’s personal library in 1815, after British troops destroyed the first Library of Congress in 1814, according to the U.S. Capitol website. See the Congressional report regarding the purchase here.

A CALL OUT — Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents with a citation and we may feature it.

Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.

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